Last week’s Smart City Summit and Expo held at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center provided a vivid picture of the huge potential that AI, IoT, and 5G technologies have to transform urban life. The 450 exhibitors at the event showcased myriad solutions for improving just about every aspect of the lives of city dwellers from smarter traffic management and convenient public transportation services to personalized healthcare, and reduced carbon emissions.
One of the standouts at the show was the Civil IoT Taiwan platform, which leverages AI, digital twins, and more to bolster natural disaster responses, including earthquake, typhoon, and rockslide detection. The P-Waver Early Earthquake Warning System exemplified the innovative technologies being employed and is also in use by major IC foundries and the Taiwan High Speed Railway to minimize operational disruptions.
The National Center for High-performance Computing also unveiled several projects, notably developing AI language models to support translation, text-to-speech, and speech recognition for the languages and dialects of Taiwan’s 16 indigenous tribes.
City administrations across Taiwan were eager to spotlight their smart city ventures. New Taipei City showcased its initiative to erect 5G smart poles across 1,400 locations, integrating smart lighting and environmental sensing, among other services. Meanwhile, Chiayi emphasized its advancements in law enforcement with Taiwan’s “first smart patrol box,” aimed at reducing paperwork and boosting police efficiency through real-time data collection.
The expo also shed light on AI and IoT applications in rural settings, notably enhancing local agriculture. Yunlin County’s demonstration showed a significant increase in goose breeding success and egg production at a local farm through smart technology, which also streamlined operations and tackled labor shortages effectively.
The Taipei 2024 Smart City Summit and Expo not only underlined the crucial role of AI, IoT, and 5G in the evolution of urban and rural areas but also demonstrated the productive partnership between Taiwan’s government organizations and its world-leading technology sector. It is only through close public and private sector cooperation that it will be possible to reap the full benefits of these new technologies.
Long time technology industry fan here in Taiwan.