Smart City Expo 2026 draws 29.721 attendees from 140 countries
Smart City Expo World Congress closed its fifteenth edition in Barcelona after drawing 29.721 attendees from 140 countries and bringing together representatives of more than 1,000 cities. The event focused on how urban technologies are addressing challenges including affordable housing, climate change and mobility.
- 29.721 attendees came from 140 countries.
- The congress featured 668 international experts and representatives of over 1,000 cities.
- A total of 1,276 exhibitors took part across the associated events.
- Tokyo was named Smart City of 2026 for C³ Powering Tokyo.
- The next edition will run from November 2 to 4, 2027.
Urban solutions take center stage
Held at Fira de Barcelona's Gran Via venue, Smart City Expo World Congress 2026 used the theme "Urban Solutions, Real Impact". The event argued that technologies cities have already committed to are having an impact on urgent urban challenges.
The program was organized around seven tracks and included 668 international experts. Speakers included Anne Hidalgo, Andre Dickens, Anacláudia Rossbach, Nikolas Badminton and Ayumi Moore Aoki.
Affordable housing, climate change abatement solutions and mobility were among the main topics. The event was held alongside Tomorrow.Mobility World Congress, Tomorrow.Blue Economy, the Barcelona Deep Tech Summit and the Barcelona Cybersecurity Congress.
Cities and companies gather in Barcelona
The combined events brought together 1,276 exhibitors, including Dell Technologies, Deutsche Telekom IoT, Esri, FCC Enviro, Google, Hanwha Vision, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Ubiwhere, Urbio and Veolia. Municipal representatives, companies and experts used the congress to share urban strategies and projects.
SCEWC's Cities Programme, jointly organized with Barcelona City Council, focused on exchanging strategies and knowledge among municipal leaders. Its activities included the Housing Mayors Meeting and the City Peers meetings.
Ugo Valenti, director of Smart City Expo World Congress, said the event had set out to demonstrate that smart city initiatives were already producing results. "Having welcomed over 27,000 attendees and 1,276 exhibitors, and having brought together mayors, companies and experts who are delivering results all over the world, we can affirm that the message from cities has been clear: they are ready and willing to scale what works and we are ready to help them speed the process," Valenti said.
Tokyo receives the 2026 city award
Tokyo was named "Smart City of 2026" at the World Smart City Awards. The awards recognize initiatives and projects in the urban transformation industry.
The jury gave the City Award to Tokyo through its Bureau of Digital Services for "C³ Powering Tokyo". The model places residents at the center of the city's digital and AI transformation, according to the event announcement.
The next edition is scheduled for 2027
The attendance and exhibitor figures show the scale of the forum's city focused agenda, while the Cities Programme and the Tokyo award put municipal leadership and resident centered digital services at the heart of the event. The source presents the congress as a venue for cities to exchange strategies and scale solutions that are already delivering results.
Smart City Expo World Congress will return to Fira de Barcelona's Gran Via venue for its sixteenth edition on November 2 to 4, 2027.
PR Newswire: Smart City Expo 2026 closes after showing the real impact of urban solutions
