With 300 participants representing cities and businesses around the world and featuring futuristic smart technologies and services, the World Smart City Expo 2022 shows a glimpse into the future smart cities.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) and the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) will host the World Smart City Expo 2022 (WSCE 2022) from August 31 to September 2 at KINTEX in Gyeonggi-do, Korea
The WSCE 2022, which will be the first in-person gathering in three years due to covid-19, will invite 300 city and company representatives from 20 countries, making this year’s event the biggest since its inception since 2017 by the number of participants.
Held under the theme of the “Digital Earth, Connecting Together,” the expo will exhibit innovative technologies from the fourth industrial revolution that not only solve problems and improve living in city but also shape the future of smart city.
The following are the main features of the WSCE 2022.
1. Exhibition
At the KINTEX 1, the exhibition hall of the size of four football fields will be divided into six zones on the National Pilot Smart Cities, the Korean Smart Challenge Zone, the Smart City Tech Zone, the Korean Innovative SMEs Fair, the Smart City Convergence Alliance Zone and the Experience Zone.
Inside the National Pilot Smart Cities zone, various smart services, solutions, and technologies planned for introduction to the two National Pilot Smart Cities in Sejong and Busan will be exhibited. At the Sejong booth, visitors can learn about future smart home services as well as robotic services (e.g. resource recycling) in development for the city. At the Busan National Smart City booth, smart solutions and technologies (e.g. artificial intelligence, augmented reality, virtual reality, etc.) that will be integrated for public administration, resource management and safety in the city will be displayed.
Exhibition booths will also be set up for 15 cities in Korea, including Incheon, Daejeon, Daegu, Busan and Jeju, and for countries abroad, including England, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Israel and the Czech Republic, to show off the smart products and service available in their cities.
2. Opening Ceremony
To celebrate the opening of the WSCE 2022, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and distinguished guests from Korea and abroad will attend the opening ceremony on August 31.
During the opening ceremony, Jason Schenker, President of Prestige Economics and the world’s best forecaster (according to the Bloomberg News ranking) will have a 1:1 conversation with MOLIT Vice Minister Lee Won-jae on the topic of ‘Smart city in the era of digital transition’ after his keynote speech.
3. Conference Program
During the WSCE 2022, 18 conferences focusing on the latest urban trends and issues like digital transition, the Metaverse, the ESG, green energy and living labs are planned with leading figures from businesses, universities and research institutes joining to share their perspectives and expertise during the conferences.
Chris Sheldrick, the founder of What3Words will speak at the Metaverse Special Conference on September 1. Professor Alex Edmans of the London Business School of the University of London, who spoke about the ESG at the World Economic Forum, will deliver a keynote speech on the same topic at the Special ESG Conference held on the same day. Geoffrey West, who is the Distinguished Professor of the Santa Fe Institute, will contribute with his thoughts on how smart city should evolve in the future.
4. Business Program
For the business participants, there will be opportunities to promote their smart services and products. During the WSCE 2022 Exhibitor Pitch Sessions, SMEs will be given a stage to make a sales pitch in front of prospective customers and investors. The WSCE 2022 Secretariat will also match businesses with the government procurers or private-sector buyers who might be interested in their services or products.
5. Award
The WSCE 2022 will give awards to the cities, experts, businesses or citizens who contributed to smart city innovation with their services, technologies or ideas. For the award winners, free advertisement of their wares, businesses, ideas, etc. inside the expo venue, complimentary production of promotional videos and participation in the WSCE Networking Night will be offered as prizes.
6. Experiences and Public Events
The WSCE 2022 offers a variety of experiences and events to participants who are joining the expo at the venue or via online. For visitors coming to KINTEX, there will an experience zone where you can ride autonomous vehicles and personal mobility vehicles. You can also experience the extended reality (XR) and participate in various public events that come with small prizes.
For those joining the event virtually, the WSCE 2022 website (www.worldsmartcityexpo.com ) will live stream the exhibition hall as well as interviews with the guest speakers.
Excited to return to the face-to-face gathering in three years, MOLIT planned a program that presents various smart city experiences to the public and networking opportunities with potential customers and investors to business exhibitors. MOLIT will continue to host the WSCE and evolve its program until it becomes the de facto leading smart city event where you can see all wonders of smart city in one place.
Please refer to the attached PDF.