In The News

Insider: Caddie hits the ground early in Asia

information@galeintl.com (By Vartan Kupelian) — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 12:00:00 EST

Sep. 8, 2010
By Vartan Kupelian, PGATOUR.COM Correspondent

The buzz has been getting louder and the anticipation levels have swelled. That's what happens when an uncharted experience draws nearer.

The Champions Tour breaks new ground this week with its first-ever tournament in Asia, the Songdo Championship.

"The closer it's getting, the more I'm looking forward to it," Scott Simpson said.

For Simpson, the Posco E&C Songdo Championship Presented by Gale International marks a return to Korea. He played on the Asian Tour in 1978 and visited the country for one of the final tournaments of the series.

"I'm sure I won't even recognize it," Simpson said. "I've heard the course is really good and definitely ready to play."

Mark O'Meara is a two-time major champion. He has traveled the world playing golf. But this will be his first journey to Korea.

"I'm looking forward to it," O'Meara said. "I've spent a lot of time in the Far East, in Japan, but never in Korea so it's a new experience for me. I've heard some wonderful things about the course and about the resort.

"I know that golf is growing in Korea by leaps and bounds. There are great Korean players and more are coming along. This is a win-win situation for the Champions Tour and also for Korean golf."

The Champions Tour has visited several international destinations -- Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. Korea joins that list this week.

The Songdo Championship will introduce a major economic development in Korea to the golf world. The centerpiece from a sports perspective is the new Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea, home of the new event. The Songdo International Business District, 40 miles west of Seoul, is being developed by Gale International, a New York-based real estate development and investment firm. The model is dynamic and futuristic.

Troy Martin, caddie for D.A. Weibring, got a first look at the Nicklaus course and the development. His reports back to the Champions Tour have been a popular talking point the past few weeks.

With Weibring's blessing, Martin made a quick 2 ½-day trip to Korea on the Monday after the JELD-WEN Tradition. His mission: Chart the course to provide players and other caddies a source book and a head-start on preparing for the tournament. It is something Martin does on a regular basis.

"Troy is working all the time on his books," Weibring said. "He was expanding his business when this opportunity came up."

The challenge was to find a time slot for Martin to get away from his central duties as Weibring's caddie.

"It was a major effort on his part to leave Monday morning after the JELD-WEN," Weibring said. "It all came together. I could tell he really enjoyed the experience."

Martin was greeted warmly and widely supported during the trip to Korea. He returned with plenty of insights, stories and pictures. "Fascinating," Weibring said of the photos.

"It was a really cool experience," Martin said. "I'm very grateful D.A. let me go. Korea was amazing. The country is very pretty, the course is excellent.

"They're golf crazy over there."

Martin expects every facet of the tournament to be top-drawer. He says that because he has seen the detail and the expense that has gone into the Songdo City development, including the breathtaking $1 billion Incheon Bridge that stretches nearly 10 miles from the mainland to Yeongjong Island. The bridge is a six-lane motorway linking the economic zone with the nearby Incheon International Airport just a short drive away.

Once the Champions Tour players arrive at the Nicklaus course, what they'll find as a defining characteristic, according to Martin, are greens with "a lot of slope and undulations."

"They might be the most difficult set of greens I've ever seen," Martin said.

The amazement won't stop there.

"The clubhouse is beautiful, marble and granite unlike anything I've ever seen," Martin said. "The bridge, it's incredible. And it's going to be really neat for all the guys to experience the culture."

Champions Tour Insider Notes:

The Songdo Championship has a Champions Tour record $3 million purse.
Mark Calcavecchia won the 2004 Maekyung Open at Seoul's Lakeside Country Club. It was his first victory with then soon-to-be wife Brenda on the bag.

"We had a great time there that week," Calcavecchia said. "Best breakfast set-up I've ever seen in my life. It was half the size of this putting green. They had Kim-Chi. I'm Mr. Kim-Chi."

Kim-Chi is a spicy cabbage that is a staple of Korean cuisine. It is served at every meal and, Calcavecchia said, "flamingly hot."

Jack Nicklaus isn't in the field on the course he designed -- Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea -- but he'll tee it up in Thursday's pro-am.

