The three-day Selangor Smart City & Future Commerce Convention held at Setia City Convention Centre from 7 – 9 September has finally come to a close. Hosted by the Selangor State Government, this is the first of a series of events organised by Invest Selangor Berhad, and forms part of the 10-day Selangor International Business Summit 2017 (SIBS 2017), held from 7 to 17 September.
Graced by the presence of YAB Dato’ Menteri Besar Dato Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali, Chief Minister of Selangor, and officiated by YB Dato’ Teng Chang Khim, Senior Executive Councillor for Investment, Industry & Commerce, SME and Transportation, it featured 260 exhibitors from around the globe and attracted some 3,000 conference participants and 5,000 exhibition visitors. Additionally, approximately 45 business matching sessions were recorded between local merchants and foreign exhibitors.
YAB Dato’ Seri Azmin Ali, Chief Minister of Selangor, touring the exhibition with YB Dato’ Teng Chang Khim, Selangor Executive Councilor
The Selangor and Barcelona collaboration comprised 6 distinctive events, with three forums, namely, Smart City, Green City, and Future Commerce. Supplementing the conferences were side events such as the Smart City & Future Commerce Hackathon co-organised by SITEC and Devs Asia held on 8 – 9 September; a B2B expo (7-9); the SITEC Top E-Commerce Merchant Awards on 9 September.
The opening speech on the metamorphoses of smart cities was delivered by Joan-Anton Sanchez, Research and Content Director of Mediaurban, who expressed positive sentiments. “I’m very surprised and pleased by the high turnout and the energetic, discussive environment at the convention. We are definitely looking forward to return with a bigger and better event next year!”
Joan-Anton Sanchez, Research and Content Director, Mediaurban
Dr Jonathan Reichental, Chief Information Officer of the City of Palo Alto, shared – “I was impressed by the conference and the ambition of the local government of Selangor. They recognize the essential role that technology, and particularly data, will play in helping to deliver a high quality of life for its communities in the future. There is no doubt that this conference puts Malaysia, and specifically Selangor, on the global map of emerging smart states.”
Dr Jonathan Reichental, Chief Information Officer of the City of Palo Alto
The immersive and engaging forums featured over 60 international and local experts from cities such as San Francisco, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Taipei, and more, exploring contemporary issues such as development of people-centric smart cities, zero plastics and zero waste cities, the DFTZ, fintech, logistics and e-commerce.
ORide’s booth in the exhibition hall
Attendee Pragathes Moorthy shared – “I enjoyed the e-commerce talks because it was interesting to get an idea of how things are from an inside man for those huge e-businesses like 11street. The international speakers were also nice because it was a great way to open up one’s mind to new ideas without needing to go overseas and meet these people.”
Digital business development executive Violet Lee of local IoT solutions provider Atilze fielded enquiries from visitors for sectors ranging from agriculture to smart cities. “We’ve had a couple of hundred visitors so far, with many from the private sector. Most of them bring clear directions on what solutions they want, and we move onward from there,” she said.
Consultant Hafiz Razali from TM One shared – “We have had many visitors inquiring about TM’s slew of smart services, and we are even exploring partnerships with fellow exhibitors across various industries. We even had an oil and gas player wanting to collaborate with us, to get TM’s data insights to bolster their own disaster management solutions.” TM One is the umbrella brand under which all of Telekom Malaysia’s enterprise and SME solutions are parked.