Special Events Releases 2020 Event Planner Forecast

The event industry feels confident going into 2020, with 90 percent of in-house event professionals predicting they will stage the same number or more events in 2020 than they will in 2019. As for independent event professionals, 79 percent say they will stage the same number or more special events next year. The study is conducted every year by the Informa Engage division of Informa, parent company of Special Events. The 2020 outlook for business/corporate events is strong, with the majority of independent event professional respondents (55 percent) expecting revenue increases. The typical respondent expects a mean increase of 11 percent in business/corporate events. Some 35 percent of respondents expect their 2020 revenues from business/corporate events to stay on par with 2019, while a scant 2 percent of respondents expect revenues from business/corporate events to decrease in 2020. The outlook for social/private events is a bit more tempered, with 43 percent expecting revenue increases and 37 percent expecting no change. The typical respondent expects a mean increase of 12 percent in social/private events. Five percent of respondents say they expect revenue from social/private events to decrease in 2020 while 16 percent are unsure.

2019 SCSE Sets Record for Overseas Visitors

The 6th Smart City Summit and Expo (SCSE) once again poduced outstanding results! A total of nearly 1,700 overseas visitors from 42 countries and regions participated. Among them, 128 mayors and delegates led 276 city government delegations to the Smart City Mayors Summit on March 26 hosted by the mayor of Taipei, Wen-Je Ko. They also attended a launch for the Global Organization of Smart Cities (GO SMART) on the 27th. The number of visitors from international cities to Taiwan has already broken previous records. It is expected that the large-scale smart city exchange among mayors of major international cities will lead to closer cooperation between Taiwan and other international cities. Overseas Businessmen Up 30% In addition to city delegations, Hungary, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, and other countries sent large trade delegations to hold bilateral meetings on economic and trade cooperation with their mayors present in Taiwan. Also, IT associations from Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Myanmar, Indonesia, and India sent business delegations to Taiwan. The number of overseas visitors exceeded 2,000, a 30% increase from the year before. The first Global System Integrator Conference, organized by the Industrial Development Bureau of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, invited more than 150 system integrators for exchange and procurement in Taiwan to expand MICE business opportunities. The ever-increasing number of overseas businessmen has turned SCSE into Taiwan’s up-and-coming international exhibition, contributing to the realization of making Taiwan a major supplier of smart city solutions. The 2019 SCSE was held in Nangang Exhibition Hall 1 during March 26–29. This year, a total of 337 domestic and foreign exhibitors occupied 1,250 booths, an increase of nearly 20% from the previous year. Sixty-six sessions of professional forums took place during the exhibition (one session is half a day), forty-three (65%) of which were held in English. These can lead to more international cooperation with up to 19,000 participants in attendance. The exhibition attracted more than 33,000 professionals from Taiwan and abroad. Conference Theme AI x IoT x Smart City As artificial intelligence (AI) matures, its application can provide smart services from the city government. The theme of this year’s exhibition was AIoT Invigorates Smart City. The integrated applications of AI and IoT can lead to upgrades of Smart City 2.0. The conference organized an [AI 50] event especially for this theme where the world’s quality AI startups for the next five years were selected and recommended to Taiwanese businesses. Business matchmaking was used to speed up AI applications in different industries. A total of 52 startups from 19 countries registered for this year’s event, 18 of which decided to register after receiving recommendations from accelerators or venture capitalists. In the end, AI applications provided by 36 startups from 15 countries were selected. Their creative contents were on display in the [AI‧50] Pavilion. Startup founders and technical directors from all over the world attended the summit to share their experiences. The event was Asia’s largest AI application exchange, and AI will be quickly spread to all areas of smart cities as a result. In addition, a Smart Hospital Superintendent Conference was held in the form of an industry strategic meeting. The exchange and cooperation between hospitals and ICT industries that resulted from the annual event will accelerate the development of Taiwan’s smart healthcare industry. The theme of the second conference was Creating Efficient Healthcare Organization with AI Application. Vice Superintendent Shih-An Chen of Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Superintendent Mu-Kuan Chen of Changhua Christian Hospital, Chief Executive Chun-Sheng Ho of Advantech, and Chief Executive Officer Sheng-Wei Chen of Taiwan AI Academy were invited to make introductory remarks. Nearly 50 superintendents and vice superintendents from Taiwan’s hospitals, along with 30 leaders in tech companies, attended and joined the discussion. Cross-Domain Application of IoT Four sub-expos were held concurrently with SCSE: Smart Healthcare Expo, Smart Education Expo, Intelligent Building Expo (IBE Taipei), and Intelligent Transportation System Expo (ITS Taiwan), the last of which was added this year. The Smart Healthcare Expo (SHE) was jointly organized by the Joint Commission of Taiwan and the Taipei Computer Association. This year’s exhibition featured two key activities: 1.    Smart Hospital Superintendent Conference: 50 hospital superintendents and vice superintendents from Taiwan and abroad, as well as 30 leaders in tech companies, were invited to discuss Creating Efficient Healthcare Organization with AI Application under the format of a strategic meeting. This promoted further bilateral cooperation and will lead to rapid development of Taiwan’s smart healthcare industry. 2.    Presentation of Smart Healthcare Scenarios: Technologies and products from 16 companies such as Imedtac, Stipendiary, and Golden Smart Home Technology were used to showcase three patient care solutions outside of the hospital. These included home care, smart community care, and AI precision healthcare. This interactive zone was a highlight at the conference again. The Intelligent Building Expo (IBE Taipei) was co-hosted by the Taiwan Intelligent Building Association (TIBA) and Taipei Computer Association, with the Architecture and Building Institute, Ministry of Interior in an advisory role. It was sponsored by the Material and Chemical Research Laboratories from ITRI and the Smart Architecture and Building Center. The rapid development of IoT and AI in recent years has become a foundation for the next generation of smart buildings. With these development trends in mind, members of the Asia Pacific Intelligent Green Building Alliance (APIGBA) were invited to organize an Intelligent Green Building International Forum in Taiwan. Leading businesses in intelligent buildings from Taiwan and abroad were also invited to showcase themselves. The Smart Education Expo was co-hosted by the Digital Talent Cultivation Center and Taipei Computer Association. The theme of this year’s event was Learning Without Borders, with more than 100 overseas education experts to share their experiences from their respective countries during citizens’ digital transformation. This conference presented the progress of three smart campus applications from 14 Taiwanese companies: smart classroom, smart library, and interactive teaching. Complete solutions were also showcased, which served as a reference for education officials and experts from other countries that were interested in developing smart campuses. This interactive area was a highlight this year. The Intelligent Transportation System Expo (ITS Taiwan) was held for the first time this year, with the Ministry of Transportation and Communications as an advisor. The Intelligent Transportation Society (ITS Taiwan) and Taipei Computer Association co-hosted Global Trends in Smart Transportation & Mobility and co-managed the Taiwan ITS Vision Pavilion. In addition, eight companies worked together to plan solutions for smart management of vehicle logistics, smart bus stops, and smart loading. With the release of electric scooters, global leader KYMCO designed a complete charging management system for electric scooters and vehicles. The cloud-based solution will be an important part of the development of smart green cities and was recommended to visiting mayors. Source: Smart City Summit & Expo