Nobel Peace Prize winner Juan Manuel Santos, keynote speaker
Smart City Expo Latam Congress focuses on reducing gaps on its 10th anniversary
Smart City Expo Latam Congress (SCELC) celebrates its tenth anniversary from June 10 to 12 with an edition focused on creating opportunities and reducing social gaps. The leading event on urban innovation in Latin America returns to the Mexican city of Puebla and will bring together more than 300 cities, 100 mayors, 200 institutions and companies, as well as 300 speakers who will exchange experiences and solutions to promote smart cities, new models of equitable mobility and sustainable development.
Organized by Fira de Barcelona with the collaboration of Pronus and hosted by the Government of the State of Puebla and the Government of the City of Puebla, SCELC calls on all sectors of society, from researchers, non-governmental organizations, entrepreneurs and political leaders to implement actions capable of transforming communities, creating sustainable, innovative, technological and inclusive societies. In this sense, the meeting of more than 100 mayors of Mexico sponsored by the National Institute for Federalism and Municipal Development stands out.
Thus, under the slogan “Creating opportunities, reducing gaps” Smart City Expo Latam Congress will bring together 300 experts to address the main challenges faced by cities around the world in general, and Latin American cities in particular, through five thematic axes: Digital Innovation, Equitable Society, Sustainable Environment, Economic Prosperity and Urban Space and Mobility.
Among the speakers who will take part, the Nobel Peace Prize winner and former president of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, stands out. Also participating in the sessions will be Rosa Riquelme, executive director of the Energy Sustainability Agency of Chile; Jordi Vaquer, secretary general of Metropolis; Martha Lucía Gutiérrez, general secretary of Red SIMUS; José de la Uz, president of the Spanish Network of Smart Cities; Marcus Dantus, founder and president of Startup Mexico and shark on the television program Shark Tank Mexico; Gabriela Arrastúa, COO of TECHO; and Edgar Villaseñor, regional secretary for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean of ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability.
SCELC will also have an exhibition space in which more than 200 companies and institutions will showcase their projects and solutions, including BBVA, Intel, KPMG, Lenovo, Ndivia and Youtong.
Smart Cities Awards
With the aim of honoring cities that are implementing innovative and sustainable projects in Latin America, the Latam Smart City Awards have been announced. These awards will be announced on the second day of the contest and will reward four categories: Latam City, Digital Transformation, Sustainable Urban Development and Mobility and Equitable and Collaborative Society.
International strategy
Smart City Expo Latam Congress is part of the program of events that Fira de Barcelona International is organizing outside Spain in 2025. With a dozen confirmed events, the trade fair institution is reinforcing its expansion strategy abroad. Among the scheduled events are Smart City Expo in New York (USA), Curitiba (Brazil), Santiago del Estero (Argentina), Santiago de Chile (Chile), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Cartagena de Indias (Colombia), Doha (Qatar) and Tomorrow City in Shanghai (China). In addition to these are IOT Brazil in Sao Paulo, Mexico Hospitality Expo in Guadalajara (Mexico), Alimentaria Chengdu in China and Tomorrow Blue Economy in Niteroi (Brazil).
Barcelona, June 9th 2025
