The Smart City Summit & Expo (SCSE) and the Net Zero City Expo officially opened! Co-organized by the Taipei Computer Association (TCA) and the Taiwan Smart City Solutions Alliance (TSSA) in collaboration with the National Development Council (NDC), the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), Taipei City Government, Kaohsiung City Government, and Taoyuan City Government, the combined scale of the exhibition in Taipei and Kaohsiung has surpassed 2,250 booths, with more than 70 professional forums planned. This year, the event has attracted heads of state and representatives from 174 cities across 53 countries and regions, over 3,000 international professionals, and more than 250 startups. Furthermore, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and Poland have established theme pavilions for the first time, demonstrating that Taiwan is joining hands with global cities to seize new business opportunities in the AI era.
The 2026 Smart City Summit & Expo is held at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center Hall 2 from March 17 to 20, before moving to the Kaohsiung Exhibition Center from March 20 to 22. A total of 13 counties and cities have established city theme pavilions to showcase their smart and net-zero achievements. Mr. Charles Huang, Senior Deputy Secretary General of the Taipei Computer Association, stated that “AI is everywhere,” and cross-domain AI applications are the most significant feature of this year’s exhibition. From Sovereign AI to applications across all industries, the exhibition connects industrial displays through AI City, AI Robots, and AI+ zones, while hosting series of activities such as the AI CITY International Forum and AI Industry Empowerment Forum, presenting Taiwan’s vigorous energy in developing comprehensive AI solutions from the city level to the enterprise level.
With the rapid global development of AI, international research institutions indicate that the market scale for AI in smart cities will grow from US$50.63 billion in 2025 to US$460.47 billion by 2034, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 27.8%, of which the Asia-Pacific region is growing the fastest. To seize this wave of opportunity, the exhibition has launched “City Vision in Action” for the first time, starting from the real needs of cities to facilitate matching and cooperation between industry and government, transforming visions into implementable solutions.
AI CITY Pavilion: Embracing the New Era of Urban Sovereign AI
One of the highlights of this year’s exhibition is the world’s first “AI CITY Pavilion.” Mr. Samson Hu, Chairman of the Taiwan Smart City Solutions Alliance, stated that to meet the strong global demand for Urban Sovereign AI, the Alliance, ASUS, Foxconn, and 30 industrial partners have jointly created an architecture centered on “Sovereign AI.” This encompasses a complete framework from Computing Infrastructure (IaaS) and Smart City Management Platforms (PaaS) to various Application Services (SaaS), covering everything from AI servers and supercomputers to citizen service scenarios, creating high-efficiency, low-cost one-stop solutions.
Samson Hu remarked that smart cities have officially entered the fourth generation—the AI CITY era. AI is no longer just a tool but the “brain” of city governance. This pavilion presents the five major architectures of Sovereign AI: the Computing Layer, Sovereign Model Layer, Platform Layer, Application Layer, and Innovation Layer, fully showcasing the strength of Taiwan’s AI industry chain. It uses Tainan City and Kaohsiung City as demonstration scenarios to show the actual application of AI in city governance. Hu pointed out that the full range of AI City solutions will be perfected year by year and promoted to the world under the brand image of “AI City powered by Taiwan,” with the hope that Taiwan will move from its advantage in AI hardware manufacturing to becoming a global provider of AI smart ecosystems.
Joint Exhibition of Taiwan’s AI Robot Application Ecosystem
In the future, smart robots will become important carriers for AI CITY, injecting new momentum into the national economy while providing sustainable development solutions for an aging society with low birth rates. The Taiwan Smart City Solutions Alliance, in cooperation with the Tainan City Government and the “Smart Robot Application Special Interest Group (SIG),” is presenting an integrated exhibition focused on four application scenarios: Medical Care, Catering Services, Inspection & Disaster Relief, and Logistics & Warehousing.
The exhibition area focuses on service robots, Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMR), and inspection and firefighting robot applications, combined with local field verification results, showing that robots are gradually becoming part of urban public services and basic maintenance.
City Vision in Action: Global Cities Co-creating a Sustainable Future
Facing the pressures of environmental change and technological transformation, “City Vision in Action” brings together 22 real municipal challenges from 21 cities across 15 countries and regions, covering smart governance, sustainable development, transportation, energy transition, and social services. During the exhibition, a City Horizon Zone has been set up to visually present urban issues, with a closed-door “City Vision Workshop” on March 18 and an International Matchmaking Meeting on March 19 to deepen substantive cooperation between cities and industries.
Global cities face three core challenges: Smart Governance and Digital Transformation (smart city planning, digital service integration, IoT applications); Sustainability and Infrastructure (energy transition, land and water resource integration, environmental monitoring, and public service protection in remote areas); and Social and Economic Vitalization (city branding, youth employment, tourism digitalization, elderly care, and medical information interoperability). These challenges highlight global demands for intelligence, sustainability, and social inclusion. “City Vision in Action” transforms urban needs into long-term cooperation and concrete solutions; here, vision is no longer just an idea but real action.
Cross-domain Cooperation for Sustainability: A Dialogue Between Technology and Humanity
This year’s exhibition also collaborates with the century-old brand Taiwan Tea Corporation for the first time to set up a “Tea Service Area.” With ESG as the core, it transforms friendly cultivation and low-carbon manufacturing into a cup of tea representing the spirit of the land, inviting domestic and foreign guests to taste the terroir of Taiwan. MANO MANO simultaneously launched tea-infused desserts and a dual-brand co-named “Four Realms of the Island” gift box. Designed by NOVA DESIGN, it transforms the elevation imagery of four tea factories into a mountain-shaped language, showcasing the cross-domain fusion of sustainability and cultural heritage.
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