Songdo International Business District - An Ultra-Modern Futuristic City

information@galeintl.com (Carolyn J. Dawson) — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 12:00:00 EST

ABC's "Good Morning America" has presented Songdo International Business District as an example of a futuristic city that professionally combined the latest IT and environment-friendly technology.

"Good Morning America" officials announced that the Songdo IBD development project is exceptional.

It is considered as the foremost private real estate development project across the world, according to officials. In addition to that, the city looks identical to those futuristic cities portrayed in the movies "5th Element" and "Minority Report." The program unveiled the way in which the facilities such as parks and waterways are arranged after iconic features of well-known cities. Apart from that, the city offers a Golf Course that is designed by Jack Nicklaus and a newly constructed international school that can be simply accessed on foot or by bicycle. This city's utmost power is that it is aiming for global acceptance.

Juju Chang, a news anchor for "Good Morning America," biked around Songdo IBD's facilities, with real estate developer Stanley Gale. This helped Juju to identify the innovative changes that are possible in urban technologies. Juju got the opportunity to visit Gale's Songdo residence. There, Juju was able to experience the central waste collection system that thrashed the garbage to a recycling center without the help of any trucks or personnel. Also, Juju took time to perform a health checkup and body fat analysis with the U-healthcare system installed in each house. The program also explained the methods for residents to consult with their doctors by means of its video conferencing system.

In the interview with Juju, Stanley Gale said that "Songdo will be a success when it's fully populated with residents, businesses, and young people who are full of confidence. I am very sure the magnificent dream of this futuristic city that began with desolate reclaimed land will come true."

Good Morning America is the American morning news and talk show that is broadcasted on the ABC. Some of the features of the program include news, talk, weather and special-interest stories.

ABC "Good Morning America" Selected Incheon's Songdo International Business District as High-Tech Futuristic City

information@galeintl.com () — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 12:00:00 EST

On the 12^th, ABC's major morning program, ‘Good Morning America' introduced Songdo International Business District (hereinafter, referred to as "Songdo IBD") as the example of a futuristic city that efficiently integrates the latest IT and environment-friendly technology.

Good Morning America pointed out that Songdo IBD development project is unprecedented. It is the biggest private real estate development project in the world and looks like the futuristic cities depicted in the movies 5^thElement and Minority Report. The program revealed how facilities including the parks and waterways are being patterned after iconic features of famous cities. There's also a Jack Nicklaus-designed Golf Course and a newly constructed international school that are easily accessible on foot or by bicycle. This city's greatest strength is that it's targeting the world.

Good Morning America's news anchor, Juju Chang, biked around Songdo IBD's facilities with real estate developer Stanley Gale and experienced first-hand the revolutionary changes possible in urban technologies. Juju visited Gale's Songdo residence, The # First World, and watched as the central waste collection system whisked the trash to a recycling center without any trucks or personnel. Juju had a health checkup and body fat analysis with the U-healthcare system installed in each house and explained how residents can consult with their doctors via its video conferencing system.

Juju asked, "Is Songdo IBD a success?" Stanley Gale said, "Songdo will be a success when it's fully populated with residents, businesses, and young people who are full of confidence. I am very sure the magnificent dream of this futuristic city that began with desolate reclaimed land will come true."

Chadwick School to operate new school in South Korea

information@galeintl.com (Melissa Pamer ) — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 12:00:00 EST

The Chadwick School's bucolic campus on the Palos Verdes Peninsula is about to have a new incarnation in a high-tech "city of the future" that's still being built on the far side of the Pacific Ocean.

This fall, the independent high school will open a location catering largely to international students in New Songdo City, a privately owned, high-tech "green" development rising about an hour from Seoul, in Incheon, South Korea.

The school will unlock its doors as the surrounding "free economic zone," built from scratch on a 1,500-acre mudflat at the edge of the Yellow Sea, is beginning to come to life.

The zone is the largest of several low-tax and low-regulation areas - designed to attract international business and investment - that were approved by the South Korean government in 2003.

