TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) attended the opening of the Smart City Summit & Expo in Taipei on Tuesday, delivering remarks and presenting awards to leaders in technological innovation.
Hsiao said that as Taiwan faces a rapidly changing and turbulent global environment, resilience and adaptability are increasingly important. She expressed hope that smart city initiatives can leverage digitalization and net-zero technologies to address everyday challenges and improve public services, per a press release.
She noted this was her second time attending the event as vice president and recalled that during her tenure as Taiwan’s representative to the US, overseas offices actively encouraged cities in their jurisdictions to participate in the annual summit.
From a diplomatic perspective, Hsiao said the Smart City Summit serves not only as a platform to showcase Taiwan’s smart governance and public service innovation but also as an opportunity for the international community to recognize Taiwan’s soft power. She said she was encouraged by the participation of representatives from central and local governments, as well as international business partners.
Hsiao emphasized that Taiwan has repeatedly demonstrated resilience and must remain flexible in addressing emerging challenges. She added that digitalization and net-zero transformation efforts should “put people first” and focus on solving real-world problems.
During the event, Hsiao presented awards to government representatives in recognition of innovative public sector initiatives. She said civil servants should adopt proactive and flexible approaches, breaking through existing frameworks to enhance service quality and support continuous transformation.
She also thanked private-sector partners for driving innovation and fostering collaboration among government, industry, and academia, highlighting Taiwan’s contributions to global urban development.
The vice president welcomed more than 3,000 international participants from over 170 cities in 53 countries. She said digitalization and net-zero transformation have become central to human-centered technological development.
Hsiao later presented the Innovative Application Award to representatives from 14 county and city governments and joined guests on a tour of the AI City exhibition area.
