The leading international Summit on cities and smart urban solutions celebrates its 10th anniversary
Smart City Expo World Congress 2021 brings the urban innovation industry together again
Smart City Expo World Congress (SCEWC), the leading international event on cities and smart urban solutions organized by Fira de Barcelona will bring together the urban innovation industry again and in person to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the event. From November 16 to 18, with over 400 exhibitors and 300 speakers, and under the theme We are the cities we make, the show and congress will reflect on the transformation that metropolises are experiencing after the pandemic and the need to tailor cities to the needs of its citizens even more than before.
The event will gather the leading international experts and companies to share knowledge and tackle the many challenges involved in urban transformation. To cover the many fields involved, the congress program be structured in eight themes, Enabling Technologies, Energy & Environment, Tomorrow.Mobility World Congress, Governance, Living & Inclusion, Economy, Infrastructure & Buildings, and Safety & Security. and will feature topics such as Artificial Intelligence, Digital Twins, New Energy Models, Green Spaces, Low Carbon, Micro & Shared Mobility, Cross-sector Governance, Citizen Engagement, Critical Infrastructures, City Ethics & Privacy, Urban Safety and Emergency Response.
The director of Smart City Expo World Congress, Ugo Valenti, said that “given the international context, the 2021 edition will surely be one of the more outstanding editions. We will celebrate our tenth anniversary and we will do it by bringing back together and in person the whole urban innovation ecosystem. The past months have shifted the priorities of most cities and I’m sure this will have an impact on the trends of urban transformation and on the conferences that we will hold in Barcelona. We have always felt proud and privileged of contributing to the transformations and cities around the world but now more than ever.”
Urban solutions are critical element of the smart city ecosystem, and the 400 exhibiting companies will showcase their latest products and technologies. Among these companies are Abertis Mobility Solutions, Cisco, City Possible by Mastercard, FCC Environment, Huawei, Microsoft, Motorola, Seat, Smart Ports: Piers of the Future and Ubiwhere. Likewise, many cities and countries will showcase their recent projects and initiatives including those from Argentina, Austria, Barcelona, Belgium, Berlin, Brasil, Buenos Aires, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, The Hague, India, Indonesia, Iran, Italy, Latvia, The Netherlands, Norway, Paris, Poland, Sweden and the USA, among others.
The UCLG World Council
SCEWC will also provide the space for the yearly meeting of the United Cities and Local Governments Organization (UCLG), the largest global network of cities and local, regional, and metropolitan governments. UCLG will gather its World Council in Barcelona, under the title “Smart Cities and Territories, Pillars of the Common Agenda” to define the strategy of the municipal movement and its contribution to the UN Common Agenda. The World Council is composed of 342 representatives from 97 countries of the world. The meetings usually gather around 500 participants and on 2021 it will have a hybrid component, with sessions being held both physically in Barcelona and on-line.
The future of mobility and materials
Cross industry collaboration has been one of the goals of SCEWC since its inception. The 2021 edition will strengthen its role as a world platform for knowledge sharing and widen its reach by hosting two new events: Tomorrow.Mobility and PUZZLE X. Tomorrow.Mobility will focus on promoting the design and adoption of new sustainable urban mobility models. The event is co-organised by EIT Urban Mobility, an initiative of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, a body of the European Union, and has the support of important companies and institutions. TMWC is launched to create a global benchmark in the field and going beyond a one-off event, as it will include an online knowledge platform that will be active throughout the year and an innovation hub set to bring the main players in the industry together.
PUZZLE X aims to grasp the potential of Frontier materials to solve some of the challenges that society is facing. The initiative includes a yearly event and a venture builder incubator to support Materials Deep Tech startups, attract investment and build a global ecosystem. Frontier and advanced materials, including quantum materials, low dimensional materials, 2D materials like graphene, advanced materials, and intelligent composites, have a great impact in industries such as Energy, Mobility, Healthcare, Transportation, Construction, Electronics, Textile and Connectivity, among others.