PolyU hosts Global Smart Cities Summit cum the 3rd International Conference on Urban Informatics attracting over 500 global scholars and industry professionals

The Global Smart Cities Summit cum the 3rd International Conference on Urban Informatics (GSCS & ICUI 2023), organised by the International Society for Urban Informatics (ISUI) and the PolyU Otto Poon Charitable Foundation Smart Cities Research Institute (SCRI), commenced today. This three-day conference has attracted over 500 participants globally and over 230 speakers will share their insights and research on urban informatics and smart cities.

At the Opening Ceremony, Prof. SUN Dong, Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry, HKSAR Government, delivered the opening address. He said, “I wish to thank PolyU for bringing together experts, researchers, industry players, policy makers and investors from around the world, who are strong advocates for smart cities, at this biennale event in Hong Kong. I am sure you are all looking forward to, and will benefit from, the enlightening sharing by the many distinguished speakers in the week to come.”

Prof. Jin-Guang TENG, President of PolyU, said, “Smart cities research is one of PolyU’s strategic development areas. We have been working on topics including smart city and spatial big data analytics, remote sensing, and geomatics computing for many years. In 2020, we took a big step by establishing the Otto Poon Charitable Foundation Smart Cities Research Institute, which is hosted within the PolyU Academy for Interdisciplinary Research - the largest research platform of its kind in the Greater Bay Area. Through mission-driven interdisciplinary research, PolyU aims to solve pressing societal challenges and foster a more sustainable future for our world.”

GSCS & ICUI 2023 aims at promoting global smart city development and advances in urban informatics. This year’s conference received 300 abstract submissions from 21 countries and regions. As an emerging interdisciplinary field, urban informatics is the foundational science and technology for smart cities. The Conference features keynote speeches by internationally leading scientists, forums and technology innovation exhibitions. It provides an excellent platform for exchanging information about state-of-the-art technologies and innovations in smart cities and urban informatics.

In addition to encouraging academia-industry collaboration and technological innovation, GSCS & ICUI 2023 aims to position Hong Kong as a vanguard of smart city development. Announced at the Opening Ceremony were introduction of the new ISUI Smart City Index jointly published by the ISUI and SCRI, and developed by a team led by SCRI Director Prof. John Wenzhong SHI; as well as the winners of the Outstanding Achievement Award in Urban Informatics. The ISUI Smart City Index is the first index for evaluating smart-city development that is fully based on publicly available data. With 98 indicators focusing on the impact that smart cities have on the day-to-day lives of citizens, the Index will be able to help cities self-diagnose and improve their smart-city development comprehensively from a human-centric perspective. The Outstanding Achievement Award in Urban Informatics honours world-renowned scholars in recognition of their significant contributions to the field of Urban Informatics.

More information on GSCS & ICUI 2023 may be found at: https://www.isocui.org/icui2023 .

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