European CommissionSmart Cities Marketplace @ Smart City Expo World Congress 2023 Barcelona
Number of Participants SCEWC:
- 100 exhibitors
- 300 participants
- 577 consultants and 273 sessions
- Trade fair appearance of the Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities: 31 Partners
From the 7th to 9th of November 2023 the Smart City Expo World Congress took place in Barcelona. The annual congress, the world’s largest and most influential event for cities and urban innovation, brings together the entire ecosystem – cities, industry, academia and policymakers.
As the leading partner for communication and event management of the Smart Cities Marketplace, Steinbeis Europa Zentrum contributed to the overall organization and program management of over 30 initiatives and projects of the European Commission in the field of climate-neutral and smart cities.
The main organization included logistical coordination with Barcelona Trade Fair, coordination of participation for all partners and the conceptual design of the booth program. Under the sponsorship of the European Commission, networks, initiatives and over 20 projects from the urban context presented themselves. Throughout the event, interested parties could learn about EU policies, project results, initiatives and financing opportunities at the joint booth through presentations or participate in workshops for discussions.
In total, 14 program points were implemented at the booth with over 70 experts. The Smart Cities Marketplace and its partners were also represented in the main congress and expo program. For example, two congress sessions on regarding to the topics ‘Creating Irresistible Climate-Neutral Cities’ and ‘Beautiful and inclusive transitions to resilient, climate-neutral cities and communities’ were significantly designed by colleagues from Steinbeis Europa Zentrum.
The aim of the joint appearance was to emphasize the shared commitment to implementing sustainable urban solutions in line with the EU Green deal and the REPowerEU plan and to facilitate exchange within and with this dynamic European network.
„Cities play a pioneering role because as the strongest force, they can accelerate the energy transition. This means concretely: accelerating the deployment of renewable energies, increasing energy efficiency as well as improvements in mobility, digital infrastructure, air quality, water supply, circular economy and waste management.“
Georg Houben, European Commission, GD ENERGY