BREAKOUT SESSIONS

As climate risk grows, housing investors are backing retrofits, renewables, and net-zero solutions. This session dives into how blended finance and policy tools are turning climate resilience in housing into investable opportunities for cities and private capital.

A panel exploring how cultural, geographical, and policy diversity shapes Connected and Automated Mobility (CCAM) in smart cities. Featuring transport planners, policymakers, and CCAM developers, the discussion shares practical examples from Europe.

From public guarantees to social enterprise vehicles, new models are mobilizing private capital for housing and urban infrastructure while advancing public goals. This session convenes investors, governments, and corporations to co-create finance structures that scale innovation and meet social needs. Panelists will explore catalytic capital, loan funds, and enterprises that align incentives, cut risk, preserve affordability, and embed equity.

In this session we will explain what the Barcelona Innova Lab Mobility consists of, which arises from the collaboration between the Barcelona City Council, Fira de Barcelona, and BITHabitat, with the recent addition of new partners. In this regard, the current portfolio of projects will be presented, as well as the theme of the new mobility challenge that will be launched to the public.

In this session, a startup pitch competition will take place.

Legal foundation in place, LDT CitiVERSE EDIC takes its first steps. Its mission to create a harmonized ecosystem around Digital Twins has already officially started with the establishment of the legal entity and with the recently launched BUILD project as a driving force for the setting up

With 14 members states on board the LDT CitiVERSE EDIC becomes a reality as the foundation for intelligent, sustainable and human-centric urban environments.

Climate change poses significant challenges to mobility and according to the EIT Urban Mobility report "Costs & Benefits of the Urban Mobility Transition," public transport is the most cost-effective method of decreasing urban emissions. The panel that includes public transport operators and other relevant actors will explore how innovation in public transport can contribute to achieving the EU's target of climate neutrality by 2050.

Launched in March 2025, MICAD is an EU-funded project supporting inclusive metropolitan planning for climate and digital transitions. This session will present its goals, approach, and main outputs—including toolkits and Roadmaps—and invite participants to share feedback to help refine and adapt the project.

Many transport innovations are coming our way. We don't know which ones will stay and which ones will be next, but we do know that the majority will be rolled out on city streets. How can cities smartly choose those innovations that will help them reach their policy goals, but also discourage those that don’t bring added value? What does it take for private-sector innovations to support rather than disrupt what local authorities want to achieve? How can we come to policy-responsive innovation that is a win for both the public and private sectors? Cities and regions from the POLIS network will share their experiences on how to govern innovation but also innovate their governance systems.

GCoM, the largest global alliance of cities fighting climate change, will showcase success stories of climate action worldwide, including smart mobility in Shimla (India), floating infrastructure for sea-level rise in Belize City, and waste-to-biogas projects in Basse and Sekondi-Takoradi (Ghana). It will also launch its 2025 Impact Report highlighting implementation progress.

Alliance of European Mayors and Better Politics Foundation co-produced a documentary on innovation in European cities, spotlighted mayors and cities that are pioneering new approaches to democratic resilience, digital transformation, and citizen engagement. Outstanding mayors from cities such as Stockholm, Bologna and Lisbon participates in this powerful story of how local leadership is reshaping democracy from the ground up.

DRT proves to be an effective solution in contexts such as low-density areas or late-night services. But scaling remains complex - profitability, regulation, and public-private contracting all pose challenges. Could autonomous vehicles help unlock the full potential of DRT, or do they add new layers of complexity to this model?

In this session, a startup pitch competition will take place.

Discover Austria’s pioneering autonomous bus project in the city of Klagenfurt, led by AIT and the President of the Chamber of Commerce of Carinthia. Experience cutting-edge mobility solutions and success stories from across Austria, showcasing sustainable and smart city solutions shaping Europe’s future.

This stage session reveals how standard municipal operations across Europe—from cybersecurity protocols to smart city infrastructure management—actively safeguard digital rights, often without being framed in rights-based language.

