Smart City Expo World Congress will focus on citizen empowerment and mobility
The event will focus on the strategies to empower metropolises and their citizens through active participation, critical reflection, awareness and access and control over important decisions and resources. The new Smart Mobility World Congress will be a global mobility hub to discuss the current and future challenges of transportation.
We are just two weeks away of Smart City Expo World Congress (SCEWC) 2017 and I am glad to announce that this year we will be holding the best edition ever of the leading international event for cities. We are proud to confirm that on our seventh year we will register record-breaking figures bringing together more than 420 top-level experts and industry leaders from key verticals to discuss a better future for our cities; the expo will open its doors with over 680 global exhibitors (+20% growth vs. 2016) and a vast exhibit floor of +30,000 m2. Moreover, the event will become again the must-attend meeting point for +700 government representatives from more than 120 countries.
Smart City Expo World Congress will be jointly held with the first ever Smart Mobility World Congress making Barcelona not only the Capital of cities but also a global mobility hub where attendees will be able to see some of the latest cutting-edge products and services and a wide range of interactive, exciting activities and side events, such as the World Smart City Forum or the 31st Alamys Annual Congress.
In recent years, the concept of smart cities has been widespread across the globe, raising awareness about the need to transform cities and through them the world. Many have agreed that digital technologies and more precisely ICT and IoT are the backbone of the cities of the future and that without them urban transformation would be impossible. But SCEWC will focus on the underlying truth within metropolises: They are run and inhabited by people and these citizens are the future of cities.
We believe that the role that citizens play in the near futures will be crucial. Top-down governance approaches are gone for good and we need to shift the relation between city governments and residents taking it one step further. Never before in history has there been so much talent and creativity concentrated in so little space. It is our responsibility to seize this opportunity and use all the means to grasp the full potential of these urban powerhouses and that’s what Smart City Expo World Congress will be focusing on this edition.
The Smart City Expo & Smart Mobility team and I are very excited about the great edition that we have before us and that we look forward to meeting you in Barcelona from November 14 to 16.
Ugo Valenti is the director of the Smart City Expo World Congress and Smart Mobility World Congress, you can follow him on Twitter: @uvalenti
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