This year, the 12th year of the world's most renowned Smart City exhibition, Smart City Expo World Congress, took place in Barcelona (November 6 – November 9). This year's slogan was ‘Welcome to the New Urban Era’. According to the organizers of the event, a new era is emerging. Cities are being influenced by artificial intelligence and data-driven design. At the same time, cities need to adapt to decarbonised high-tech trends and focus on building infrastructure with reduced emissions. They are introducing new mobility options and coming up with solutions for the so called ‘blue economy’. Cities are therefore more vibrant than ever, and their future looks promising. There are huge challenges ahead, but the new urban paradigm remains: ethical technology, the collective benefit, respect for the environment and the needs of people at the heart of all agendas, and this was one of the main themes of this year's event: collaboration.
The numbers of this world's number one Smart City fair are truly fascinating. Representatives from more than 134 countries attended the Expo, with over 800 city representatives, 577 presenters and 273 meetings held at the event. The exhibition space was used by 1,106 exhibitors of the exclusive Barcelona fair, with a total of 25,300 people participating.
The experience begins on the way to the exhibition hall, one of the most modern multifunctional spaces in Europe. It is just a few minutes' walk from Europa Fira metro station through a pedestrian zone, without having to navigate through fields of parked cars or squeeze through fenced-off corridors at the entrance.
This year, Barcelona was not only the place to go for the world's most famous Smart City Expo, but also for various parallel events.
There was also the CGCC - Council of Global City CIOs meeting, where Prague, represented by Petr Suška from OICT, became its newest member. Representatives visited the 22@Barcelona district. An innovative district of the city, which is very inspiring in its functioning, especially in the context of the upcoming SPACE innovation centre, which OICT has been preparing for the Czech capital for a long time. During the conference, Petr Suška met with representatives of WEF, Bloomberg Associates and the United Nations, among others.
"The conference and expo in Barcelona provided us all with a whole range of new insights. In particular, the visit to the 22@ innovation district, the inaugural CGCC meeting, or the opportunity to share knowledge with representatives of the World Economic Forum are opportunities that will move the work of the OICT and Prague forward and allow us to create a contextual support framework for the work of not only the Smart Prague OICT," summarizes the participation in Barcelona Petr Suška, Vice-Chairman of the OICT Board of Directors responsible for the management of the Smart City and Innovation Department.
This year's exhibition section has expanded by another hall, which is a testimony to the relentless interest of exhibitors to participate in this prestigious event.
"This year I had the opportunity to participate in the event as a presenter. I can hardly guess what attracted the organisers of the fair to my application on the topic: 'Smart Prague Index', but it was an absolutely unique experience. Just the organization alone, to manage almost 600 presenters, is a truly meritorious job. The expo organizers have a well-developed information system that communicates in a personalized way with the presenter so that he or she has clear rules for the presentation and knows when and where to be and, most importantly, what exactly will be asked of him or her. I definitely recommend not to be afraid to submit an application and then just enjoy your few minutes of "fame"," adds Iva Seigertschmidová, Head of the Smart City Products Department at the Prague city company OICT.
However, the expo itself is not just about technology and networking. It is also an artistic experience. The Spanish have great taste and can create a beautiful piece of art from a cardboard box. Exhibitors from all over the world also have great ideas on how to attract visitors to their booth - some take the easy way out, just write on a piece of paper: whiskey tasting and you are almost guaranteed to have customers at your booth. Others are attracted by a glowing brain or a giant charging station for electric cars. There were already several robots moving around the exhibition grounds - just getting through the crowds must have been a stressful experience for them.
"The discussions with companies such as AWS (Amazon Web Services), Microsoft, Vianova, EIT Urban Mobility, Samsung, Avanti R&D, Medio Ambiente and others were very pleasant and, in my opinion, beneficial. We discussed not only our projects and possible cooperation, but also possibilities concerning, for example, the Prague Innovation Marathon Nakopni prahuor other innovative approaches," says Viktor Beneš, Product Manager Smart City at OICT, in his observations from the Barcelona Expo.
The two exhibition halls at the Smart City Expo World Congress were complemented by a number of smaller and larger lecture and workshop rooms. Individual "booths" of countries, corporations or startups then enticed visitors to stop and study specific installations of more or less audio-visually sophisticated design. In addition, many installations used interactive elements that left a much stronger imprint on visitors than screens with charts and visualizations. "For example, the Biotech City with its installation of "sounding plants" is definitely worth mentioning," adds Denisa Pevná, OICT's International Projects Coordinator.
This international event was also a good place to make (not only) international contacts. That's why we participated in SmartCitiesWorld CityXChange - Executive Conversations on the sidelines of the Barcelona Smart City expo. Tomáš Vácha, Head of International Projects, commented on the event: “We shared experiences from Prague in the field of innovation management, the application of New European Bauhaus principles in engaging citizens in urban innovation and the role of the creative and cultural sector in bringing urban data to target groups in Prague“. During the expo he also spoke at the official stand of the European Commission. This discussion was organised by the partners of the CrAFT and NEB-Star projects aimed at developing the New European Bauhaus concept in which Prague is involved as a pilot city. At the event we shared how Prague's NEB innovation team works and Prague's intention to create a Smart Prague Centre.
We also discussed further cooperation with representatives of research organisations on the possibilities of preparing joint projects for European programmes (e.g. Fraunhofer Institute, University of Mancheszet, Norwegian University of Sciences and Technology).
Last but not least, we were present at a joint meeting of representatives of OICT, Czech Invest and Czech Trade with the management of Smart City Expo and World Congress to prepare the national stand of the Czech Republic. OICT has been involved from the beginning in the design of next year's stand.
We are already looking forward to OICT's participation in the next edition, which will take place in Barcelona from November 5 to November 7, 2024.
