Future Cities Forum

Cities are constantly challenged by rapid population as well as industrial growth and these threaten to overwhelm their capacity to effectively and efficiently deliver the services required by their dwellers and

industries.

Yet this situation presents plenty of opportunities. With the timely introduction and adoption of cross sector policy and technology innovations, cities can avoid being distressed and escape a future of deterioration and stagnation due to their inability to adapt quickly to urban challenges.

The emerging key ingredients to ensure the functionality and competitiveness of urban centers lie in the ability of policymakers, planners, technology providers and key implementers to be inclusive and integrated in the framework and approach in building smart and sustainable cities.

The Future Cities Forum 2018 is being convened to discuss the challenges and opportunities to achieve the goal of building smart and sustainable cities.

Innovations in Infrastructure Congress

The Philippines' global competitiveness is dragged down by the inadequate supply of infrastructure all over the country according to the World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Index report for 2017- 2018. This is ranked as the second most important business concern that has to be addressed to improve the country's global competitiveness – the first being inefficient government bureaucracy and the third being corruption.

In this regard the government has launched in 2016 a major infrastructure program "Build Build Build'' with a budget of Php 8.3 trillion during the period 2017-2222. The Innovation in Infrastructure Congress will bring together public and private sector officials to get an update on the implementation of this program in 2017, to exchange views on the program implementation by sector and to showcase innovative technologies that could support the speedy, efficient and sustainable delivery of infrastructure projects all over the country.