This session will explore how diverse data-driven approaches can be used to enhance road safety, particularly for vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists. By bringing together practical examples from EIT Urban Mobility's innovation program and broader European project collaborations, the session aims to demonstrate how mobility data can inform smarter infrastructure and enhance traffic safety for all road users.

This session explores how cities can manage tourism sustainably, using a resilience-based approach and data-driven tools to balance the influx of visitors and its economic benefits with the affordability and livability of their residents. UN-Habitat, UN-Tourism and partner experts will present a new global effort to help cities and territories assess tourism-related risks and their positive and undesirable impacts on the urban system.

The event will highlight specific challenges in two regions - cities in France, Grenoble and Germany, Jena and in Japan. Projects established to address key issues related to Climate and social change will be presented from the points of view of several stakeholders with a focus on the challenges, results and their potential for tackling similar issues in other urban regions.

Road traffic deaths are the most common cause of accidental death at the workplace, with an alarming, estimated number of 400,000 per year: a third of the 1.19 million people that die each year as a result of road traffic crashes occurs in someone’s value chain. The FIA developed the Road Safety Index, a program that help organizations to assess the safety impact of their operations, identify gaps, and implement long-term improvements.

UK Cities today are grappling with a perfect storm of infrastructure challenges: aging buildings, increased flooding, and rising temperatures are straining systems that were never designed for today’s climate extremes. Failing infrastructure leads to cascading impacts on people and transport systems. But how can digital infrastructure, such as data sharing infrastructure, help to tackle the environmental and social problems cities face?

This session explores how Digital Citizenship Education (DCE) can be a powerful tool to address youth exclusion and gender inequalities in a connected society. With the involvement of local authorities, CSOs, and youth actors, it will showcase solutions for inclusive digital spaces and empower local action against online violence, discrimination, and democratic disengagement.

Planning and implementation of solutions to guarantee safe, accessible and efficient parking for the daily use of bicycles in the city.

Private Smart Cities - privately owned, tech-driven urban developments - offer unique potential to accelerate innovation and create inclusive digital infrastructure while bypassing bureaucratic constraints. This panel explores the legal, technical, and civic dynamics at play in shaping these new models for urban development. Co-developed by the Intelligent Community Forum and Dentons LLP.

AI is reshaping all spheres of our live, including our cities, inside and out. The spotlight is on generative AI, which can generate original output – text, images, videos. What is its impact in the public sector? As the level closest to citizens, and as providers of many services, cities and regions can champion the responsible use of GenAI in Europe. In this session, Living-in.EU invites cities to share their experience in using GenAI.

The results from the first phase of the "Transport Cultural" project will be presented during the session. Transport Cultural aims to promote the autonomy of people in vulnerable situations or at risk of social exclusion, facilitating their access to culture through on-demand transport. The project has been led by In Move and RETURN, with the support of other shareholders, including Cinesi, App & Town, Bable, Apropa Cultura, and Tandem Social.

Invisible Pollution: Tackling Non-Exhaust Emissions in Urban Mobility sheds light on the often-overlooked problem of particles from brakes, tyres, and road wear. It explores potential policy measures and technological solutions to reduce these emissions and improve urban air quality.

Dive into the dynamic world of Urban Shark Tank, where visionary companies pitch real-world solutions to a panel of city leaders determined to accelerate climate neutrality. This interactive session blends entrepreneurial spirit, creative storytelling, and urban innovation—offering a fast-paced stage for ideas ready to scale across smart, sustainable cities.

This session explores how pioneering cities are turning ambition into action anchored by the Climate City Contract (CCC), the Mission’s flagship instrument for aligning governance, finance, delivery, and public legitimacy.

This interactive panel unites living-lab leaders from the United States, Finland, Japan and Canada to reveal how cross-border partnerships turbo-charge smart-city innovation. Through rapidfire case studies and audience Q&A, speakers share proventactics for launching, funding and scaling technology pilots,navigating regulation and turning data-driven trials into full-city deployments.

This stage session, co-organised by Eurocities and the Barcelona Supercomputing Centre, will facilitate an open discussion between city representatives on the potential of digital twins to enhance local policies in European cities.

