Christina Yan Zhang

Europe’s AI sovereignty will not come from autarky, but from strategic control. From chips and models to AI Factories and Gigafactories, this talk shows how Europe can build a resilient AI ecosystem: choosing what to own, where to partner, and how to manage dependencies, allies and trade-offs.

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.

Artificial intelligence is becoming a defining force in the evolution of smart cities, reshaping how urban environments are understood, managed, and experienced. As AI moves from experimentation to large-scale implementation, cities are entering a new phase of transformation driven by data, automation, and predictive capabilities. Beyond efficiency and optimization, AI is also redefining the relationship between technology, governance, and society, raising important questions around trust, inclusion, transparency, and public value. This session explores how to harness AI not only to improve urban performance, but to build more resilient, sustainable, and human-centered futures.