New Songdo City is a $35 billion effort that's smaller but comparable in some ways to Brazil's construction of its then-futuristic inland capital Brasilia a half-century ago. The intent is to create an economic hub for Northeast Asia, backers say.

Add to this unusual venture Chadwick, a well-regarded private day school, founded in 1935, that educates about 800 students from kindergarten to 12th grade on its semi-rural campus in the unincorporated area of The Hill.

"This will force us to get really clear about what is the core of Chadwick School," headmaster Ted Hill said. "We're going to be at this very high-tech, all new, flashy steel-and-glass city, and the question is going to be: How do we bring the essence of Chadwick there?"

The state-of-the-art South Korean campus is designed to attract expatriates who want to bring their families - and their business - to New Songdo City.

The development is a partnership of Gale International, a New York-based real estate company, and a South Korean steel firm, Posco. Cisco, the U.S. technology corporation, is wiring the entire city in an initiative it plans to expand elsewhere called "Smart+Connected Communities."

The city - which boasts South Korea's tallest building and its longest bridge - is expected to house 67,000 residents at the edge of Incheon, a port city with a population of more than 2.5 million. The first portions of New Songdo City opened last August.

Chadwick officials said they learned last year that the South Korean government and New Songdo's developers were seeking applications from American schools to run the city's private K-12 campus.

The recruitment effort came after bids to run the campus from the developers and a Vancouver private school were rejected by the South Korean ministry of education, according to news reports.

Hill said he had heard through colleagues at other Los Angeles-area private schools that New Songdo officials believed Southern California schools were desirable operators because of the region's Pacific Rim location and the dense population of ethnic Koreans in the region - the highest concentration outside of Asia.

Hill was intrigued by the prospect of a high-tech sister school that could help Chadwick build on its expanding commitment to international education.

"We said, `This is very interesting, this is very intriguing. This is a horse of a different color,"' Hill said.

Now he imagines two classes of first-graders on nearly opposite sides of the globe meeting as one through video-conferencing technology - called Telepresence - that's being installed throughout New Songdo by Cisco.

Hill called it "pen pals on steroids."

In January, after a flurry of meetings here and in South Korea, and a lot of help from parents and a trustee of Korean descent, Chadwick's 20-member board of trustees approved the new school.

The biggest worry was how it would affect the school's endowment, said board President Rick Learned, a Hermosa Beach resident.

"When I talked to Ted, I could tell that he really saw a great fit with our kind of global perspective," Learned said. "So I wanted to do everything I could if it made sense financially."

Learned said the city's backers, known as New Songdo International City Development, have agreed to subsidize the new school by renting 500,000-square-foot educational facilities to Chadwick for free for five years or until the campus breaks even, whichever is earlier.

Meanwhile, Chadwick has turned to an alumnus to run the new campus. Richard "Dick" Warmington, class of 1960, will be the president of Chadwick International School, as it will be known.

Warmington was a natural choice, Hill and Learned said. Long a backer of independent schools, he lived in Seoul for four years beginning in 1988 as the president of a joint venture between Hewlett-Packard and Samsung. He and his wife adopted two Korean children and then spent nearly a decade in Hong Kong, where Warmington headed Hewlett-Packard's Asia Pacific operations.

Those experiences have given Warmington insight into cultural and social differences that may prove challenging for Chadwick, he said.

"A big part of the job was creating the culture of the company. ... That's exactly what I'm doing with this school. This is deja vu," Warmington said.

Having retired in 2000, Warmington and his wife live in Saratoga, Calif. Earlier this year, they bought an apartment on the 27th floor of a 42-story building with more than 2,000 units in New Songdo.

"We can look out our window and watch the city being pulled up," he said. "It's fascinating."

Warmington said he learned from the South Korean government late last month that Chadwick's license to run the school had been approved. That freed up the Palos Verdes Peninsula institution to promote its plans, which it did last week.

Chadwick International School will begin classes Sept. 7, with a goal of enrolling 260 students in kindergarten through seventh grade, Hill said.

Eventually, the campus will accommodate 2,100 K-12 students, with a dormitory planned.

The South Korean government calls for schools in free economic zones to have an enrollment composed of 30 percent Korean nationals and 70 percent international students. Typically, South Korean nationals may not attend so-called foreign schools.

