Agenda

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Welcome to our 2026 edition – the global stage where urban innovation comes to life. This opening session sets the tone for an exciting journey ahead, with a warm welcome from Smart City Expo director Ugo Valenti and Tomorrow.Mobility president Marc Rozendal. Joining them are high-level representatives who will share how territories around the world are becoming better places to live and thrive. Get ready for three action-packed days of bold ideas and groundbreaking strategies from around the globe.

This session showcases Barcelona as a living lab for urban mobility innovation through the Barcelona Innova Lab Mobility (BILM). It presents the programme's methodology, highlights key outcomes from completed pilots, and shares progress from ongoing projects shaping a more sustainable, efficient and citizen-centred mobility model.

This roundtable will bring together CEE and Baltic cities to exchange experiences and best practice in addressing the climate, energy and environmental challenges that cities currently face in relation to transport and mobility, with a particular emphasis on decarbonising transport systems, deploying innovation, and strengthening governance and stakeholder engagement.

From algorithms that suggest to systems that decide and execute. What autonomous AI agents are already doing in the real world, and what it means for cities.

Renewables, decentralization, geography and long-term resilience: how cities and regions are making the defining energy choices of our time.

Human-centered design, accessible public spaces and everyday services are not just amenities – they are the building blocks of belonging. How do cities create places where people genuinely want to live?

An exploration of how cities can use integrated platforms combining satellite, sensor and mobility data to support urban air quality management and evidence-based interventions.

This interactive event will help cities move from inspiration to implementation. As they tackle smart city challenges like climate adaptation, energy resilience, public wellbeing and digital transformation, participants will share practical experience on how smart lighting supports broader urban goals. Guided discussions and peer exchange will help explore concrete solutions and lessons learned for smarter and more sustainable cities at night.

How can cities create conditions to safely test and validate innovative mobility solutions? This roundtable promoted by Barcelona Innova Lab Mobility brings together city leaders and mobility experts to explore the role of urban sandboxes as tools for experimentation, regulation and public innovation. Participants will share experiences, challenges and insights on enabling innovation while addressing urban needs and policy objectives.

What if startups didn't have to pitch first? Hosted by Choose Paris Region, Reverse Pitch flips the traditional format. Instead of startups pitching to corporates, ten innovation leaders from major companies, public institutions and the Paris Region innovation ecosystem pitch their open innovation opportunities directly to startups and scale-ups.

Europe’s most innovative cities are redefining how people and goods move in increasingly complex urban environments. In this session promoted by Barcelona Innova Lab Mobility, representatives from leading European cities will exchange strategies, success stories and key learnings on fostering innovation ecosystems, deploying new mobility solutions and building more sustainable, resilient and accessible urban mobility systems. Together, they will reflect on the trends shaping the future of mobility across Europe.

As cities adapt to growing pressures such as climate change and population growth, urban leaders must rethink infrastructure, buildings, and energy systems to build safer, more sustainable, and future-ready urban environments. Built on today’s breakthroughs and tomorrow’s innovations, what lies ahead is both ambitious and fast approaching. Yet making this vision a reality will require the right funding models and strategic partnerships. This plenary explores what resilient urban infrastructure could look like by 2050, and how AI, energy systems, adaptive design principles, and new models of collaboration may reshape the future of urban life.

A space where projects, corporates, and investors can have smooth conversations about solutions and innovative technologies that can help drive the world toward sustainability goals on the 2050 agenda.

Public tools to increase land supply for housing, including land banking, activation of underused land, use of public land, and strategies to generate housing capacity within consolidated cities.

An examination of how cities can align their public transport with shared mobility modes through innovative governance models that enable effective coordination across public and private operators.

Smart cities must focus on people and be as human as those who inhabit them. Integrating a child-centered approach—addressing the needs and voices of children and adolescents through their participation—improves responses to challenges such as climate, mobility, and housing. UNICEF promotes a rights-based approach, with global standards and participation, to achieve more accessible, sustainable, and inclusive cities.

This co-organized session presents the CEMR–28DIGITAL programme “Empowering Local Leaders Through AI” and its AI training for local and regional governments’ leaders. By bringing together politicians and partners to discuss the importance of local leaders’ AI literacy for improving governance, and the need to scale practical capacity-building efforts to support cities and regions across Europe.

