**WSCE 2025: Sharing Smart City Technologies and Innovations, with Over 70 Countries Expected to Participate**
The city of Busan, alongside BEXCO, has been announced as the host city for the 2025 World Smart City Expo (WSCE), organized by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.
WSCE is the largest exhibition in Asia dedicated to sharing the latest smart city technologies and innovations globally, and it will take place from July 15 to 17.
Traditionally organized annually in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province since 2017 by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Ministry of Science and ICT, the event will, for the first time, be hosted by a local government in collaboration with a convention center. Busan city concentrated its efforts by collaborating with BEXCO, Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency, and Busan Tourism Organization to secure their selection.
During the process, Busan highlighted its status as one of only two designated national pilot cities for smart cities in South Korea, along with Sejong. The city also emphasized its success in hosting various international events like G-Star and the Korea-ASEAN Special Summit. As part of WSCE 2025’s new strategy, it plans to simultaneously host the ‘K-ICT WEEK in Busan’, the largest ICT event in the southeast region of Korea, incorporating AI Korea and two other exhibitions to maximize synergies between the contents.
Busan anticipates hosting WSCE for multiple years in collaboration with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. The 2024 WSCE saw participation from 330 companies and 39,000 visitors from 70 countries, and this number is expected to grow. The city expects the event to boost front and back industries of digital convergence and have a significant impact on related sectors such as tourism and hospitality.
Mayor Park Heong-joon of Busan expressed delight in Busan being the first local government to be selected as a WSCE host city, seeing it as a stepping stone towards becoming a global hub city.