U.S.-ASEAN Smart Cities Partnership
The Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) is the U.S. government’s signature program to engage with emerging leaders in Southeast Asia. Through a variety of programs and engagements, YSEALI seeks to build the leadership capabilities of youth in the region, strengthen ties between the United States and Southeast Asia, and nurture a community of leaders who work across borders to solve shared issues.
The YSEALI Smart Cities Workshop will bring together potential future leaders aged 20-35 from all ten ASEAN member countries and Timor-Leste. The workshop will inspire the participants to consider possible digital solutions to the challenges of urbanization.
The application of digital solutions to create smart cities can help to address urban challenges and create new business opportunities. It is important for future leaders to understand both the possibilities new technology offers in the field of urban development as well as how to ensure transparency, resiliency, privacy, security, sustainability, and interoperability, as well as how to include all segments of the population so that no one is left behind.
