The Council Leader, Cammy Day, is currently on a visit to Taiwan forging Edinburgh’s long relationship with the country.

Cllr Day will represent Edinburgh at the 2023 Asian Smart City summit in Taipei and Kaohsiung held from 28 March to 1 April which more than 150,000 people are expected to attend.

He will meet with representatives from Taipei, Tainan City and Kaohsiung, and will be accompanied by the council’s international officer as well as the Head of Enterprise and Innovations and the Head of Climate Partnerships at the University of Edinburgh.

There is no cost to the council as all expenses are being met by the Representative Office of Taiwan.

Despite this there was dissent from the SNP group on the council who questioned the need for such a trip during a cost of living crisis. Read more on the discussion at a full council meeting here.

Following discussions during last year it was agreed to develop cultural and festival links between Edinburgh and Taiwan. The council is working with the Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival, the Edinburgh International Festival, the University of Edinburgh and Taiwanese officials to develop a programme of activity. These discussions align with the Edinburgh International Framework and the purposes of the council’s Business Plan.

The University of Edinburgh and The Royal Botanical Gardens Edinburgh have already created their own links with the country in the past, which both organisations continue to build upon. It was Edinburgh’s own Dr James Maxwell who established the first hospital in Taiwan in the 19th century.

The theme of the Smart City summit is “Digital Transformation and Green Transition”.

Cllr Day will attend the Net Zero City Leaders’ Summit in Taipei which is a closed door event providing high level dialogue and discussion for mayors and city leaders to exchange opinions on smart city governance and visions for development. By talking about their home cities the participants outline the future of their own areas, exchanging ideas with others. More than 100 city leaders are expected to attend.

This session is described like this: “The concepts of Net Zero and smart cities are closely related because both focus on creating sustainable and resilient cities. By integrating Net Zero Goals into the planning and implementation of smart city initiatives, cities can work towards achieving a more sustainable and livable urban environment. The Net Zero City Leaders Summit will focus on the implementation strategies, and actions of smart cities, especially in 2 focal areas: transportation and buildings, the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions. The topics for the sessions will be “The trend of zero-carbon urban transport” and “Using smart technology to reach Zero-Carbon Building”, to bring together state-of-art solutions and strategies, to help smart cities achieve their Net Zero Goals.”

Edinburgh will take part in the panel discussion on zero-carbon urban transport.

During the last year the council has held discussions with the Mayors of Tainan City, Kaohsiung, and the Taipei Representative Office in the UK Edinburgh Office. The council agreed that council officers will continue to foster the relationship between Edinburgh International Group members (which include the University of Edinburgh, Festivals Edinburgh, Royal Botanic Gardens and the Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival) with Taiwan.

The summit is also celebrating its tenth year and looking ahead to 2050 by which time the global consensus of net zero must be reached.

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