The Smart City Expo World Congress 2026 kicked off today in Barcelona, with Mayor Jaume Collboni visiting the municipal stand. This year, the City Council, together with BSM and the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (AMB), and with the participation of companies and startups from Barcelona Activa, is showcasing 70 current and future services and projects under the slogan “Barcelona, where innovation flourishes.” These are divided into seven thematic hubs: smart mobility; housing; innovation for people; simulation and decision-making; security; public space and urban innovation; and climate challenges.
The 15th edition of the congress positions Barcelona as an international hub for innovation in public policies and smart urban solutions. In parallel, the first edition of the Housing World Summit (HOWS) Barcelona has been launched, a new international congress dedicated to the challenge of urban and affordable housing. New editions of events such as the Deep Tech Summit, Tomorrow Blue Economy, and the Innova Lab Mobility have also commenced.
The Deputy Mayor for Social Rights, Raquel Gil, highlighted that the fair demonstrates how the city uses technology to address issues of mobility, accessibility, security, and social applications, with housing as a cross-cutting theme. She emphasized the importance of the Cities Programme, which hosts hundreds of cities, and the new HOWS to tackle the housing challenge with technology. She also noted the role of the Deep Tech Summit in transforming university research into market products.
The fourth deputy mayor and head of Housing, Jordi Valls, opened HOWS, emphasizing the congress's intention to remain a permanent fixture for in-depth discussions on housing, including speculation, finance, regulation, and construction, reminding attendees that "housing is not an asset, housing is for living in."
HOWS will bring together governments, cities, social real estate developers, third-sector entities, non-profit organizations, academia, and institutions until November 5th, with participation from experts such as Anne Hidalgo, former Mayor of Paris; Anna Minton, Professor at the University of East London; and Anacláudia Rossbach, Executive Director of UN-Habitat.
The City Council's stand presents concrete solutions across the seven strategic hubs: in mobility, the Mobility Dashboard and IO cameras; in housing, models of public housing developments and modular architecture solutions; in innovation for people, the 'Ajuntament al teu mòbil' app and an AI platform for automating procedures; in simulation and decision-making, the pilot project for digital mobility tracking in the Les Corts district; in security, rescue robots and fire detection systems from the Bombers de Barcelona; in public space, integrated green space management and public lighting remote control; and in climate challenges, the Barcelona 50º simulation and bus shelters with solar panels.