Cities cause 70% of global emissions but only control a fraction directly. To meet climate targets, they must collaborate with the private sector. Hosted by GCoM, this panel explores the City Business Climate Alliance (CBCA) framework by C40 and GCoM. Mayors and business leaders will share how to align corporate targets with municipal climate action plans to unlock accelerated action.

Limited charging infrastructure slows the adoption of electric vehicles, while weak demand discourages investment in new charging points. This chicken-and-egg dilemma is also for logistics vehicles, which depend on accessible public charging infrastructure alongside dedicated depot charging. This session explores public-private approaches, incentives, and business models to accelerate charging deployment and support zero-emission freight.

Agentic AI is redefining the relationship between digital technologies and urban and institutional systems, moving beyond decision support toward autonomous execution and coordination. Its adoption is transforming service delivery, infrastructure management, and operational models across both public and private sectors. With recent breakthroughs from leading technology innovators, cities and institutions now have the tools to turn this potential into real, measurable progress. As these systems become embedded in everyday processes, the challenge, and the opportunity, will be to deploy them responsibly at scale, ensuring safety, accountability, interoperability, and lasting public value. The path forward starts with deploying these technologies responsibly, building cities and institutions that are more resilient, efficient, and adaptive for the communities they serve.

Regulatory frameworks to protect affordability and availability, including rent control, shortterm rental regulation, and anti-speculation policies.

The convening of the Coalition of Global City CIOs at the Smart City Expo and World Congress forms part of a programme of activities taking place in Barcelona. This is the second convening of the group of digital and innovation leaders from major European cities this year.

Joint Developments For Urban ResiLIence Connecting Users To Public Transport Through SpAce Technology - is an Horizon project aiming to bring the European Space stack closer to the downstream public transport market. In this open final event, we'll present the 10 innovative applications and the results of the pilots across Europe.

How cities are anticipating, preparing for and absorbing escalating climate impacts: from extreme weather events to infrastructure stress and social vulnerability.

As cities move from pilot projects to city‑wide smart water deployments, many discover that proprietary connectivity and data models lock them into single vendors and constrain innovation. This panel will bring together a city/utility leader, meter and platform vendors, and the Open Mobile Alliance to discuss how standards‑based connectivity can unlock scalable, future‑proof water management.

As cities transition toward sustainable urban mobility, the interaction between heavy vehicles, passenger cars, and vulnerable road users—particularly cyclists and pedestrians—presents a critical challenge. The FIA and Euro NCAP will co-host an exclusive, closed-door session focusing on vehicle and truck safety in dense urban environments.

How can young people help shape safer urban mobility? This session will showcase an innovative partnership between Chery, iRAP and RACC to improve school journeys in Barcelona through data-driven road safety interventions and youth participation. Discover how digital tools, community engagement and cross-sector collaboration can create safer, more inclusive and sustainable mobility environments for children and cities alike.

Where do cities actually stand on 5G, Wi-Fi 6 and smart networks? An honest assessment of current deployment and the connectivity gaps that still need solving.

The session aims to bring together city representatives and technical partners/tool providers to accelerate the adoption of digital twin applications at the city level, filling the gap between the potential of what is offered and the actual uptake by local administrations and decision-makers. The session will leverage the engagement of municipalities within city networks and other initiatives with the support and expertise of technical partners.

The event means to present the MCE Community (formerly Major Cities of Europe) as a European network of cities and regions, fostering cooperation, exchanging experience and supporting innovation and digital transformation of local authorities and their services to citizens.
During the event the representatives of the MCE Community will illustrate the network main activities and some of the members' experiences will be introduced.

Cooperative housing, co-housing, community land trusts, and alternative housing models to foster social cohesion, emerging as responses to affordability challenges and changing social structures.

Join city leaders and urban innovators from around the world to discover how cities are leveraging artificial intelligence to improve their public services. Share experiences, discuss challenges, exchange best practices, and build new partnerships.

