From tomorrow until Thursday, Smart City Expo Latam Congress (SCELC) celebrates its ninth edition at the Siglo XXI convention centre in the Mexican city of Merida. The leading event on urban innovation in Latin America will bring together more than 300 cities, 100 mayors, 100 institutions and companies, as well as 300 speakers who will exchange experiences and solutions to promote smart cities, new models of equitable mobility and sustainable development.
Organised by Fira de Barcelona, with the collaboration of the state government of Yucatán and the mayor's office of Mérida, the ninth edition of SCELC calls on all sectors of society, from universities, non-governmental organisations, institutional authorities and private initiative, to promote urban transformation projects with a sustainable approach to build more equitable cities.
With the slogan "Cities for all: Leadership and Commitment", Smart City Expo Latam Congress will bring together 300 experts who will address some of the challenges currently facing cities around the world based on six themes: Urban Spaces, Digital Transformation, Smart Destinations, Connected Society, Caring Cities and Climate Change & Sustainable Territories.
Among the speakers taking part will be the Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, economist and founder of the Grameen Bank, a financial institution with a social vocation for which he received the prestigious award in 2006.
Also taking part will be Rafa Jaime, businessman, athlete and mountaineer who last year became the first blind Latin American to summit Everest; Ingrid Motta, CEO of the technology communication agency BrainGame Central and one of the most influential women in the sector according to the newspaper El Universal; and Inés Sánchez de Madriaga, visiting professor at Harvard University and Unesco gender chair.
Apart from the congress, SCELC has also organised an exhibition area where the more than 100 companies and institutions that will take part will showcase the most innovative, technological and disruptive solutions to advance on the path of urban innovation, including Infiniti Mérida, InteI and Kiwi Networks.
In addition, with the aim of recognising cities that are implementing innovative and sustainable projects in Latin America, the Latam Smart City Awards have been announced. These awards will be announced on the last day of the event and will be presented in four categories: Latam City, Digital Transformation, Sustainable Urban Development and Mobility and Equitable and Sustainable Society.
Tomorrow.Mobility arrives in Mexico
Tomorrow.Mobility Mexico, the first international edition of this event created by Fira Barcelona and EIT Urban Mobility, which aims to bring together experts from all over the world to promote a more sustainable and intelligent reality for urban mobility, will be held to coincide with SCELC.
The congress part will feature speakers such as Adriana Berenice Pérez, manager of Active Mobility and Road Design of Mexico City; Projjal Dutta, director of Sustainability of the New York City Council, or Jorge Daza, undersecretary of transport of the government of Chile. Meanwhile, in the exhibition area, disruptive solutions will be presented by companies such as Mobility ADO, specialised in integral mobility solutions; the Chinese bus manufacturer Yutong; and the road communication company Cactus Traffic, among others.
Smart City Expo Latam Congress is one of the 14 shows that Fira de Barcelona is organising this year around the world as part of its international expansion strategy initiated more than 10 years ago. The international editions of Smart City Expo World Congress are its spearhead and this year 2024 will be held in cities such as New York, Curitiba, Doha, Santiago de Chile and Bogotá. Other highlights include the organisation of the IOT Solutions Congress Brazil, Alimentos Cuba and Alimentaria in the Chinese city of Chengdu, among others.