Kaohsiung Smart City Summit & Expo 2025: 3 Booths to Check Out and Exclusive Insights from Deputy Mayor Charles Lin
We had the opportunity to sit down with Charles Lin, the Deputy Mayor of Kaohsiung to discuss the city's vision for becoming a leading smart city and how they are leveraging cutting-edge technologies to enhance the quality of life for its residents.
After exploring the exciting booths at Taipei Smart City Summit & Expo 2025, we headed to Kaohsiung's Smart City Summit & Expo 2025.
The exhibition brought together the brightest minds and cutting-edge technologies shaping the future of urban development.
Prior to visiting the event, we had the opportunity to sit down with Charles Lin, the Deputy Mayor of Kaohsiung to discuss the city's vision for becoming a leading smart city and how they are leveraging cutting-edge technologies to enhance the quality of life for its residents.
The conversation provided valuable insights into the city's strategy and the importance of collaboration in building a sustainable and efficient smart city infrastructure.
During the interview, Deputy Mayor Charles Lin shared groundbreaking news about Kaohsiung’s development of the "First in the World" Kaohsiung Sovereign AI—a city-scale artificial intelligence model aimed at optimizing urban governance. This AI model integrates both Large Language Models (LLM) and Vision Language Models (VLM) to help improve city management, cybersecurity, and privacy.
By fine-tuning this AI system with local data, Kaohsiung is building a robust platform designed to enhance the overall efficiency of city operations.
This ambitious project puts Kaohsiung at the forefront of smart city innovation, as it will serve as a model for other cities globally.
Furthermore, Deputy Mayor Lin emphasized Kaohsiung's commitment to sharing its smart city solutions with the world. With successful implementations already in place, such as telemedicine programs in Kanchanaburi, Thailand, the city has been exporting its smart healthcare solutions to other countries.
Kaohsiung is eager to expand this international outreach and also plans to export its city-level AI model to other regions, aiming to set a global standard for smart city technologies.
After the insightful converstion, we explored SCSE Kaohsiung.
Among the myriad of futuristic innovations, three booths stood out to us, offering fascinating solutions that reflect the essence of smart cities.
Chunghwa Telecom: Revolutionizing Customer Service with AI-Powered Chatbots
One of the most impressive booths at the expo was that of Chunghwa Telecom, which showcased their innovative multi-turn customer service chatbot.
The chatbot leverages AI-powered Q&A and knowledge management technology to provide fast, accurate, and highly efficient customer service. Supporting multiple access channels—such as web, social media, and telephone—Chunghwa Telecom’s system maintains a unified knowledge base, ensuring consistency and reliability across platforms.
With over 15 Q&A models and a recognition rate exceeding 90%, the system is designed to resolve user inquiries through structured dialogue flows. Notably, the real-time update mechanism enables knowledge updates within just 10 minutes, significantly reducing the time spent on developing knowledge bases by 70%. With success stories such as handling over 20 million interactions between 2019 and 2024 and facilitating self-service completions with an 80% success rate, Chunghwa Telecom is setting a new standard for AI-driven customer service.
Additionally, the system has been implemented across several sectors, including government, enterprise, and healthcare, providing substantial improvements in customer service efficiency.
Smart Canoe Rapids by the Sports Development Bureau: Indoor Sports Meets Technology
The Smart Canoe Rapids booth introduced a revolutionary indoor sports activity that combines technology with physical fitness. The interactive whitewater rafting competition provides a unique and engaging way for people to improve their muscle endurance, agility, and explosive power. Whether it’s a rainy day or a day with poor air quality, smart canoeing offers an accessible, fun, and healthy alternative for exercise, suitable for all ages.
The setup allows two participants to engage in a competitive rafting experience, with real-time displays of their rowing distance, speed, and rankings. Sensors provide immediate feedback on speed, distance, and calories burned, simulating a real rapids environment. The Smart Canoe Rapids system is already being showcased at Qianjin and Lingya Sports Centers, allowing people to experience this exciting new sport firsthand.
This activity has a promising future, with plans to expand its reach internationally and to neighboring counties, providing a fresh take on indoor exercise that can be enjoyed year-round.
ICARES AI Technology Counseling: Tackling Drug Addiction with Big Data and AI
A truly groundbreaking exhibit was the ICARES AI Technology Counseling booth, developed by the Narcotics and Drug Prevention Bureau. This booth introduced the nation's first "Big Data AI Technology Counseling - Smart Drug Prevention System," which integrates AI with drug addiction counseling. The system analyzes trends and risk factors related to drug addiction, offering tailored case counseling strategies that can predict, respond, and dynamically adjust to the needs of individuals.
The ICARES system not only uses big data to predict and adjust counseling approaches but also incorporates family dynamics into the counseling process. This comprehensive method helps reduce relapse rates and supports individuals on their journey to recovery.
It highlights how AI can be leveraged not only for technological innovation but also for making a positive societal impact by addressing critical issues like drug addiction.
With its ability to provide real-time analysis and intervention, the ICARES system is a model for future health-related applications that aim to prevent and manage complex social issues.
Smart Cities: The Smart Way Forward
Evidently, as cities around the world continue to embrace smart technologies, Kaohsiung is positioning itself as a leader in integrating innovative solutions to tackle urban challenges.
This exhibition was a testament to the incredible potential of smart cities, and the Deputy Mayor’s insights provide a clear roadmap for the city’s future development. With collaboration, forward-thinking policies, and the strategic use of technology, the vision of creating smarter, more livable cities is within reach.
