Taipei City Government

     On January 15, Lu Hsin-ke was sworn in as Commissioner of Taipei City Government’s Department of Information Technology (DOIT). 
     After two decades of service in academia and public-sector consulting, Lu joined the municipal government to dedicate himself to its vision of building a “livable and sustainable city.” He noted that the vision of Taipei as a smart city is a key policy objective for the mayor, and vowed that during his tenure he will build on existing foundations to implement a "government enterprise architecture" framework that will facilitate Taipei’s governance and transformation into a smart city, pushing it towards the milestone of “Smart Taipei, One City.”
     Commissioner Lu’s many years of academic research and practical experience in governmental technology and digital governance will stand Taipei in good stead in its continued transformation into a smart city. He observed that a smart city works outside-in and is citizen-oriented. In the future, governmental technology will be given greater impetus through inside-out resource integration, and further enabling the ultimate goal of digital governance: a sharing city. Information and communication technology will drive the ongoing transformation of the city government’s systems and culture. In line with the worldwide trend of digital governance as a development blueprint, the city government will hire specialized talents to build a new digital governance model for Taipei through more systematic processes, integrated planning, and modular construction.
     In terms of governmental technology, the mayor has already proposed key indicators such as simpler and less paper-based processes, as well as highlighting the importance of ICT system integration and data sharing across the city government system. DOIT will assist in this effort by establishing a unified framework and streamlining processes. Modularization of systems and data templates will be key elements in resolving structural issues on the way to implementing a government enterprise architecture.
     In Lu’s view, current smart cities still focus mainly on keeping everyday life functioning as well as citizen services. In the future, though, sustainable development, disaster prevention, disaster relief, and post-disaster reconstruction will require greater attention in order to enable cities to grow further amidst the increasingly volatile environment and risks of disaster. To be truly smart, cities need to be resilient too.
     Commissioner Lu noted that Taipei’s impressive smart city achievements have enjoyed wide acclaim in the international community. The Smart City Summit & Expo (SCSE) held annually in Taipei has become an international benchmark exhibition and is expected to become the world’s largest smart city gathering in 2019, surpassing the Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona. The new DOIT commissioner is confident that the SCSE in March and GO SMART, the Global Alliance of Smart Cities that Taipei advocates, will drive Taipei’s brand as a smart city. The Smart Taipei, One City concept will strengthen the participation of citizens, industry, university, and institutes, making Taipei an international model city for digital governance.