Smart City Expo 2026 draws 29,721 participants to Barcelona
Smart City Expo World Congress 2026 closed in Barcelona after attracting 29,721 participants from 140 countries, according to organizer Fira de Barcelona. The event focused on how urban technologies can address affordable housing, climate change mitigation and mobility challenges.
- 29,721 participants from 140 countries attended Smart City Expo World Congress 2026.
- The event focused on affordable housing, climate change mitigation and mobility.
- Tokyo won the 2026 Smart City award for its C³ Powering Tokyo initiative.
- The congress featured 668 experts, representatives from more than 1,000 cities and 1,276 exhibitors.
- The next edition is scheduled for 2 to 4 November 2027 in Barcelona.
Cities and companies focus on practical urban solutions
The fifteenth edition of the Smart City Expo World Congress ended on 6 November at the Gran Via site in Barcelona. Held under the theme “Urban solutions for concrete impact,” the congress presented technologies that cities are already adopting to respond to pressing urban challenges, according to the event announcement.
The programme was organized around seven areas and brought together 668 international experts, along with representatives from more than 1,000 cities. Speakers included Anne Hidalgo, André Dickens, Anacláudia Rossbach, Nikolas Badminton and Ayumi Moore Aoki.
The congress took place alongside the Tomorrow.Mobility World Congress, organized with EIT Urban Mobility, as well as HOWS Barcelona, Tomorrow.Blue Economy, the Barcelona Deep Tech Summit and the Barcelona Cybersecurity Congress. Together, the events brought 1,276 exhibitors, including Dell Technologies, Deutsche Telekom IoT, Esri, FCC Enviro, Google, Hanwha Vision, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Ubiwhere, Urbio and Veolia.
Municipal leaders exchange strategies
In collaboration with Barcelona City Council, the Smart City Expo World Congress organized a “Cities Programme” designed to support the exchange of strategies and knowledge among municipal leaders.
The programme included a meeting of municipal officials responsible for housing, as well as twinning meetings. These activities placed local government cooperation alongside the technology and business discussions at the event.
Ugo Valenti, director of the Smart City Expo World Congress, said the event had set out to show that smart city initiatives were already making an impact. He said cities were ready to deploy successful approaches at scale and that the congress was prepared to help accelerate that process.
Tokyo named Smart City of 2026
Tokyo was named “Smart City of 2026” at the World Smart City Awards, which recognize initiatives and projects in urban transformation each year.
The jury gave the award to Tokyo, specifically its Digital Services Bureau, for the “C³ Powering Tokyo” initiative. The model places residents at the center of the city's digital and AI transformation, according to the announcement.
The award connects the event's focus on concrete urban impact with a citywide approach to digital services and artificial intelligence. The source does not provide further details about the initiative or its results.
The congress will return in 2027
Fira de Barcelona said the Smart City Expo World Congress will return to the Gran Via site for its sixteenth edition from 2 to 4 November 2027.
For cities, the event offers a forum for comparing approaches to housing, climate and mobility, while its combination of municipal leaders, experts and exhibitors gives technology providers a route to present solutions to public-sector decision-makers. The 2026 edition's attendance and international participation show the scale of the platform described by its organizer.