Much of the discussion around promoting active mobility has centred on cities and their infrastructure networks. While creating safe and connected routes for cycling is crucial, barriers such as theft, repair, and planning continue to limit uptake and demand innovative solutions from the private sector. This session will highlight the different factors and stakeholders that help to drive the shift toward active travel modes in urban areas.

Discover real opportunities to collaborate with cities shaping the future. Learn about urban challenges and how municipalities are seeking innovative partners through open innovation labs, pilot programs, and advanced public procurement. A unique chance for companies to co-create solutions and take part in building the smart cities of tomorrow.

Did you know that public procurement represents 14% of the EU’s GDP (around €2 trillion annually)? Discover how the ProcuraMED project is empowering local authorities to inspire sustainable change. This session will showcase digital tools, capacity-building actions, real-life cases and cooperation strategies driving innovative and green procurement.

How can cities better manage heatwaves, wildfires, floods, and rapid urban growth? This session showcases how Earth Observation brings actionable insights for crisis management, public health, climate adaptation and sustainable urban planning. Discover and hear from our users and data providers about ready-to-use market solutions where data from space helps cities protect citizens, plan smarter and boost resilience.

Curious about the results of Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe projects?
Come to the CIVITAS AGORA and discover five innovative urban mobility solutions created through these EU-funded initiatives. Each will be presented in an engaging pitch format, followed by opportunities to connect with cities and technology providers.

What are green urban economies and how can cities harvest the opportunities they offer? Why is involving stakeholders crucial in this process? During this session you will discover five stories from URBACT's networks of cities (EcoCore, In4Green, Let’s Go Circular!, COPE, and GreenPlace) and learn about their entry points to a successful green urban economy. Come and get inspired to start your journey towards greening your city's economy!

This is the Ceremony that follows "The Smart Deal Pitch."

A high-level roundtable bringing together industry leaders, technology providers and users to explore the current state and future of U-space. The session will combine strategic insights with real-world success stories, showcasing how drones and enabling technologies are transforming urban airspace management, advanced air mobility, and smart city services.

This session will focus use cases of AI specifically tailored to operational needs of Cities. It begins with a session on "Building an AI-enabled Smart City Toolkit." The session will demonstrate the practical use of AI for prioritizing investments as part of the Smart City Toolkit. The remaining time will delve deeper into how AI can be leveraged to enhance service delivery in Cities.

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

Urban logistics is at a tipping point, with last-mile deliveries driving up emissions. Micro-depots and connected fleets offer smarter, cleaner solutions—enabling multimodal delivery and data-driven operations. This session explores how real-time vehicle data, micro-hubs, and the emerging Physical Internet can improve efficiency, reduce emissions, and reshape last-mile logistics in cities worldwide.

This roundtable brings together cities from five continents that are at different stages in building metropolitan cooperation—some with decades of experience, others taking their first steps. Their diversity offers a unique opportunity for mutual learning. How can we create flexible, inclusive, and effective governance frameworks that foster coordinated responses in fragmented urban territories?

How can cities and regions of all sizes use data and collaboration for a greener, more inclusive future? This Agora session, hosted by OASC, brings insights from Riga, Aarhus and Fundão on how interoperability—technical, legal, semantic and organisational—drives digital transformation. Learn how EU frameworks, shared data, and citizen engagement shape impactful, scalable solutions.

As cities seek greater resilience, livability, vibrancy and unique identity, outdated planning rules often hold them back. The session reveals a new approach: form-based codes, or visual design standards that focus on the look, feel, and quality of streets and neighborhoods, rather than just land use. Discover how city leaders, planners, developers, and citizens collaborate to create vibrant places and more predictable, attractive investments.

How to make Europe’s digital transformation inclusive, ethical, human-centred and citizen-driven? And how to ensure that emerging technologies – such as AI, XR and cloud services – serve public values and social needs? This session will show how 4 EU co-funded projects are shaping the future of cities with the CitiVerse - a digital version of the city – where citizens can explore, interact with, and shape urban life in an intuitive way.

