The key to the success or failure of a smart city lies in understanding the needs of the service population and the coverage of smart technologies., says ANBOUND Regional Chief Representative (ASEAN) Dato Ong Chong Yi.
Delivering a Keynote speech at the “2021 China-ASEAN Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum,” he says, “sufficient funds and technologies must be available to achieve the best results.
“There are many successful cases in China, including Shenzhen’s new smart city and Shanghai’s Pudong Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park, which are all successful examples worthy of learning from ASEAN countries.”
He referred to a speech by Dato Sri Mustapa Mohamed, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Economy), in which the latter emphasized that it is necessary to learn from China’s successful experience in digitalisation to accelerate the construction of smart cities in Malaysia.
“There are many successful cases in China, including Shenzhen’s new smart city and Shanghai’s Pudong Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park, which are all successful examples worthy of learning from ASEAN countries.
“Cooperation in the construction of smart cities can not only drive high value-added communication infrastructure investment and service trade but also strengthen bilateral cooperation in high-end technology fields including the Internet of Things, cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence, 5G, blockchain and virtual reality.
“Cooperation to realize the upgrading of investment and industrial structure between China and ASEAN. In addition to Malaysia, other ASEAN member states such as Singapore and Cambodia also issued their own digital economy plans in 2014 and 2021, and China can engage deeper communications with ASEAN in these aspects,” he says.