This closed-door session brings together public authorities within the EIT Urban Mobility network for an engaging exchange on innovation in urban mobility. Through focused thematic discussions and interactive networking, participants will explore solutions to critical challenges shaping urban mobility and identify areas where collaborative efforts can drive impactful, city-led innovation.

The European Forum for Urban Security will hold its Executive Committee Meeting within the framework of the Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona. The meeting will bring together Efus Executive Committee members, representatives of member cities to discuss the organisation’s strategic priorities, governance matters, ongoing projects, and future initiatives related to urban safety, security, and sustainable urban development.

An examination of how cities can strengthen integration between transport modes to enable seamless mobility for people and goods while improving the resilience of increasingly connected mobility systems.

How can cities effectively reduce transport-related air and noise pollution? This session explores complementary, data-driven solutions already being deployed across Europe. Discover how collaboration across the urban mobility ecosystem is helping cities turn environmental data into smarter policies, cleaner air and healthier urban environments.

Cities worldwide invest in mobility innovation, yet many solutions remain stuck in pilots. This session explores how Austria has successfully implemented real, scalable urban mobility systems in daily use today. It showcases proven approaches in public transport, multimodal connectivity, first/last mile and shared mobility, focusing on what actually works and why pilots fail to scale.

Connecting AI and sustainability can help create greener, more livable cities, but scaling impact responsibly remains a challenge. The session explores how cities can use AI sustainably and equitably by addressing topics such as governance, partnerships, business models, data, carbon footprint, and accountability, while identifying the enabling conditions needed to build resilient, carbon-neutral and inclusive cities by 2030.

Urban health systems, social services and age-friendly strategies are redefining what it means to live well in a city – for children, aging populations and everyone in between.

This space will address the current state of progress of the data spaces that will help drive a data economy thanks to the advancement of digitization of local authorities

Five finalists. One winner. Twenty minutes that could change what gets built in your city next.

The QBE AcceliCITY Resilience Challenge Top 5 take the stage for a live fireside panel — introducing their solutions, unpacking the urban challenges they're solving, and sharing what they need to scale. The session closes with the live winner announcement.

This joint session of the different Working Groups of the Innpulso Network is aimed at sharing the results of the work carried out by them throughout 2026.

Modular construction, off-site fabrication, and enabling technologies —from digital design and AI-assisted planning to industrialized delivery systems— to build housing faster, more efficiently, and at scale

Insights on how cities are accelerating the decarbonisation of urban spaces through integrated infrastructure and shared energy systems.

Who owns mobility data, who can access it and how can it be shared responsibly? This session explores the challenges of data governance, interoperability, trust and incentives, bringing together perspectives from across the mobility ecosystem. Discover how stronger collaboration can unlock the value of data while supporting innovation, better services and more effective transport planning.

Co-hosted by Gangnam-gu and KOVA and operated by SparkLabs, the "Gangnam Global Startup Pitching: Innovative AI Solutions" session is a global acceleration program featuring Gangnam-gu’s tech-driven AI startups. Join us to discover innovative companies aiming for global expansion with solutions like real-time multilingual translation, kids' financial education platforms, jewelry design, and 3D human body data analysis.

A high-level gathering that connects Latin American cities, governments, innovators, and urban solution providers shaping the future of the region.


Hosted by Trend Smart Cities, the event creates a space for meaningful conversations, partnerships, and collaboration around the most pressing urban challenges in LATAM — from mobility and climate resilience to digital transformation and quality of life.

Building resilient cities requires new approaches that connect infrastructure investment, energy systems, and long-term urban development strategies. This session will explore how cities and industry leaders can collaborate to accelerate the delivery of future-ready infrastructure while balancing economic growth, sustainability, and operational efficiency. From investment models and energy transition pathways to public–private partnerships that enable scalable solutions. Strengthening coordination across sectors will be essential to creating resilient, investable, and economically sustainable urban ecosystems.

One year after presenting a shared European CitiVerse vision at SCEWC 25, the four EU co-funded projects return to showcase real results from pilot cities across Europe. Through live demonstrations, practical use cases and lessons learned, the session explores how immersive digital infrastructure can create public value for citizens, cities and regions.

