Smart City Expo World Congress ended in Barcelona after drawing 29,721 attendees, but organizer Fira de Barcelona gave no project-level measurements for its claim that urban technology is producing results.
The 15th edition ran Nov. 3-5 at Fira’s Gran Via venue. Fira reported attendees from 140 countries, 1,276 exhibitors and 668 international experts; representatives from more than 1,000 cities also took part.
Affordable housing, climate-change mitigation and mobility were among the program’s main themes, the organizer said. Fira described city technology initiatives as making an impact and referred to urban projects producing results, but its closing announcement did not provide measured outcomes for individual projects or quantified benefits.
Ugo Valenti, director of Smart City Expo World Congress, said cities were prepared to expand approaches they considered successful. He said organizers would help accelerate that effort.
A Cities Programme organized by Fira and Barcelona City Council brought municipal leaders together to exchange strategies. It included a closed-door mayors’ meeting on housing and “City Peers” sessions involving municipal officials and partner organizations.
Tokyo received the “Smart City of 2026” award for “C³ Powering Tokyo.” Fira said the project makes residents central to the city’s digital and AI transformation.
Other events alongside the congress included Tomorrow.Mobility World Congress, HOWS Barcelona, Tomorrow.Blue Economy, Barcelona Deep Tech Summit and Barcelona Cybersecurity Congress, Fira said. The next edition is scheduled for Nov. 2-4, 2027, at the Gran Via venue.
