Isabela State University, Cauayan City, the League of Cities, and the Smarter City Council successfully conducted the first ever Smarter Cities Readiness Challenge Workshop at the Hotel Andrea in Cauayan City, Isabela.
Mayors Edgardo Pamintuan of Angeles City; Lina Montilla of Tacurong City; Rowena Tuason of Masbate City; and Edgar Lignes of El Salvador City took part in the activities to support the event’s agenda of developing sustainable cities through smart technology.
International resource persons Kok Chin Tay and Calvin Chu of Singapore and Adam Beck of Australia were invited to share their knowledge in achieving the basic components of a “smarter city,” which include smarter government, economy, environment, people, mobility, and living.
Intensive group activities were also conducted where workshop participants were tasked to design a project proposal for each of the abovementioned smarter city components. These project proposals aimed to develop “technological enablers” such as connectivity, security, privacy, data management, analytics, etc. that will encourage the establishment of smarter cities in the LGUs represented in the event.
Hybrid Electric Road Train
The workshop also paved the way for the turnover of DOST’s Hybrid Electric Road Train (HERT) to the host city of Cauayan. The HERT was formally received by Cauayan City Mayor Bernard Faustino Dy.
Afterwards, the resource speakers, officers from Cauayan, and DOST representatives led by Sec. Fortunato dela Peña, had a tour of the city aboard the HERT.
Office for Smart Cities
On the last day of the workshop, Mr. Kok Chin Tay proposed the establishment of a government office for smart cities that will develop technologies and explore solutions to encourage the creation of smart cities in the country.
In addition, DOST-RO2 Director Sancho Mabborang shared a program called the “Establishment and Sustainability of Smarter Cities through Science and Technology” which will promote advanced technologies and innovations as a way of capacitating Philippines cities to become smart cities.