Can youth ideas help shape the future of our cities? This inspiring session brings together global city leaders and brilliant youth voices from the C40's Students Reinventing Cities competition. Through a dynamic roundtable, discover practical, groundbreaking approaches to tackling urban climate challenges and innovation. Join us to unlock powerful collaboration strategies that translate youth-led ideas into real-world urban transformation.

This session presents the MICAD Toolkit, a practical guide for local and metropolitan authorities to design inclusive climate and digital transition roadmaps. Through key insights and examples, it shows how to move beyond smart city solutions towards coordinated, participatory and metropolitan-scale transformation.

Airport cities are often isolated, technically advanced entities ideal as test environments for other business districts. Although discussed for decades, market forces have not fully discovered their potential, and airports often develop urban environments without being aware of it. This stream aims to highlight the opportunities and challenges of airport city development and to foster dialogue with other neighbourhood developments.

Barcelona’s approach to complex housing renovation, combining public support, building rehabilitation, neighbourhood regeneration, and community engagement.

Cities today stand at a turning point, where climate change, rapid urban growth, and environmental shifts are reshaping how urban areas function and evolve. These changes go beyond daily experience, influencing the very foundations and systems that support urban life. As cities adapt to increasing uncertainty and more complex challenges, the need for innovative, adaptive and resilient solutions becomes more urgent. This session brings together cutting-edge and practical solutions that help cities adapt, transform, and stay ahead of emerging challenges, paving the way toward more resilient, sustainable, and livable urban futures.

City approaches to using data and digital tools to plan mobility systems that are more accessible, inclusive and responsive to diverse territorial needs.

Citizens’ assemblies and deliberative processes can strengthen democratic efficacy by ensuring that citizens’ voices, concerns, and perspectives are meaningfully considered. A key challenge remains: how can citizen participation move beyond small, one-off exercises to become a continuous and scalable component of modern governance? The ASCIF Side-Event, “Scaling Democratic Engagement: Keeping Every Citizen in the Loop,”

Mediterranean cities increasingly face the impacts of climate change, from extreme heat and water stress to growing pressure on infrastructure and public spaces. The session explores how cities can scale adaptation through nature-based solutions, innovative governance approaches and new financing mechanisms. Drawing on concrete experiences from the Mediterranean, speakers will share practical pathways to more resilient urban environments.

What does, and should, smart lighting serve ultimately? Urban lighting is evolving into a strategic service supporting energy efficiency, sustainability, resilience and smarter city management.
With industry experts, cities will explore how to move beyond technology-driven approaches to offer more human-centred lighting strategies through connected systems, digital twins, integrating green spaces for sustainable nighttime environments for all.

Communities worldwide are investing heavily in AI, digital infrastructure and smart city technologies. But similar investments do not guarantee similar outcomes, as maximizing return requires more than technology alone. Explore how effective governance, cross-sector collaboration, workforce development and long-term strategy combine to transform technology investments into lasting economic growth, resilience and improved quality of life.

As AVs deploy on European streets, local governments have a lot to learn. European cities need new tools for policy, data sharing, curb management, and oversight. This panel brings together global perspectives from Los Angeles, San Francisco, Waymo, Veluto, and the Open Mobility Foundation, exploring how cities can move from reactive to proactive stewardship, connecting U.S. experience with European regulatory realities and fast "followship".

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Participants to the side event will actively engage with real and challenging cases. Starting from ongoing projects, we will share strategies, issues and approaches with peers, and translate those insights into action through a curated walkthrough of the SCEWC exhibition where specific challenges will be connected with the actual technologies and vendors on the floor.

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The meetings aims to bring together civil society organizations, grassroots organizations, the public sector and private sector, to share practical experiences on cross-sector partnerships and identify what makes them work in addressing complex urban challenges, strengthening collaboration, innovation and sustainable urban development.

Ten mixed groups address one city challenge each: diagnose causes, propose solutions, and produce detailed action plans. Groups share findings, then the session closes with a synthesis and coordination plan.

Hosted by the ICF, this full-day side event explores how communities can move from smart technology adoption to intelligent, people-centered impact. Leaders from the Netherlands, Canada, the United States, Spain, Brazil, Taiwan and more will discuss AI, infrastructure, governance, collaboration and innovation strategies that strengthen local economies and improve citizen quality of life.

