Smart Life Week 2026 was recently held in Seoul, where Beijing’s “Digital-friendly Solutions” made their first collective debut overseas, becoming one of the exhibition’s main highlights. At the invitation of Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, a delegation from the Global Digital Economy Cities Alliance (DEC40) visited Seoul from Oct. 5-8 to participate in the Smart Life Week series of events, promoting practical cooperation between Seoul and Beijing in the digital economy, artificial intelligence and other fields.
This year’s Smart Life Week featured a “Digital-friendly Solutions” exhibition area for the first time, showcasing representative solutions in robotics, digital-real integration and smart city governance, along with their providers, including Galbot, Fiveages and Guangan Lumverse. Oh Se-hoon visited the exhibition booth, where You Jing, secretary-general of DEC40 and director of the International Exchange and Cooperation Division of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology, introduced the delegation and accompanied him on the tour.
During the visit, the delegation held exchanges with the Seoul Digital City Bureau, the Seoul AI Foundation, CityNet and the Seoul Business Agency, focusing on topics such as the application of AI in urban governance, opening up digital application scenarios and networked collaboration among international cities. The Global Digital Economy Cities Alliance signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Seoul AI Foundation, launching collaboration on smart city solution sharing, AI innovation practices and the matching of science and technology resources. The agreement opens new channels for Korean enterprises and institutions to participate in regional digital cooperation.
The concurrent Seoul-Beijing Digital Economy Enterprise Exchange Meeting attracted more than 40 Chinese and Korean enterprises and institutions, facilitating business matchmaking on industrial cooperation, legal compliance and joint technology research and providing Korean enterprises with a direct window into China’s digital market. The International Digital Economy Governance and Leading Talent Capacity Building Project (Phase III), co-hosted by DEC40 and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), was also held in Seoul. It brought together more than 10 participants serving government departments, university think tanks, international organizations and NGOs from 10 countries, including Malaysia, Vietnam, Myanmar, India, Uzbekistan and Nigeria. The project further strengthens Seoul’s role as an international platform for digital governance exchange.