New Taipei City's Smart City Success Draws Czech Delegation to Learn

(Taiwan Business News) New Taipei City's success in promoting smart city initiatives has attracted many international cities to visit and observe. Following visits from multiple cities in Japan, Vietnam, and the Netherlands, the Czech Republic's Vysocina Region also, on April 17, with the assistance and arrangements of the Executive Yuan's Digital Convergence Office, sent a delegation of 5 led by Deputy Governor Vladimir Novotny, including heads of economic and information technology departments, to visit the New Taipei City Government.

The Vysocina Region is located in central Czech Republic, with an area approximately 3 times that of New Taipei City and a population of about 500,000-plus. Governor Jiri Behounek was originally an orthopedic surgeon and is deeply concerned about public health and health care, and the region has earned the reputation of being the Czech Republic's Healthiest Region (Healthy Region). In recent years, it has been committed to improving the quality of public information services, and with its "Hospital Electronic Registration System" and "NFC Smartphone Mobile Navigation System," it consecutively won the Czech Best E-Government Service Award in 2011 and 2012, and in 2013 won the Best Provincial Government Award among the Czech Republic's 14 provinces.

Deputy Governor Vladimir Novotny stated during the visit that after learning about the various cloud infrastructure and information services promoted by the New Taipei City Government, he strongly agreed with New Taipei City's philosophy of "putting public needs at the core." In addition, New Taipei City not only enhances administrative efficiency and builds convenient services through technology, but also targets emerging technology industries such as cloud computing, biotechnology, green energy, and logistics for international investment promotion, making New Taipei City a key hub for international procurement. These approaches will serve as valuable references for the Vysocina Region's future promotion of smart cities.

Wu Chao-ming, Chairman of the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission of New Taipei City, who is responsible for promoting New Taipei City's smart city project, stated that in the future New Taipei City will work even harder to use "smart city" as a professional theme to exchange with more international cities, utilize information technology to open up cooperation between cities, fulfill its role as a world city citizen, and raise the international visibility of New Taipei City and Taiwan.