This panel explores how digital urban prototypes can move from one-off pilots to projects that are ready to finance, scale and deliver real impact. Led by the IDB Group, the session brings together IDB Cities LAB, the Costa Rican Electricity Institute and the City of Vitória, Brazil, to discuss how public and private capital can share risk and return, align investment with urban priorities, and turn bold ideas into deployable solutions.

How are cities turning innovation into real impact? Join RECI and Red Innpulso for a conversation with three cities showcasing projects, partnerships and strategies driving urban innovation. From digitalization and clean mobility to energy, housing, inclusion and governance, discover what works, the challenges ahead, and lessons for more sustainable, resilient and people-centred cities.

Planning tools, public land, land banking, and public-private cooperation to turn urban land assets into affordable housing outcomes at scale.

How can cities use data to act on interconnected risks? This session explores how science, advanced analytics, Digital Twins and UN-Habitat’s City Resilience Interactive Profiling Tool (CRPiT) can support resilience diagnosis, scenario planning and prioritization, with concrete applications from UN-Habitat, Aretian and the Barcelona Metropolitan Region.

A panel of mayors from Canada, USA and the EU discuss common urban challenges and the value and efficiency of sharing solutions between municipalities.

When buses, rail, micromobility, freight and cars share one network, technical integration outpaces institutional coordination. This session confronts the governance question: who holds decision rights, how data and authority are shared across operators and cities, and what keeps networks resilient when disruptions cross modal and jurisdictional boundaries. And how do we incorporate users in a fair and effective way?

Moderated by AECOC, this session will explore the challenges that the rapid growth of e-commerce is creating for urban freight distribution. Representatives from the public and private sectors will discuss the impact of increasing delivery volumes, changing consumer expectations and the need for more flexible and efficient logistics solutions, as well as the role of collaboration, innovation and public policies in addressing these challenges.

Cities worldwide are embracing open innovation to tackle urban challenges and accelerate smart city transformation. This event will showcase how public entities launch innovation calls, test emerging technologies, and collaborate with startups and solution providers. Discover upcoming innovation procurement opportunities, public-private programmes, and real opportunities to co-develop the solutions shaping tomorrow’s cities.

A look at how mobility innovators are navigating increasing uncertainty driven by policy shifts, trade dynamics and supply chain disruption in a more fragmented global landscape.

To achieve Vision Zero, protecting vulnerable road users from commercial vehicles is a critical priority. This panel explores integrating heavy vehicle safety into urban policies via advanced safety technologies and corporate procurement. We highlight Euro NCAP ratings and FIA safety tools to mandate accountability and transform fleets into a force for safer cities.

How can research drive real-world impact in designing healthier urban environments? This session explores how collaboration between academia, cities and industry is turning research into practice. Featuring examples from the EIT Urban Mobility PhD Programme, the session highlights successful partnerships between research and public and/or private actors that are helping create healthier, more liveable cities for all.

How city governments are embedding AI into their operations – for prediction, resource allocation and sustainable urban development. Real deployments, real outcomes.

Behind every smart city is a material backbone: data centers, sensors, networks and devices. Exploring the physical infrastructure that makes urban connectivity possible – and vulnerable.

Next-generation lighting, from energy-efficient street lighting to smart integrated infrastructures, is quietly transforming safety, emissions and the experience of public space.

Large-scale urban transformation requires bold financing. Exploring the innovative models, international funds & publicprivate strategies that are making ambitious cities possible.

Step into the exhilarating world of Urban Shark Tank, where bold innovators from companies dive into the depths of creative presentations of use cases to captivate a panel of cities committed to climate-smart solutions. Witness the fusion of entrepreneurship, creativity, and sustainability as groundbreaking companies present their visionary ideas, looking for support and collaboration of forward-thinking urban leaders in cities.  

Global trends in housing affordability, financialization, and supply shortages, and how cities and governments are responding through policy and innovation.