The school will be a draw for affluent South Koreans who send their children abroad to get an international education, Warmington said.

But it may be tough to attract the requisite number of expatriate students amid a global recession. The poor economy has forced corporations to pull back expansion plans, putting in question the future of the free economic zones, Korean English language newspapers have reported.

"This is a bit of a risky venture," Warmington acknowledged.

At the higher education level, some U.S. universities are scaling back their initial pledges to participate in New Songo's college, Songdo Global University Campus, according to a recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education.

USC is continuing to explore opening a center in New Songdo, according to Adam Clayton Powell III, vice provost for globalization.

Unlike other universities that are partnering with New Songdo City, the potential USC center would not be degree-granting but would instead complement offerings at the Los Angeles campus, Powell said.

"Our concept is that it would be seamless," Powell said. "Students in L.A. could take classes or do research in Korea."

Now, as Chadwick officials prepare their teaching staff - already hired - for the new academic year in South Korea, Hill said one of the big questions is how to translate the school's longstanding culture and standards to a Confucian society.

"We can't just take what we've been doing for 75 years in a school in Palos Verdes and put it in an international school in Korea," Hill said.

Environmental education - long a part of the tradition at Chadwick, which was originally an "outdoor" school - is going to be difficult to continue in a very densely developed area, he said.

"We're just going to have to translate from our idyllic top-of-a-hill environment here to over there," Hill said. "Some of it is going to have to undergo some permutations, no doubt about it."

The Chadwick School, a nearly 75-year-old private campus on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, will this fall open an international school in New Songdo City, an unusual development in South Korea. The new school's website is chadwickinternational.org

Chadwick International School to Open in Songdo, Incheon in September

information@galeintl.com (Sung-Young Kim) — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 12:00:00 EST

Chadwick International, an international school in Songdo, Incheon, obtained a preliminary approval from the Korean Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and will begin operating in September. Being run by Chadwick School, a prestigious private school in Los Angeles, U.S.A., Chadwick International will start to recruit students from kindergarten through 7^th grade (full 12 years old) in Korea and overseas at the end of June.

Two additional stages of review must be completed by the free economy zones (FEZ) committee of the Ministry of Knowledge Economy and approval by the Minister of Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. The school will be granted autonomy in selecting students, setting tuition, and formulating the curriculum.

In May 2009, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology implemented a policy in accordance with the ‘Service Progress Plan in Education' that for five years from now 30% of the total enrollees may be Korean students who have not lived overseas. The yearly tuition is USD 26,000~28,000. The admission process consists of a 1^st phase where report cards from a certain period of schooling are evaluated along with the recommendation letter from a teacher, and a 2^nd phase where students must sit for a written exam in English and be interviewed.

"We are committed to developing cosmopolitan students through our world-class educational curriculum delivered at the unrivaled facilities in Korea's Songdo Campus in the Songdo International Business Complex," said a representative of the Chadwick School.

Megaprojects: Songdo International Business District

information@galeintl.com (Scott Lewis) — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 12:00:00 EST

A new urban center is rapidly taking shape in Incheon, Korea, a port city 30 miles west of Seoul. Work is under way on 100 buildings across 1,500 acres reclaimed from the sea. The First World apartment complex is currently home to Songdo's first 12,000 residents.

The development's population is expected to reach 65,000 upon completion in 2014. The Convensia Convention Center, the Convention Center Hotel, an international school and the 100-acre Central Park have been completed. The construction workforce currently numbers 20,000 and is expected to peak in late 2010 at 25,000.

The developer is New Songdo International City Development LLC, a 70%-30% partnership of New York-headquartered Gale International as the majority partner, and POSCO Engineering and Construction Co., a unit of Korea's largest steel producer. The master plan was developed by New York based Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates. Incheon Bridge, with both cable-stayed and cantilever sections and viaducts totaling 7.6 miles, opened last year, connecting Songdo to Incheon International Airport.

The centerpiece is the 65-story Northeast Asia Trade Tower. It recently topped out, with completion expected early next year. It will be South Korea's tallest building at 305 m.

