Taipei City placed seventh out of 102 metropolises in the first-ever International Institute for Management Development Smart City Index released Oct. 3 by Switzerland-based IMD World Competitiveness Center.
With an overall rating of A, Taipei placed second in Asia and ahead of famous names such as Amsterdam, 11th; San Francisco, 12th; Vancouver, 13th; Sydney, 14th; Prague, 19th; London, 20th; Hong Kong, 37th; and New York, 38th. Singapore, Zurich and Oslo topped the rankings, in that order.
Cities were evaluated on 36 factors by surveying their residents. Taipei scored highly for urban planning thanks to its free Wi-Fi, as well as for city governance with its easy public access to municipal finances and an online platform for residents to propose policy ideas.
According to Lu Hsin-ke, commissioner of Taipei City Government’s Department of Information Technology, the result is proof of the local government’s efforts to promote smart city principles. TCG quickly identified the potential for technology to improve residents’ lives, which is why it founded the Smart City Committee in 2015 and Taipei Smart City Project Management Office in 2016, he added.
Lu said TCG will continue to prioritize improving residents’ quality of life, adding that combining private and public sector resources is key to developing the innovative technologies and strategies necessary for a smart city.
Launched in 1989, IMD World Competitiveness Center is dedicated to researching and evaluating how nations and enterprises compete in the global market. The Smart City Index is the result of a two-year collaboration between the center’s Smart City Observatory and Singapore University of Technology and Design. (RAY-E)