Deputy Mayor of Tainan City Sue Wang led a delegation to the 2019 Global City Teams Challenge (GCTC) event held on July 11 and 12 in Washington DC. The event was hosted by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Deputy Mayor Wang was the only representative from Taiwan to take part in the Mayors Keynote Panel Discussion on July 11. Moderated by a Senior Broadband Specialist from NIST, the two-hour panel discussion served as a platform for mayors from various international cities to exchange experiences on smart city policies and programs. Tainan's onsite exhibition booth also displayed the city's smart transportation data integration platform system, which was jointly developed by Tainan City government and International Integrated Systems, Inc. The system generated much interest from other participants and introduced Tainan City to more counterparts in the world.
Deputy Mayor Wang pointed out that the goal of GCTC is to encourage exchanges and sharing of smart city related experiences between different cities across the world. It is an event during which participating cities can learn from each other and seek collaborations. These interactions also prove that the projects and policies are replicable, scalable, and sustainable. More than 100 teams from over 120 cities around the world attended the event to share their experiences and to learn from one another.
At the panel discussion, Wang began with Tainan City's smart transportation and shared their experiences on rolling out related policies in the city, for example, the "taxi-buses" program which substitutes taxis for buses in remote areas. This program reduces the number of empty buses running on the road during off-peak hours in these regions. There is also a flexible transportation reservation system which makes getting around very convenient for the elderly and disabled travelers, and they can get excellent service at the price of bus fares. Wang then mentioned Tainan's smart roadside parking meter system which includes vehicle and license plate identification capabilities for automatic fee charging. This system helps decrease supply-demand imbalances in parking hotspots and improves parking spot usage rate.
With the arrival of the digital age, AI will gradually replace people in simple and repetitive tasks. It is estimated that 85% of traditional jobs will disappear. Launching smart city programs is a way to help the public adapt to future digital trends, as the programs encourage residents to prep themselves for new working environments and will later help them successfully transition into a new labor market with new demands. All participating mayors at the panel acknowledge that smart city related programs should not be led by technology trends, but by actual needs of the public collected from interactions with the residents. And local governments play an important role in initiating these types of conversations. Other topics discussed include how governments should set internet usage regulations, establish online security policies, and define privacy scopes. Participating mayors and representatives from DC agreed that neutral research agencies, such as NIST, should provide suggestions on issues related to cyber world guidelines.
This year's Taiwan GCTC exhibition delegation was jointly arranged by the National Development Council Asia Silicon Valley Development Agency (ASVDA) and the Commercial Section of AIT. Taipei City and Taoyuan City also took part in this year's event, marking the cities' second joint participation after the 2017 GCTC.