Taichung City Government has been actively developing digital services, and last week, the digital citizen platform e-Taichung app won the first prize of the 2024 GOSMART Award, which was presented by Director of Digital Affairs Bureau, Mr. Lin Ku-Lung, at the city council meeting today (19th). "Digital power is the city's competitiveness! Mayor Lu Shiow-Yen emphasized that the city government has been continuously optimizing the e-Taichung app, which has won international awards one after another. In addition, the city government will set up a Taichung City Pavilion in 2024 Smart City Exhibition held in Taipei from today to March 22. Taichung City Government welcomes the public to visit the exhibition and witness the important achievements of Taichung in the promotion of the smart city.

 Mayor Lu said that the city government has been actively building the digital citizen platform "e-Taichung app," which has been downloaded more than 2.38 million times, and has been ranked first in the APP Store charts in the travel category for many times, becoming one of the most commonly used APPs in Taiwan, and has even stood out from the 39 projects around the world, winning the first prize of the 2024 GO SMART Award.

 "Winning international awards one after another means we’re highly recognized," Mayor Lu mentioned, "e-Taichung app" won the first award of WITSA ICT "Outstanding Public Cooperation Service Award" and the ASOCIO ICT Award "Digital Transition Award" at the end of 2023, and this time it won the 2024 GO SMART Award, winning international awards for three times mean it’s highly recognized by the experts.

 When it comes to the starting point of building the digital citizen platform, Mayor Lu also said that the purpose of building the e-Taichung app is to enable citizens to enjoy a convenient life with "municipal services within fingertips". The e-Taichung app digital citizen platform is feature-rich, covering online services such as e-counter service, payment and billing service, public statement platform, and vaccine appointments. Members can also enjoy special discounts at designated stores and participate in large-scale events such as the Taichung Shopping Festival, Taichung Pot Roast Festival, and Christmas Carnival within a single APP, which will continue to be optimized in the future, and the public is welcome to download and use it.

 Director Lin pointed out that the 2024 Smart City Exhibition (Taipei) will be held in Hall 2 of Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center from today to 22nd. The Taichung City Pavilion, planned and built by the city government, demonstrates Taichung's proactive efforts building a smart city through the application of AI, IoT, and other technologies, and the international trend of the twin transition of digital and net-zero, as well as Taichung's innovation and competitiveness through a number of smart application solutions. In addition, Taichung City won a number of technology awards this year, such as the Smart City Innovation Award and GO SMART Award, demonstrating Taichung's outstanding achievements in promoting its smart city.