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01-06-2020

Oman Observer

Muscat: The Smart Cities Platform is organising a symposium from June 10-11, 2020 called the ‘Smart Cities Without Borders,’ which is a virtual event entitled “Challenges and Opportunities during the COVID-19 Pandemic”.

Global institutions such as UNeGov, UnEscwa and UN DESA are a few among the many participants. The Omani Smart City Platform is a digital platform for knowledge exchange and to drive smart city initiatives in Oman. The aim of the platform is to provide an environment for the exchange of information, cooperation and communication between stakeholders in smart cities.

The platform works as an enabler and facilitator for smart city innovations by funding research and by organizing many hackathons and competitions that encourage innovation in relation to smart cities. This symposium came from the premise that establishing the concept of smart cities globally is an urgent requirement in the past few years among some countries around the world, and how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the equation in many countries towards the use of modern technologies. Even those countries that preceded the adoption of smart city projects raised the level of requirements and needs due to the existence of unexpected new challenges that need to be included in their plans on how to organize and implement the guidelines and frameworks of smart cities.

Dr Huda al Shuaily, Chair of the Smart Cities Platform, said ‘the symposium focuses on providing an opportunity for all interested in the fields of smart cities from various countries of the world to exchange experiences in terms of concepts and technologies of smart cities around the world and to highlight the opportunities and challenges posed by the smart cities during the pandemic.’ It also targets the specialized institutions to offer innovations in this field and encourages researchers, academics and students to participate in this symposium.

The symposium will include a group of global speakers interested in concepts and applications of smart cities, as well as a series of interactive sessions presented by experts from different countries of the world and various institutions in the field of smart cities. Fourteen speakers from countries like Oman, USA, UAE, Lebanon, Malaysia, Portugal, Greece and Italy will participate in this symposium with keynote sessions as well as 4 panel discussions. Regarding the topics, the symposium will focus on several axes, the most important of which are: identifying challenges and opportunities for smart cities resulting from the COVID-19 outcome, highlighting successful models of smart cities around the world, and determining the reasons for their success.

This is a golden opportunity to get acquainted with the latest research and results regarding the effectiveness of smart cities in improving the economy, education and living standards in society. — ONA