The New Taipei City Government continues to utilize information technology and digital tools to create a better living environment for the citizens. This year, the “NewTaiPAY” mobile payment app is nominated to compete with international applicants from 20 countries/regions, including the UK, USA, Brazil, Canada, Spain, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and more in the 2023 International Innovation Awards. NewTaiPAY provides a convenient digital payment tool, particularly emphasizing carbon footprint tracking to promote carbon reduction incentives to the public. The App aligning with the global vision of achieving net-zero emissions in the future, resulted in an outstanding achievement among over 200 projects. New Taipei City was awarded the “Service and Solutions” category at the “2023 International Innovation Awards (IIA)” ceremony held on December 1st at the Hilton Taipei Sinban Hotel. Notably, it is the only Taiwan government agency to receive this award.
The “International Innovation Awards (IIA)” is organized by the internationally renowned non-governmental organization, Enterprise Asia, which is considered the world’s most high-profile innovation service award. Since 2017, its judging panel compose of multinational innovation expertise, key opinion leaders from business sectors, and academic community to conduct a rigorous written review and interview process to jointly decide the most innovative project from participating companies or organizations.
The 2023 IIA review used a global professional perspective to review the fruitful results achieved by NewTaiPAY, the digital mobile payment system promoted and implemented by the New Taipei City Government. The App has been given high marks, and it stood out from companies and government agencies from various countries, fully demonstrating the international professional recognition of New Taipei City’s innovative strength.
Fu-Tian Chen, the Director of the Information Management Center, stated that the “NewTaiPAY” App is centered around digital economy development, with the goal of promoting net-zero carbon emissions. The platform utilizes a municipal interactive incentive mechanism to distribute New Taipei Dollars, accelerating the transformation to digital payments and creating a new economic model of contactless payment method while promoting low carbon emission awareness. It not only encourages citizens to actively participate in municipal activities, but also integrates specially partnered merchants to enhance market exposure and appeal to customers. By using points (New Taipei Dollars) to stimulate consumption, the platform aims to boost economic revitalization. Additionally, it organizes charitable activities to support underprivileged groups. At the same time, it provides carbon footprint calculations and incentives to increase the citizens’ willingness to participate in energy conservation and carbon reduction activity in daily life. Through collaboration with citizens, the initiative aims to achieve a win-win outcome for public welfare and environmental sustainability.
In recent years, New Taipei City has been dedicated to developing a smart city, the process has achieved remarkable success and garnered international recognition. Following the prestigious ICF TOP1 Award and being the world’s first city to obtain full smart city certification through comprehensive evaluation, New Taipei City has added to its accolades by winning the “2023 WITSA Smart Cities Award” as well as the “2023 IDC Future Enterprise Awards”, from both the Asia-Pacific region and Taiwan. The result of this international award once again symbolizes New Taipei’s elevated achievements in advancing a smart and sustainable city.
In the future, the city government aims to continue integrating various resources to utilize NewTaiPAY mobile payment app, offering citizens more diverse and convenient functions, with the intention of enhancing the usability and overall efficiency of municipal services. Additionally, there are plans to actively explore collaboration possibilities with mobile payment platforms in other cities and counties, aiming at expanding the usage and depth of NewTaiPAY, collectively creating a more convenient digital economic lifestyle.