This interview brings together Hiroshi Ishiguro and Hiroyuki Suzuki to explore how robotics, Avatar Science, and innovation are reshaping the future of society. With Ishiguro, we will discuss the profound questions at the heart of his work: What is life? What does it mean to be human? And how can technology expand human presence beyond the limits of the physical body? Suzuki will offer a complementary perspective on how Japan is preparing for these transformations through innovation, entrepreneurship, and the development of the Kyoto and Keihanna innovation ecosystem. Together, they will reflect on the technological, cultural, and social challenges that will shape the future of humanity.

Ridership and expectations keep rising, but not budgets. Most transport authorities are under pressure, with fewer staff and shrinking resources. This session showcases four proven approaches already improving tram and rail operations across Europe. Discover practical solutions that are making services safer, maintenance smarter and operations more efficient, with lessons that cities, operators and industry can put into practice.

This session will explore how cities can combine policy, urban planning, and social innovation to reduce consumption-based emissions while improving quality of life. Drawing on the 1.5-Degree Lifestyles framework developed by the Hot or Cool Institute, the discussion will examine how local authorities can shape the systems that influence everyday choices—including housing, mobility, food, consumption, and public procurement—rather than relying solely on individual behavioural change.

The session will showcase practical examples already being implemented across the Mediterranean, including innovative solutions tested through the Interreg Euro-MED Programme, circular food initiatives such as those developed by the Espigoladors Foundation in Barcelona, and urban planning approaches that promote compact, resilient, and low-carbon cities. Together, these experiences will illustrate how tested local solutions can be translated into policies that accelerate decarbonisation, reduce resource use, and support a just transition towards climate-compatible lifestyles.

A high-level perspective on how multimodal freight systems and adaptive logistics strategies can strengthen resilience to withstand disruptions and ensure reliable, sustainable supply chains.

A high‑level conversation on how the BSC AI Factory and leading public‑sector organisations are enabling Europe’s first wave of real AI deployment. Experts and territorial leaders will address challenges in skills, procurement, data governance and secure environments, and show how HPC, scientific expertise and multidisciplinary teams help move from EU ambition to practical implementation to strengthen administrations and improve public services.

An overview of how cities and operators are combining adaptive operational strategies with digital tools and data-driven insights to improve flexibility, reliability and resilience in last-mile delivery -- enabling better anticipation of disruptions and more efficient urban logistics flows.

Housing has become one of the most urgent challenges facing cities worldwide, affecting affordability, social cohesion, economic opportunity, and the residents’ ability to remain in their neighbourhoods. While the pressures may differ across local contexts, cities need to provide immediate responses while also advancing the structural changes needed to expand housing supply, protect residents, and secure long-term affordability. Bringing together mayors from different cities, this high-level roundtable will provide a space to explore how urban governments are addressing housing challenges across different local contexts.

The Mobility Institute brings together its ecosystem of public and private stakeholders representing Spain’s urban mobility and transport sector. The event will serve as a platform to share perspectives on the sector’s key challenges and to discuss the potential impact of emerging trends.

The Mobility Institute brings together its ecosystem of public and private stakeholders representing Spain’s urban mobility and transport sector. The event will serve as a platform to share perspectives on the sector’s key challenges and to discuss the potential impact of emerging trends.

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A multi-stakeholder discussion on how policy, business and technology can align to strengthen resiliency for more future-proof urban logistics systems.

By 2030, data centers will account for 8.6% of global energy demand. As capacity triples in Europe and sprawl accelerates in North America, cities face unprecedented pressure on land and resources. This session addresses how strategic land-use policy and zoning can transition these facilities from isolated, resource-heavy sites into integrated, dense, and climate-aligned urban infrastructure.

Senior city representatives from Canada, the United States and the European Union present concrete projects and policies linked to the four EU Cities Gateway clusters—nature‑based solutions, circular economy, digitalization and urban innovation, and affordable and attainable housing—followed by a moderated panel on how shared approaches and cross‑border collaboration can accelerate implementation and scaling across diverse urban contexts.

European cities and regions have tested digital twins, AI, data spaces and immersive urban technologies through many pilots.

The next challenge is adoption at scale. This session presents how the LDT CitiVERSE EDIC is moving from fragmented initiatives to concrete services, shared infrastructure and adoption pathways that help cities and regions implement interoperable, reusable and sovereign smart city capabilities.

