On August 18, 100 P2A students participated in a forum entitled: “An ASEAN Youth Modelling Meeting: Discover the Future Now & Get Ready for Smart Cities & Industry 4.0”. They discussed different ways of building Smart Cities.
Professor Duong Quang Trung from Queen's University in Belfast
A Smart City must have smart energy, transportation, government, housing, environment, healthcare and more. In these times of Industry 4.0, several countries are investing in Smart Cities and students themselves have become a major force in promoting them.
Professor Duong Quang Trung and Dr. Anand Nayyar, and Dr. Jolanda G. Tromp, from DTU, provided a clearer understanding of what Smart Cities really are and highlighted the important role that Technology and Information Security play in the development of ASEAN communities.
The students were divided into 10 teams, representing 10 ASEAN countries. Each team chose a city, identified its current problems and suggested how it could be turned into a Smart City.
The Philippines team presents a Smart Manila
The Philippines team won first prize because of their ideas and presentation skills. They outlined the many challenges in Manila, such as overpopulation, excessive vehicles and traffic jams, and pollution. They proposed to levy high taxes on cars and motorbikes to reduce their numbers. They also had an idea to create software that linked drivers and a smart waste management system to generate extra electricity, which demonstrated their creativity and skill exploiting high technology in our daily lives.
Assuming that 70% of air pollution in Jakarta, Indonesia is caused by traffic emissions, the Indonesian team had the idea of promoting public transport using a phone app, which simply accesses information on bus routes and schedules. The jury liked this and awarded them second prize.
The Vietnamese team came third for pointing out the latest achievements of Danang creating a Smart City, with an administrative center, a help desk, special policies for start-up companies, high-tech industrial parks and an automated traffic control network.
Le Anh Tu from Foreign Trade University said: “The meeting gave us a broader view of the challenges and opportunities that are coming with the 4.0 Industrial Revolution. Especially, participating in the P2A 2018 provided me a great opportunity to improve knowledge & skills and boost international friendships.”
(Media Center)