Smart Cities Forum & Trade Missions
Smart City Collaborative Food Forum β "From Technology to Shared Value"
Building collaborative food innovation ecosystems for smart cities, at Smart Life Week 2026, Seoul.
From technology to shared value
In cities, technology must bridge the gap between convenience, sustainability, and the nutrition, health and wellbeing of people and the environment. SACOMA wants to deliver the latest concept of smart-city food and wellbeing β using human-centred tech to improve the urban health food supply chain by designing solutions around the daily needs, behaviours, and nutritional deficits of city dwellers.
Simultaneously, the Forum applies agtech in producer nations, focusing on empowering smallholder farmers with climate resilience, fairer value chains, and sustainable, high-yield production capabilities for producers and food makers.
This Forum presents a valuable opportunity for building collaboration and co-creation with consumers, enterprises, smart-city policy leaders, researchers, policy makers, and city representatives, to engage in dialogue about the future of urban food policies β developing more sustainable, fair, and inclusive models, and building the skills required to train new professionals working across sustainability and food policy.
A tested proof of concept
The proof of concept for this human-centred initiative was conducted by Sacoma under the SeoulβLondon Exchange 2024/25, supported by Seoul Gangnam-gu and the Seoul AI Foundation.
The solution seamlessly integrates technology to shorten food supply chains and directly connects urban consumers with local, peri-urban farmers.
What to expect on the day
A tightly-run 90 minutes designed for depth over breadth β four keynote perspectives, a facilitated panel, and real networking time.
Keynote contributions
Four expert speakers set the scene on data-driven supply chains, food waste, and inclusive food systems.
Panel & discussion
Panel presentation exploring the growing complexity shaping food and agriculture, and why resilience must sit at the centre of every decision.
Knowledge & networking
Expert-led panel discussions and knowledge sessions, alongside networking opportunities that foster long-term partnerships.
Shared vision, closing
The session closes with a shared vision and final declaration endorsed by participants β for producers, and for fairer, healthier, more sustainable food systems.
Poor diet is a major public health concern in cities, contributing to preventable illness and economic burden. Diet-related risks β including high consumption of processed foods and low intake of nutrient-rich alternatives β are linked to negative health outcomes, and inefficiencies across the food chain contribute to both environmental degradation and economic inequality.
What is "Smart Food"?
Smart Food is food that fulfils all three criteria at once:
Nutritious and healthy.
Environmentally sustainable.
Fair value for the people who grow it.
This flagship Food Forum event gives Sacoma an opportunity to showcase Low-Carbon Food solutions alongside their smart-city initiatives, and to expand partnership opportunities with other cities participating in Smart Life Week. Prospective partners and stakeholders can join these initiatives and gain valuable global exposure β positioning the SACOMA Low-Carbon Food Forum as a leader in the smart-city community.
Key Pillars of a Human-Centric Food System
Four pillars the Forum uses to structure discussion β click each to expand.
01UrbanβRural Linkages & Localized Sourcing+
02Empowering the Workforce+
03Ethical Technology & Data Justice+
04Health, Welfare & Zero Waste+
Where food intersects the smart city
Core 5 Focus Areas
Keynote presentations from four expert contributors, with participant discussion structured around five focus areas.
Digital Infrastructure & Low-Carbon Supply ChainsData-monitoring systems and a low-carbon food supply-chain SaaS platform that map global supply chains and create value for producers.
Food as a Strategic DriverThe role of food as a strategic driver for sustainable development, at city and national level.
Human-Centred AgTechAI-powered Agtech solutions emphasising the linkages between food, health and sustainability β blending food science with indigenous knowledge.
Smart Food Tech at ScaleAchieving Smart Food Tech solutions to pressing food-supply-system challenges, incorporating both health and environmental considerations.
A Shared VisionStrengthening collaboration, technology and partnerships across producers, enterprises, researchers, consumers and policy makers β bringing together mayors, researchers, civil society organisations, and city networks such as Eurocities for a week of exchange and reflection on how to strengthen collaboration.
Speakers
Eleven leaders across food innovation, smart cities, technology and trade join the Forum stage.
Perez Ochieng
Under her leadership, SACOMA Global Foods Innovation transitioned from a traditional UK fresh-produce importer into an international research, development and innovation hub operating across the UK, Africa, South Korea and Taiwan. Her core strategic approach revolves around transitioning African economies from exporting raw agricultural commodities to owning, protecting and commercialising high-value intellectual property (IP) and knowledge assets.
Pioneering the "Produce-to-Knowledge" model: Perez advocates that Africa's long-term comparative advantage lies not in exporting raw crops, but in developing, owning and securing IP β turning local creativity, cultural assets and agricultural research into globally protected intellectual property.
Global innovation & R&D hubs: She transformed SACOMA into a multi-market R&D ecosystem merging climate-smart technologies β such as precision irrigation and nano-water management β with digital tools and cultural branding.
Empowering youth & diaspora innovators: her framework positions young creators and diaspora technologists not merely as workers, but as co-owners, inventors and brand builders holding equity in intellectual assets.