Net-zero buildings, energy-efficient construction, climate-resilience housing, naturebased materials, and reducing emissions across the building lifecycle.

Exclusive, closed-door incubation workshop focused on safe mobility innovation to ensure that emerging technologies, startups, and mobility operators that are actively reshaping the urban transport landscape, keep safety at the heart of their services.

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Perspectives on how cities can govern access, sharing and reuse of mobility data across public and private actors while safeguarding trust, control and public value.

How real-time monitoring, predictive analytics and connected infrastructure are redefining urban safety and resilience – and the cybersecurity challenges they bring.

Smart grids, storage systems, electrification and integrated management platforms – the tools that turn energy ambition into operational reality.

Explore how robotics, AI and robot-avatar technologies are transforming cities and society. Featuring insights from Japan and Catalonia, the session will highlight Dr. Takayuki Kanda’s pioneering work in Human-Robot Interaction and Social Robotics, with a live robot-avatar demonstration. Three Catalan startups will conclude the session with elevator pitches showcasing innovative solutions with global potential.

This session explores how smart city initiatives move from pilot to scalable solutions in emerging cities, drawing on JICA’s experience in Siem Reap, Cambodia and beyond. Through an interactive dialogue among public authorities, development partners, and private sector, it highlights practical approaches to roadmap, PPP-based implementation, and data-driven governance. Participants gain insights into scalable solutions and collaboration models.

International public housing models, governance structures, and long-term stock management, exploring how public housing systems can respond to diverse housing needs while ensuring accessibility, inclusion, and long-term social value.

European cities face growing challenges around congestion, electrification, urban logistics, and digital mobility. Drawing on the EPA Manifesto 2025–2030, this session brings together city leaders and mobility experts to explore how better integration of transport, energy, logistics, and data can support more sustainable, connected, and resilient cities.

Cities are becoming the new engines of inclusive prosperity. As affordability, wellbeing and social cohesion become defining urban challenges, livability is emerging as the new frontier of competitiveness. This high-level roundtable will explore how cities can design economies, services and policies around people’s everyday lives and needs, turning inclusion into growth, public space into connection and quality of life into a strategic asset. Because the most successful cities will not only attract investment and talent; they will make people want to stay, belong and thrive.

Discover how plug-and-play AI and digital solutions can help create thriving, future-ready communities. This session highlights affordable, open-source innovations that empower small and medium size municipalities and cities in the Global South alike. By focusing on flexible interoperability, we will explore how cities can adopt affordable, sustainable technology, collaborate across platforms, and build resilient urban futures on their own terms.

Beyond access and literacy, this session argues for a genuine digital understanding: the ability of every citizen to navigate the digital world critically, distinguish reliable information from manipulation, and make informed, mindful choices about personal data and attention. It calls for a sustained civic commitment to building a digitally mature society and nurturing a shared digital culture.

No city solves alone. Cross-sector alliances, city-to-city cooperation and multi-stakeholder partnerships are emerging as the most effective response to shared urban challenges.

URB!Talks explores how satellites are quietly reshaping the cities we live in. From smarter movement to greener planning and stronger resilience, discover how space-powered intelligence is helping cities think, connect and serve people better.

The curbside is one of the city's most valuable assets. How can data, AI and better governance unlock its full potential? This session explores dynamic curbside management, showcasing how real-time data, cross-sector collaboration and innovative design can create safer, more efficient public spaces while balancing the needs of people, logistics and mobility.

An exploration of how public transport can evolve alongside its users as mobility habits and urban coniditions change, and how innovation solutions are responding to these emerging expectations.

In the digital age, opportunity is unevenly distributed. Addressing the divides in access, literacy and rights that define who benefits from urban innovation and who gets left behind.

Conversación de alto nivel sobre la colaboración entre startups, scaleups y gobiernos como vía para acelerar la innovación pública. ¿qQué se necesita para que una startup pueda colaborar de forma efectiva con una administración pública y generar impacto real? Centrándonos en las condiciones de confianza, validación, compra pública, escalabilidad y acompañamiento que permiten que una solución innovadora encuentre encaje en el sector público.

Planning strategies to increase housing supply without urban sprawl, including gentle density, mixed-use development, and transformation of existing urban fabric.