The master plan calls for two fifths of the site to be devoted to green space-parks, wetlands and canals-far greater than most other urban centers in Asia. It is pedestrian-friendly, with walking/biking corridors and public gathering spaces.

Phase Two construction is under way now. When complete, there will be nine tall residential buildings, designed by such firms as HOK and Kohn Pedersen Fox. Seven of them are currently under construction. Five major mixed-use office/hotel/retail buildings are expected to be built during coming years. When finished, Songdo will contain 30 million sq ft of residential space, 45 million sq ft of office space, 10 million sq ft of retail and five million sq ft of hotel space.

Songdo is already connected with downtown Incheon and Seoul via subway, with three stops serving Songdo. This connectivity will be ever more vital, because 300,000 office workers and students are expected to commute into Songdo daily upon completion. There is also extensive water taxi service. (ENR Global Sourcebook, Dec. 2005, p. 45, enr.com 8/19/09)

Location: Incheon, South Korea

Estimated Cost: $35 billion

Construction Period: 2004-2016

Developer: New Songdo International City Development LLC

This summer at "Hot Place Song-do Canal walk"

information@galeintl.com (Incheon City Hall) — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 12:00:00 EST

This summer, Canal Walk, the central commercial business facility of the international business complex in Songdo International city, is receiving high attention. Canal Walk was introduced to be the shooting location for the sports drinks targeting the summer season for the cheering campaign of the Korean National Soccer team in the 2010 South Africa World Cup.

The Canal Walk appears as the background in an international beverage company CF which has been broadcasted since June. The Canal Walk's unique design and clean appearance is well matched with Jang Hyuk's free running and leaves a strong impression.

In Canal Walk, the red shouts of the 2010 South African World Cup is heard. The Canal Walk first appeared on June 12th using the cheering sounds of the Korean National soccer team who won against the Greece team as its background. Recently a famous wire agency filmed the South African World Cup cheering campaign CF at the Canal Walk. Members of the famous girl groups Four Minute and Brown Eyed Girls fervently cheered for the Korean National Team at the Canal Walk wishing the team to qualify for the group of 16.

Canal Walk is noted for its unique and sophisticated exterior design. The wood deck and its gardening make an exotic scenery because it is formed naturally following the central channel which is 540m long. Instead of having to travel abroad to film a foreign scenery, this place delivers a vibe of being in a foreign prominent city itself. The low rise building is stretched out widely with a large open spaced area and this is another reason it is receiving much spotlight.

A person related to KPF who helped design the Canal Walk said, "Canal Walk is a place that will receive much attention during the summer time especially because of its water space and ecofriendly effects. It will be an attractive place where people can walk down the exotic canal roadsides while shopping, enjoy leisure time with a romantic dinner at an outdoor cafe."

Meanwhile, Canal Walk also finalized a contract last May for the entry of famous brand-name premium outlets. They are scheduled to open next February and expected to be an attraction not only for the local shoppers, but also for the tourists as well.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/sneed/2417426,CST-NWS-SNEED22.article?stanley

information@galeintl.com (Anders Bylund) — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 12:00:00 EST

Have you ever been to Epcot? The Walt Disney theme park was built to reflect Uncle Walt's vision of the ideal community, using cutting-edge technology and social innovation. That experimental prototype community of tomorrow is pretty much a reality today, but I'm not talking about Epcot itself, or even the nearby master-planned city of Celebration, Fla.

Disney has passed the torch, however inadvertently, to IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO). With a trillion-dollar pot to share this decade alone, and more beyond that, you can expect a feeding frenzy of epic proportions. Building smart cities is a whole new ballgame, and Cisco CEO John Chambers has said that the business opportunity "may be bigger than the whole Internet."

Meet the players
IBM's travails in the "smart community" arena have been widely documented; Big Blue is a major player in hyperconnected community infrastructure and green IT operations. Cisco's presence is not as paparazzi-laden, however. And maybe we should be paying closer attention to this side of the networking giant, because the company sees an addressable market of at least $40 billion of business here over the next 10 years.