Recognition: Recognised as one of Africa's top entrepreneurial talents through the African Entrepreneurship Programme (AEP) β supported by HRH The Duke of York KG, HE Olusegun Obasanjo and Aliko Dangote β and a past winner with the Global Women Inventors and Innovators Network.
Prof. M.A. Dagmar CagΓ‘ΕovΓ‘, PhD
Professor of Economics and Business Management, and a member of the International Advisory Board of Danubius University, the Management Committee of E-COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology), the Executive Board of the Danubius Academic Consortium, and iATDi (International Association for Technological Development and Innovations).
Previously at the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava as a research fellow, first Vice-Dean for Strategic Development and International Relations, and Ambassador for International Relations at the Institute of Industrial Engineering and Management. Research interests span intercultural and innovation management, international relations and diversity, mobility and smart cities.
Involved in more than 55 domestic and international projects as project leader and team member, with over 400 publications, 7 scientific monographs and 17 journal articles β including 89 indexed in WoS and 131 in Scopus, with over 800 citations.
John Paul Okwiri, OGW, MBA, MCIPS
Currently CEO of the Konza Technopolis Development Authority (KoTDA), John Paul Okwiri has played a critical role in transforming the organisation into a leading centre of excellence for innovation and technology, focusing on advancing Kenya's knowledge economy.
He has led the procurement and implementation of large-scale projects including the Konza Phase 1 Horizontal Infrastructure and the Kenya Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, and mobilised resources to construct a Tier 3 National Data Centre, transforming Kenya's cloud infrastructure.
He holds an MBA in Procurement & Supply Chain Management from the University of Nairobi and a Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting, and is a professional member of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply (MCIPS-UK) and the Kenya Institute of Supplies & Management (MKISM). He is also a certified FIDIC Dispute Adjudication Board (DAB) expert.
Prof. Miko Ching-Ying Yu
Winner of the Excellence Award at the 2025 Sustainable Teaching Practice and Outcomes Competition (co-organised by the CTCI Education Foundation and the Taiwan Institute for Sustainable Energy), recognising her achievements in sustainability education and interdisciplinary curriculum design.
In 2024 she represented Yuan Ze University by presenting her work in the Blue Zone at COP29. In August 2025 she was invited to teach a sustainability course at the University of Oxford, and was selected as a recipient of the 2026 Fulbright EMI Overseas Professional Training Program at the University of California, San Diego.
She led the Bajau Humanitarian Relief Project, integrating humanitarian care with environmental sustainability, and participated in the 2025 Smart Zero-Carbon City Forum organised by a European innovation organisation, promoting cross-border collaboration and policy dialogue.
Josephine Kamanthe Ndambuki
A seasoned smart-cities, innovation and digital-economy leader spanning public-sector transformation, private-sector strategy, large-scale digital infrastructure and innovation-ecosystem development. She leads investor attraction and facilitation, commercialisation of smart-city solutions, and digital-infrastructure initiatives at Konza Technopolis (KOTDA), Kenya's flagship smart-city project.
Her work has directly contributed to mobilising over USD 650 million in investor commitments and transforming public assets into sustainable revenue-generating platforms, including the successful delivery and commercialisation of Konza's Cloud. She has shaped Kenya's digital economy and smart-cities policy landscape, contributing to national ICT policy, the Digital Economy Strategy, the ICT Masterplan 2020β2030, and the Technopolis and Startup Bills.
She led Konza Technopolis' globally-benchmarked Strategic Plan (2021β2025), spearheaded ISO 9001:2015 certification, championed Kenya's successful bid to host the IASP World Conference 2024, and serves as a Global Blockchain Council Ambassador for Kenya.
Prof. Lee Young-ja
CEO and Founder of Energy Science Co., Ltd. (μλμ§μ¬μ΄μΈμ€), an innovative South Korean healthcare and wellness company. Prof. Lee has spent over 30 years researching human bioelectromagnetic fields and the invisible "light of life" (aura), translating subtle biological energy into accessible digital data.
Under her leadership the company develops holistic wellness tools including the Aura Energy Scanner β a digital scanner tracking bodily electromagnetic fields within 10 seconds to analyse stress, immunity and physical/mental balance β and the CPA (Colour Personality Analysis) programme, a big-data-backed "Colour DNA" system.
She currently serves as Senior Vice President of the International Association of Integrated Therapy (IAIT) and Adjunct Professor at CHA University's Graduate School of Integrative Medicine, with roles spanning Yonsei University's Future Convergence Research Institute and Seoul National University.
Prof. Long Lam
Ryan Laville
Ben Chang
Kim Won-il
Also confirmed on the programme: Prof. Andy Choe.
Register Here
Places at the Smart City Collaborative Food Forum are limited. Tell us a little about you and your organisation, and the Sacoma team will confirm your place.
Building the bridge from Farm to Folk
The Smart Cities Forum & Trade Missions programme is part of Sacoma's wider work connecting producers, cities and innovators β from Seoul's Smart Life Week to future trade-mission stops. Get in touch to be part of the next one.
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