Andis Partners was honored to participate in Tomorrow.City Shanghai 2025 (TCS 2025), held from September 2–6, 2025, in Shanghai, China. Launched by the Smart City Expo World Congress (SCEWC) in 2019, Tomorrow.City has become one of the world’s most influential platforms for shaping the future of urban innovation. The event integrates sustainability principles with cutting-edge technologies, envisioning cities that are human-centered, green, collaborative, and inclusive.

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This year’s event, officially supported by the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Data and the Shanghai Pudong New Area People’s Government, brought together over 110 city delegations and global leaders from government, business, academia, and investment. Participants explored actionable solutions to build sustainable, data-driven cities and accelerate the transition toward net-zero energy systems.

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As part of this global dialogue, Sean Jeon, CEO of Andis Partners, was invited to join a distinguished panel discussion titled: “Smart Connectivity, Zero Carbon Future — Digital Technologies Shaping the Next Generation of Urban Energy.”

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1. Driving Energy Transition in Asia: Challenges, Lessons, and Opportunities Ahead

The panel discussion opened with a shared recognition that Asia stands at a critical inflection point in its energy transition. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), Asia is projected to consume half of the world’s electricity by 2025 and already contributes 50% of global carbon emissions. Yet, despite this rapid rise in energy demand, fossil fuels remain dominant, with coal alone generating over 60% of power in several countries.

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In this remark, Sean highlighted Korea’s current challenges and ambitions. Today, while renewable energy accounts for less than 10% of Korea’s total energy mix, the Korean government has set its target to increase renewable usage to 22% by 2030. This policy shift signals significant opportunities for infrastructure investment, digital energy management solutions, and cross-border technology deployment in the years ahead.

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Sean also shared lessons from Korea’s Jeju Island Smart Grid Testbed Project (2009–2013), a pioneering initiative aimed at integrating solar panels, electric vehicle deployment, and next-generation energy management systems with an investment of approximately USD 200 million. While the project demonstrated Korea’s early commitment to sustainability, its outcomes were mixed due to limited ICT integration, lack of interoperability between platforms, and insufficient coordination among ministries, private stakeholders, and local governments.

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This experience underscored a key takeaway for Asia’s energy future: digital-driven planning and multi-sector collaboration are no longer optional — they are essential. As cities and nations accelerate their decarbonization efforts, success will depend on data-driven infrastructure, interoperable energy ecosystems, and public-private partnerships that align policy, investment, and innovation at scale.

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2. Digital Technologies as the Catalyst

Throughout the discussion, the panelists agreed on one central point: digitalization is the cornerstone of Asia’s energy transition. From optimizing energy efficiency to accelerating renewable adoption, digital technologies are redefining how cities, industries, and policymakers tackle the challenges of decarbonization.

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Sean emphasized that Asia’s path to net-zero will be difficult without seamless ICT integration and interoperability across the energy value chain. From AI-enabled energy optimization to data-driven grid management, Sean highlighted how digital platforms unlock new avenues for innovation, enabling cities and industries not only to distribute energy more efficiently but also to reimagine their energy ecosystems entirely.

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It was also pointed out that while individual companies may face significant challenges pushing large-scale projects forward, strategic partnerships with global players such as Google, and Amazon can unify agendas, helping policymakers align regulatory frameworks and accelerate sustainable transformation.

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Christopher Yap, representing VYNCKE—a Belgian family-owned company—shared how the company helps organizations close the waste loop by leveraging biomass, waste-to-energy technologies, carbon capture and storage, and advanced water treatment solutions. He also emphasized the growing role of digital twin models—virtual replicas of renewable energy infrastructure that allow operators and policymakers to simulate energy flows, detect inefficiencies, and improve the integration of intermittent sources such as solar and wind. These capabilities are becoming increasingly critical as AI workloads and hyperscale data centers drive unprecedented electricity demand.

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3. Cross-Border Collaboration

As renewable energy demand accelerates, cross-border integration emerges as a strategic imperative for achieving sustainability and stability across the region. The panelists highlighted a recurring challenge: regulatory fragmentation. Divergent policies between countries — and even within ministries in the same country — often slow renewable adoption. To address this, Sean addressed the importance of open data infrastructure, harmonized policy frameworks, and coordinated governance models that enable governments, industries, and technology providers to work toward a unified agenda.

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The concept of the ASEAN Power Grid was also introduced, an ambitious vision to connect renewable energy sources from countries such as Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Indonesia to high-demand markets like Singapore, to optimize energy flows, reduce fossil fuel dependency, and balance supply and demand across borders. While the vision is promising, they acknowledged that achieving this will require significant policy alignment, data-sharing frameworks, and standardized digital platforms to ensure seamless integration.

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4. Emerging Investment Opportunities

As the discussion shifted toward investment, the panel explored high-potential opportunities at the intersection of sustainability and economic growth. Sean emphasized the growing role of AI-powered energy management systems. By leveraging advanced analytics, real-time monitoring, and predictive forecasting, these platforms can optimize grid operations, reduce inefficiencies, and better match supply with demand.

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He further introduced a forward-looking perspective: integrating Web3 technologies to accelerate project implementation. Traditional government decision-making processes are often slow and fragmented, but decentralized governance models can enable faster consensus-building and streamlined coordination among stakeholders — particularly in multi-jurisdictional energy projects.

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The panelists also highlighted waste-to-energy solutions and circular economy models as practical, scalable approaches to reducing landfill dependency while diversifying renewable sources. Hydrogen energy also emerged as a promising yet challenging frontier, acknowledging that cost reduction remains a key barrier, underscoring the need for technology innovation and public-private partnerships to make hydrogen commercially viable.

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