Social Innovation/Smart City Week 2014 Unveils International Program Content for October 29 to 31 in Yokohama, Japan
Tokyo, Japan (PRWEB) October 17, 2014 -- Participants are currently pre-registering to attend the world’s largest Social Innovation & Smart City related event this month in Yokohama, Japan. Minato Mirai, one of Japan’s cutting edge smart cities, will again serve as an oasis of knowledge and information sharing on how to tackle challenges posed by burgeoning cities as well as how to achieve and maintain user-focused city and social infrastructure for future generations.
The 50,000 attendees expected at the venue can participate in a wide variety of seminars and discussions as well as peruse the exhibitions from corporations and governments. Content offered by domestic and international sources is sure to inspire new thinking and across-border collaboration among city managers, leaders, corporate heads, educators, experts and individuals.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, Ministry of the Environment, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Chiba City, Kashiwa City, Kyoto City, Toyama City, Toyota City, Embassies and other international organizations are supporting the event and all participants are sure to benefit from the multi-tiered content.
On October 29th (the first day of the event) a “Smart Cities of the World, Today and Tomorrow” seminar will focus on social innovation in growth and development and will feature presentations from Denmark, Brazil, Austria and Kenya.
Denmark’s Mikal Hallstrup, Co-founder & ‘Chief Visionary Officer’ at Designit, will speak on how smart city initiatives are needed to cope with the 180,000 people who make the move into cities each day. As many urban centers are set to double in size over the next 15 to 20 years, there is a need to live in connected environments with a creative, design-driven approach for a better lifestyle, which is user-centric and sustainable. The presentation will describe how user needs can be implemented first in any truly “smart” design.
Following Denmark, Marcelo Correa Barbosa Fernandes, of the National Development Bank (BNDES) in Brazil will share his experience with the Internet of Things (IoT) and Smart City (SC). His discussion will focus on how Brazil and BNDES work to enable both the business (IoT) and the applications (SC) and that even when funding and support modalities are available, the key to success is achieving a good match between resources and the corporate/municipality needs.
Further information on speakers and discussion topics are here:
http://expo.nikkeibp.co.jp/social/english/conference/tb29-1.html
Austria and Kenya will present in the afternoon of the 29th.
Christian Chimani, Head of the mobility department in the Austrian Institute of Technology, will address issues of overcrowding and its negative impact on public transport safety at major events. He will present an innovative alternative to subjective visual assessments of large crowds. Using computer aided crowd control, decision-making technology can be used to simulate pedestrian flow and was developed via collaboration between Wiener Linien, operator of Austria’s largest public transit network and the AIT Mobility Department.
Finally, Catherine Adeya-Weya, CEO of the Konza Technopolis Development Authority (KoTDA) in Kenya will share how the Konza Techno City (KTC) is set to establish Kenya as one of Africa’s leading ICT hubs. This flagship project of Kenya’s Vision 2030, which aims to transform Kenya into a middle-income country by 2030, presents a model of international collaboration towards creating a “Silicon Savannah” over a 5000-acre stretch of land.
Further information on speakers and discussion topics are here:
http://expo.nikkeibp.co.jp/social/english/conference/tb29-4.html
Just 32 minutes by train from Shinjuku in Tokyo, Minato Mirai in Yokohama is one of Japan’s most advanced Smart Cities. Access details can be found here. Those who pre-register for the event will have their 2000-yen participation fee waived.
Please note that listed speakers and speech titles are based on current plans and subject to change without prior notice.
Contact Information:
Nikkei Business Publications, Inc.
SOCIAL INNOVATION / SMART CITY WEEK 2014 Managing Office
1-17-3 Shirokane, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-8646 Japan
TEL: +81-3-6811-8084 / FAX: +81-3-5421-9170
e-mail: social(at)nikkeibp.co(dot)jp
Ruth Marie Jarman, Nikkei Business Publications, Inc., http://expo.nikkeibp.co.jp/social/english/, +81 368042667, [email protected]
Share this article