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Seoul Smart City Prize to evolve into comprehensive exhibition this year
Park Jung-sook, secretary-general of the World Smart Sustainable Cities Organization (WeGO), speaks during an interview with The Korea Times at her office in central Seoul, May 16. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk
By Jun Ji-hye
'Satisfied citizens are considered most important value rather than superiority of technology itself'
The Seoul Smart City Prize, which was launched last year, will evolve this year into a comprehensive exhibition, dubbed the Smart Life Week (SLW), in a bid to provide participants and city residents with a venue where they can share smart city visions and experiences, according to World Smart Sustainable Cities Organization (WeGO) Secretary-General Park Jung-sook.
WeGO, the Seoul-based international association of municipal governments, institutions and businesses, was established in September 2010 at the initiative of the Seoul Metropolitan Government.
The Seoul Smart City Prize, co-organized by the city and WeGO, is designed to promote an innovative yet inclusive smart city model that tackles urban polarization and addresses the digital divide in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The awards, which have three categories — Tech-InnovaCity, Human-CentriCity and Leadership — are given out to worldwide cities, organizations, businesses and individuals.
“Participants will see the inaugural SLW this year,” Park said during an interview with The Korea Times on May 16, noting that SLW is scheduled to take place from Oct. 9 to 11, while the award ceremony will be held on Oct 10.
“Last year, we received about 240 applications for the prize from around the world, and the awards went to 21 teams and individuals. These winners are preparing to exhibit their successful cases during SLW, which will also feature technology exhibitions offered by Korean companies as well as experience programs for citizens.”
Park expressed her willingness to develop SLW into a greater global event like the Smart City Expo World Congress held in Barcelona or the World Cities Summit held in Singapore.
“We were relatively late coming into the initiative, but we will showcase more substantial services for citizens,” she said.
“For us, it is very important to see how solutions and technologies recognized during last year’s event have been developed. This is why last year’s winners, who will come as presenters this year, will offer exhibitions and presentations.”
Park believes that solutions and technologies can be developed further only when they have the potential to be implanted in other cities.
In this regard, she said the upcoming event will be a venue for presenters and winners as well as those who are willing to hand over their knowhow and those who want to learn from developed cities to share and exchange experiences and knowledge.
Park Jung-sook, front row seventh from left, secretary-general of the World Smart Sustainable Cities Organization (WeGO), and Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, front row center, pose during the Seoul Smart City Prize ceremony at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) in Seoul, Sept. 25, 2023, along with winners and presenters as well as singer Psy, front row eighth from right. Courtesy of WeGO
Park stressed that communication will become more and more important in the digital era, as the directions, philosophies and ideas of smart cities vary between regions.
“For example, Abu Dhabi is a desert city, putting a bigger emphasis on solutions reducing building temperatures,” she said.
“In Korean cities, I think, transport systems and air cleaning technologies are deemed important, while African cities seek more effective waste disposal methods.”
Failing to share these differences could cause conflicts, particularly in the digital era where interaction is becoming more active.
“Coming to our venue and sharing each other’s technologies, protocols, rules and regulations will effectively dispel misunderstandings,” Park said.
She also noted that, when the winners are selected, the satisfaction of their citizens is considered the most important value rather than the superiority of the technology itself. This means the awards are not monopolized by developed cities.
“This is why our awards are much fairer,” she said. “I hope cities in the so-called developing countries will actively participate in our prize.”
Park has been putting a lot of efforts into promoting her organization’s vision for smart cities and sustainable development by attending various international events.
Earlier this month, she attended the Annual Investment Meeting (AIM) in Abu Dhabi, during which she emphasized that the digital divide will accelerate the socio-economic gap, and therefore the investment into digitalization or smart city policies will be the most economical way.
She will also attend the World Summit on the Information Society Forum (WSIS) later this month. Organized and sponsored by U.N. organizations, including the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and UNESCO, the annual global event is aimed at boosting information exchange on sustainable development.