Cisco is putting the finishing touches on the data infrastructure in New Songdo, South Korea. Wired to the hilt, New Songdo is meant to become a template for ultramodern insta-build cities. This one cost $35 billion and took the better part of a decade to complete; the development team hopes to learn from the experience and then cut down on both costs and building speed.

It also didn't help that the ground under New Songdo was open water at the start of the project -- it takes a while to raise artificial islands. Cisco and its allies have the first Songdo clone under construction already, and wants to spit out at least 20 more of them just for starters. When the process becomes more refined and standardized, there's no telling how many modern, quick-build cities could pop up in New Songdo's wake. Population growth is a real problem in many parts of the world, and standard of living matters everywhere.

Cisco's globalization chief Wim Elfrink calls this "the industrialization of the Internet. First voice became a packet in a network; video is a packet in a network. Now, electricity, safety and security can also become packets in a network." And so it goes. Elfrink sees a $1.2 trillion global investment in "smart" urban infrastructure and is happy to grab a few percent of that. IBM is a sometime partner already, and Cisco also works arm-in-arm with more tangible technology giants like 3M (NYSE: MMM) and United Technologies (NYSE: UTX) to complete the information-packed framework of tomorrow's quick-build cities.

When tomorrow comes
Whether you think of Cisco's turnkey Tomorrowlands as a utopian fantasy, as the next logical step in suburban sprawl, or as the best way to corral and house everyone in a growing world, there is clearly big business at stake. I'm only surprised that more multinational giants haven't jumped into this market with both feet.

Cisco beat out Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) to land the New Songdo contract, and now you don't hear a peep about smart grids out of Redmond. If anybody knows how to analyze endless piles of seemingly random data, it would be Google (Nasdaq: GOOG), but the closest thing Big G has to a "smart city" project is its investments in green energy generation. Close, but no cigar. These sharks must eventually join the feeding frenzy. The longer they wait, the more time IBM and Cisco will have to establish larger mindshares and market shares in this crucial, formative period.

Uncle Walt's Epcot dream is becoming a reality, under the stewardship of others.

Cities, Buildings are becoming smarter

information@galeintl.com (Leslie D'Monte) — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 12:00:00 EST

Technology firms like Cisco, IBM, Microsoft and Google, besides research institutes, are helping make cities more responsive to the needs and desires of inhabitants

The 250,000 citizens of Songdo, a business district which borders the Yellow Sea in Incheon, a free economic zone in South Korea, are seeing hectic activity. Every nook and corner is being wired. The idea is to have everything connected - buildings, cars and even energy grids.

Networking technology from Cisco is being embedded into buildings, and every home, school and government agency is being equipped with telepresence video technology. Cisco, which is helping build a prototype of an ‘intelligent city' here, has sold 20,000 units of telepresence - its advanced videoconferencing system. Much of Songdo will have been wired by 2014.

Cisco and New York City-based Gale International hope the $35 billion Songdo project will soon lead to similar developments in China, India, Vietnam and other countries. A start has been made. Chinese officials have evinced interest in the project. So has India.

Cisco, for instance, signed an agreement with the Karnataka government this February to help develop a roadmap for an intelligent, smart and sustainable Bangalore city. The timeline for this project has not been made public. Meanwhile, it has also signed an agreement with Lavasa Future Cities (Pune city) to build a city on the backbone of technology.

Building these technologies into new constructions adds relatively little to the overall construction costs. The technologies could vary. "For instance, you could be ill at home and a doctor could diagnose you using the telepresence facility. Similarly, a yoga class could be beamed into your living room or medical check-ups done remotely," explains Naresh Wadhwa, president & country manager, Cisco India & SAARC.

All of these would be managed through a single internet network. Cisco would collect a recurring fee for maintaining the services, similar to a utility. It would be similar to paying a maintenance fee once a month, says Wadhwa, adding: "Some personalised services will be online and others can be push services. Every service in a smart city is a revenue opportunity. For instance, one can offer security monitoring services for a nominal fee."

