Barcelona will host the largest edition of the Smart City Expo World Congress (SCEWC) held to date, with 1,100 exhibitors from 850 cities and more than 600 international experts. The event, organized by Fira de Barcelona, will take place between November 5 and 7 and is considered the world reference in terms of smart city refers, aims to address sustainable and ethical urban development from different perspectives, on this occasion under the motto Live Better. Among the main novelties is the space Innovation Playgrounddedicated to connecting startupsinvestors, governments and research centers to promote R&D&I.
The SCEWC 2024 will be structured around seven general themes, such as Energy and Environment; Mobility; Governance; Economy: Enabling Technologies; Life and Inclusion; and Infrastructure and Buildings. The list of speakers for this edition includes experts such as Majora Carter, Ruha Benjamin, Stephanie Hare and Melati Wijsen, among others. The complete list of speakers of this edition of Smart City Expo World Congress It can be consulted on its website.
In the case of Majora Carter, her reflection will focus on urban revitalization and she will share with the public her experience transforming the South Bronx – the well-known New York neighborhood -, where green spaces have been promoted, through equitable community participation and always with an eye on sustainable economic development. For her part, Ruha Benjamin will focus her analysis on inequality of technological origin. Not in vain, this professor of African American Studies at Princeton University (USA) is known for her works where the concepts of race, society and technology converge.
Expert Stephanie Hare will address issues such as data privacy, surveillance and the ethical use of artificial intelligence, as her research focuses on the implications of emerging technologies in society and defending practices that protect rights. individuals and promote social equity. While, regarding the work of the Indonesian activist Melati Wijsen, it began with her sister Isabel and has been focused on the elimination of disposable plastic bags. He arrives at SCEWC after having participated in international meetings organized by National Geographicthe World Economic Forum or the UN.
In addition to the topics discussed in the different panels, SCEWC 2024 wants to set an example of sustainability directly, through an initiative whose objective is to reduce the environmental impact of the event and move towards a congress of Zero Waste. Among the measures adopted by the organization, the recycling of materials, the elimination of single-use plastics and the use of renewable resources stand out. In parallel, the reusable furniture donation program will be developed, which will allow benches and flower pots used in the event to be donated to organizations in Barcelona. Likewise, the fabrics of the stands and a pilot will be developed to use reusable cups instead of plastic ones.
These types of measures have a quantifiable effect. For example, in the last edition of the SCEWC, the waste of more than 2,100 kilos of plastic waste was avoided, 9,180 kilos of carpet were recycled and 203.97 tons of CO2 were offset, according to sources from the organization. In addition, 14 tons of wood were recovered, all added to the planting of 886 trees through the initiative founded by the German environmentalist Felix Finkbeiner and called Trees for the Planet (framed in the project Plants for the Planet). In fact, in this edition, Finkbeiner himself will offer a conference on reforestation and climate change, focused on his work in the Doñana National Park.
The SCEWC as a bringer of experiences
Framed in the Smart City Expo World Congress and sharing its space at the Fira, four other related events will be held on the same dates. One of them is the Barcelona Deep Tech Summitwhich will celebrate its third edition, in this case it is a meeting focused on scientific-technological entrepreneurship and the potential of spin-off university students.
Likewise, directly related to the SCEWC, the World Smart City Awards and the congresses Tomorrow.Mobility World Congress, Tomorrow.Building World Congress and Tomorrow.Blue Economy. Regarding the awards, which will be presented on November 6, the organization has highlighted the quality of the 429 applications received, from 64 countries, and who will compete for the 9 categories that make up the awards with which they want to recognize to urban transformation and innovation projects. The other three complementary events are focused on mobility, construction and the sustainable economy of the oceans, respectively.
Regarding this multidisciplinary nature of the meeting, Ugo Valenti, director of SCEWC, stressed that “the aim is to establish a common strategy for urban innovation that serves to improve well-being, create opportunities and foster a better relationship with our planet and our communities.” In this sense, he clarified that “if we want to live better [aludiendo al lema de esta edición: Live Better]we must change our habits, take advantage of technology, innovation and collaboration. To facilitate this work, we want to offer a meeting point so that all those involved in the concept of Smart City come together and draw up a roadmap to a better tomorrow.”
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