AI is rapidly becoming a new operating system for cities, shaping how governments anticipate needs, design services, allocate resources and engage with citizens. As it becomes embedded in urban decision-making, cities must ask who designs these systems, who can access the opportunities they create and who benefits. From GovTech innovation to inclusive skills and accountable leadership, how can cities ensure the AI transition works for everyone?

This closed-door session explores how cities and event stakeholders can design resilient mobility systems for major events and external shocks. Through case studies (e.g. Amsterdam, Manchester) and scenario-based exchanges (EURO 2028, Ryder Cup 2027), participants will identify risks, share practical solutions, and co-develop strategies for managing peak demand, visitor flows and complex transport contexts.

From research and development to the streets: discover five market-ready urban mobility innovations developed through the CIVITAS initiative. Through rapid pitches and discussion, innovators will showcase practical, scalable tools that cities and transport authorities can deploy to create more sustainable, efficient and resilient mobility systems.

This open side event will launch NewMed2030 and its regional Community of Practice, connecting cities, donors and practitioners around practical approaches to urban resilience, participatory planning and inclusive local development. The session will combine a short launch, city/practitioner voices and an interactive exchange on how Mediterranean cities can turn local experience into regional learning.

EDINT will have 12 local entities and 36 companies in its initial stage. This event is aimed at users involved in EDINT in order to discuss the current status and next steps.

Emerging technologies and AI-driven innovations are accelerating a new phase of urban transformation, redefining how cities operate, evolve, and interact with citizens. As innovation moves faster than ever, cities are becoming testing grounds for new models of governance, connectivity, sustainability, and urban experience. The challenge is no longer only technological adoption, but the ability to translate innovation into meaningful impact and long-term public value. This session examines how new technological solutions, powered by AI and innovation, are being applied through projects designed to improve cities and enhance urban life.

Energy is the backbone of modern cities—powering mobility, housing, digital services, industry, and everyday life. As urban populations evolve and energy demand continues to rise, ensuring a continuous, reliable and affordable energy supply becomes essential. At the same time, cities face increasing pressure to transition towards cleaner, more efficient and sustainable energy systems that can support long-terms progress and reduce environmental impact. The session presents proven real-world solutions that are transforming urban energy systems, exploring how they are produced, managed, transported, and integrated into urban infrastructure to create smarter and future-ready cities.

Building-scale rehabilitation of existing housing stock, addressing energy efficiency, accessibility, housing quality, thermal comfort, and the financial mechanisms needed to make those renovations viable.

An examination of how cities translate Vision Zero ambitions into system-level safety, data alignment, design and investment decisions with long-term health and societal outcomes.

Cyclelogistics is emerging as one of the most promising solutions for transforming urban freight and last-mile delivery. By shifting part of deliveries from vans to cargobikes, cities can reduce CO₂ emissions, improve air quality, ease congestion, noise as well release public space. It also offers a highly efficient way to move goods through dense urban areas by accessing to pedestrianised streets and local commercial areas faster than vans.

Privacy, connectivity and non-discrimination are no longer optional features of city life, they are foundational rights that deserve the same status in city governance as roads or water. This session makes the political case for embedding digital rights at the heart of municipal strategy, and illustrates what that commitment looks like in practice.

Cities, citizens and investors all want a thriving, sustainable future. What is missing are the conditions that make acting on that care possible. Drawing on the Lisbon Council’s Sustainable Cities Lab, this session explores how cooperation, investment, citizen engagement and cross-sector alliances can help build sustainable cities people trust, use and love.

Europe faces two interconnected challenges: the climate emergency and the housing crisis. This session explores how affordable housing can become a key driver of urban decarbonization through public policies, innovative delivery models, circular construction and cross-sector collaboration. Rather than focusing on individual buildings, the discussion will address the mechanisms that make systemic change possible.

Across Latin America, technology firms are building digital tools that strengthen how cities govern and make decisions. This session brings together LatAm technologists and municipal leaders with direct implementation experience to examine what it takes for digital twins, permitting automation, and scenario-planning platforms to move from pilot to public-interest instruments — supporting climate resilience and inclusive urban development.