Technologies for smart buildings and cities include Radio frequency identification (RFID) chips and Cisco Digital Signages for location-based identification, tracking, and personalisation. Employees and visitors, for instance, can receive targeted, customised content on strategically-placed Cisco Digital Signages inside buildings. Moreover, by showing power consumption, carbon dioxide emissions, water usage and other information on the Cisco Digital Signage, people can become environmentally-aware, believes Wadhwa.

Asset management and tracking can also be enabled throughout a building, enhancing safety and security. And while Cisco can give a complete office experience including cubicle-style work environments, office rooms, meeting rooms, boardrooms, and a telepresence room supported by an operator, it can also help increase occupancy rate of commercial buildings, claims Wadhwa. "Our solution allows users to adjust their office environment, set up network services, personalise desktop displays, and use an internet protocol (IP) phone," he adds.

The ‘smart city' concept is gathering momentum. Smart systems are transforming energy grids, supply chains and water management, as well as helping to confirm the authenticity of pharmaceuticals and the security of currency exchanges. Stockholm, for instance, has used smart traffic systems to cut gridlock by 20 per cent, reduce emissions by 12 per cent and increase public transportation use dramatically. Smart healthcare systems can lower the cost of therapy by as much as 90 per cent.

University research labs, too, have developed prototypes and solutions for intelligent cities. MIT Smart Cities Lab, for instance, focuses upon intelligent, sustainable buildings, mobility systems (including a GreenWheel Electric Bicycle, Mobility-on-Demand, Citycar and Wheel Robots). The IntelCities research consortium developed solutions for electronic government, planning systems and citizen participation. The Smart Cities Academic Network is working on e-governance and e-services in the North Sea region.

Simultaneously, billions of dollars are expected to start pouring into ‘Smart Grid' development from companies like IBM, Intel, Cisco, Oracle and Google too, as well as from governments which are expected to spend billions of dollars for the same. Microsoft, on its part, is working with Coventry University and Birmingham City Council on the Intelligent City Proof of Concept which is an interoperable technology platform focusing on transport.

IBM, too, is installing a smart grid at Malta - a group of islands in the Mediterranean sea - which will integrate both water and power systems and be able to identify water leaks and electricity losses in the grid.

IBM is intent on using information technology to create many such ‘smart grids' all over the world, including India, in a bid to create a ‘smarter planet'.

The reason is simple: Every minute during the next 20 years, 30 Indians will leave rural India for urban areas. India will need some 500 new cities. If they are smarter, the better for us.

Incheon aims to be home to international business

information@galeintl.com (Kang Hyun-kyung) — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 12:00:00 EST

Amid a cold snap, 121 Koreans, both single and married men and women of all age groups, flocked to the shabby, poorly equipped Jemulpo harbor near Incheon Bay on Dec. 22, 1902.

Brimming with mixed feelings of both excitement and fear for their new life overseas that would be fully unfolded about a month later, these pioneers were waiting for a ship that would usher them to the then uncharted territory of Hawaii, by way of Nagasaki of Japan.

Back then, the people in the port city of Incheon and the northern provinces, including the Hamgyeong Province now in North Korea, were eager to find a new place to live outside the country in search of more employment opportunities and an affluent life.

About a century later, the nature of the port city has changed a lot. It is no longer temporary homes to aspiring emigrants seeking a better life abroad.

Global businessmen and women, academics, researchers and hospital management take a closer look at the shabby fishery town-turned-world-class city as the Songdo International Business District now offers a business-friendly climate, as well as geographic conveniences.

The reclaimed land, the western part of Incheon, was set aside by the government to become a Free Economic Zone several years ago.

Songdo has been gradually transforming to become a world-class "Smart City" where all necessary amenities and green facilities make it possible for residents to attain higher standards of living and a more satisfying quality of life than those of any other city in the world.

The city is now courting international investors looking for a location that has it all for a thriving venture - a favorable business climate, a supportive research and educational environment and close vicinity to the vibrant Northeast Asian markets.

Pioneers looking for better life overseas

Back in 1902, the 121 people departed Incheon by a ship and arrived in Nagasaki, Japan for medical checkups. Completing all the necessary steps and measures needed for immigration to the United States, these people then boarded the steam ship Gaelic for a long and treacherous journey to the land of promise.