European cities strive to become more inclusive and equitable on one hand and smart and data-driven on the other. However, gaps in data collection and analysis can overlook the diverse needs of citizens groups. This session explores how using gender-disaggregated data can help design more inclusive urban spaces and mobility infrastructure.

Discover Metabuilding, the pan-European initiative accelerating innovation in the construction sector. This session unveils a powerful ecosystem designed to connect SMEs, researchers, and industry leaders. We will explore our Metabuilding Labs Open Innovation Test Bed (OITB), the metabuilding.com digital platform, and the new business opportunities it creates, inviting you to join us in shaping the future of building.

Cities face fast-moving crises like wildfires and floods, yet citizens often remain confused in the critical “moment zero” before response begins. This session gathers tech creators, first responders, and officials to explore how AI, digital twins, and predictive tools from projects like EXTRACT and CREXDATA are transforming emergency response in cities like Venice, Dortmund, and Barcelona.

ACM will explain how public procurement can be a key tool to drive the local energy transition. Through its Central Purchasing Body, it enables local governments to access sustainable services such as 100% renewable electricity, solar panels, LED street lighting, and clean mobility. ACM acts as a facilitator to help municipalities move towards a greener, more efficient, and fairer energy model.

Traditional metrics no longer capture the complexity of today's urban mobility ecosystems. This session challenges current success indicators and explores how both public authorities and private actors can adopt broader metrics. From intelligent traffic signals to employer-led mobility programmes, we’ll discuss how to redefine value and how new measurements can unlock better solutions for sustainable, inclusive cities.

The round table is comprised of speakers from the ITS industry, public administration, academia and a road user association, and will look from different angles on how perceived utility to road users and societal benefits can be aligned to accelerate adoption of C-ITS and unleash the full potential of its benefits. The discussion will be based on practical use cases from the SCALE project.

How can cities ensure mobility innovation is trusted, inclusive, and ready for scale? Four CIVITAS projects - MOBILITIES FOR EU, SUM, GEMINI, and metaCCAZE - share concrete methods and experiences: from designing urban mobility labs and governance models, to co-creation activities with citizens at local and regional levels across Europe.

Explore how flexible, on-demand mobility and active travel can solve mobility gaps in rural and peri-urban areas. This session will discuss low-cost, tech-enabled solutions, user-friendly integration, and intermodal strategies to connect low-density territories with urban centers. A dynamic exchange on how to make rural mobility inclusive, affordable, and sustainable.

As extreme heat threatens urban life, cities are pioneering innovative strategies that are already lowering street temperatures by up to 7°C. This session showcases real-world solutions — from nature-based systems to reflective infrastructure — demonstrating how urban design can turn the tide against climate-driven overheating.

roducing SolidScooter, the first solid-state battery-powered electric scooter. The project will be presented by CLIME, in collaboration with Basquevolt, a leader in solid-state battery technology, and Nodium and Bruntor, both specialists in sustainable urban mobility. A joint commitment to the future of clean and innovative micromobility.

The fields of geospatial technologies, AI, and metaverse technologies are converging to create new services for consumers. Every day, we see announcements of new devices and smart glasses that offer increasingly capable features and promise a groundbreaking future. During the dynamic session, we will explore how Spatial AI, extended reality (XR), and future avatars will shape our cities and societies.

This session gathers five EU projects showcasing how cities across Europe use digitalization to create Positive Energy Districts (PEDs). Through digital twins, AI simulations, and interoperable platforms, our projects’ Lighthouse Cities optimize energy efficiency, smart buildings, and sustainable mobility to meet climate goals. Experts share tools, strategies, and lessons to inspire replication for climate-neutral urban futures.

This session gathers European public transport authorities, operators, and researchers to share insights from the E-MED project. It highlights local mobility challenges and presents innovative solutions such as AI-based planning, eco-driving, and new procurement strategies. The discussion will also address the shift to electric mobility, aiming to reduce the environmental impact of public transport and strengthen urban mobility resilience.