It took about 20 days for the pioneers to finally arrive in the new land. Of the 121, only 102 people disembarked and stepped into Honolulu about a month later, marking the first Korean generation who immigrated to the United States from Korea.

Long hours of manual work under a scorching sun outdoors, homesickness, and other formidable challenges, including adjustment and assimilation to the new culture, lay in store for them.

In an article titled "The First Wave Pioneers," Esther Kwon Arinaga, whose father was one of the 102, described the major factors that had motivated them to seek a better life in such a faraway land as Hawaii.

"In several of the provinces (in Korea back then), a severe drought had ruined crops, causing widespread famine," she recalled.

"In northern provinces, particularly around Pyongyang (at the time), stories began to circulate about Hawaii as a place where a person could get rich quickly and where education was free."

The retired lawyer and writer also mentioned the hostile socio-political environment - Korea was surrounded by nations with imperialist ambitions such as Japan and Russia - in those days as another reason prompting them to seek opportunities elsewhere.

Living in the dark days, people would have felt easily hopeless and helpless and would have attempted to find a place to live abroad where they would have no worries or frustration.

After years of resistance to those foreign imperialists, Korea was annexed to Japan in 1909.

The number of Koreans who had immigrated to the United States and other nations had increased until 1905 when Japan, which later became a colonial master of Korea, imposed a ban on immigration to other nations.

According to the local government, 65 ships carried 7,226 Koreans who left the country via Incheon bay from 1902 to 1904.

Code name 'Operation Chromite'

Due to its location close to oceans and to China, Incheon has played a key role in bringing cultural diversity to the homogenous country.

Its vicinity to the capital also made Incheon an appropriate place to start a military operation to retrieve the nation from enemy's hands during the 1950-53 Korean War.

The port city was at the center of international attention in September 1950 because of Gen. Douglas MacArthur's Incheon landing operation, code named "Operation Chromite."

In a British documentary titled "Korea, The Unknown War," Frank K. Pace Jr., U.S. secretary of the army from 1950 to 1953, said the legendary military leader convinced him and other key post holders in the United States to approve the risky mission.

"I would say to you that if that (the Incheon landing operation) had been recommended by anyone other than Gen. MacArthur, I believe it would have been stopped," Pace said.

The former secretary recalled that MacArthur was close to a myth in the minds of Americans in those days.

The Incheon Bay was not considered an ideal site for the military operation.

The great danger involved navigating Incheon's infamous tidal flats and treacherous waves. The geological conditions also made it difficult for the U.S.-led forces to conduct the operation.

Despite the disadvantages, the port city was only 32 kilometers west of the capital, Seoul, and if the challenging operation turned out to be successful, the forces could easily cut the North Korean supply lines.

As Gen. MacArthur instinctively knew, the operation in a wrong place, from the point of view of then many military experts, except for himself, effectively turned around the disaster for the U.N. forces.

North Korea never expected the U.S.-led forces to risk such a critical mission in such an unfavorable place.

International business district

After more than 50 years since the end of the Korean War, war-torn Incheon has transformed into a vibrant port city shaping the backbone of the national economy. About 2.8 million people reside there.

The Songdo district, the southwestern part of Incheon, was designated by the government as a FEZ.

Urban planners eye the appealing and creative "smart city" where all necessary facilities and institutions are located in one town within a 30-minute walking distance. This is its greatest lure.

Its location stretching over the West Sea, the port facilities, and the vicinity to the vibrant regional economy in Northeast Asia were the major factors selecting the region as the site for the international business district.

The flight time from Incheon to Beijing and Incheon to Tokyo is only one and a half hours. It takes three hours from Incheon to Hong Kong by plane.

Under the 17-year development plan, the first phase of building infrastructure (from 2003 to 2009) for the Northeast Asia business hub was completed last year.

During the first four-year period, approximately 46 trillion won ($43 billion) was invested in building infrastructure. Of the funds, 88 percent came from the private sector.

A massive reclamation project had been completed over the past six years. And the 20.4-kilometer-long Incheon Bridge had its grand opening last year after four years of construction. The bridge connects the Incheon International Airport to the Songdo district.