Urban Technology Alliance will once again participate in the Smart City Expo World Congress from 5-7 November in Barcelona. This year, UTA will have a large booth, hosting some of its members, including Nagoya University, Kentyou, Latitudo 40, and RealSim. The project AI4Life, in which Kentyou is a leading partner, will also be represented at the booth.

As one of the world’s major Smart City events, Smart City Expo Barcelona presents an opportunity to discover key trends and technologies that will shape the future of sustainable smart city developments in the coming year. During the 3-day Expo, UTA and its members will showcase their latest projects, urban challenges, and innovative solutions while engaging with major Smart City stakeholders. 

Join us at Booth B145, Hall 2.

UTA Agora Event

n addition, on Wednesday, 6 November, UTA will be hosting, in collaboration with the Smart City Institute Japan, a panel discussion on mobility titled: NetZero Cities: Public Transportation and Personal Mobility.
The event will take place at the Tomorrow.Mobility Agora in Hall 2 from 12:45 to 13:30 and will bring together cities and experts from Asia and Europe to exchange insights on this topic.

Event Summary : 
This event will explore choices cities can make to adapt their transportation systems to meet NetZero and Personal Mobility goals. Speakers from Asia and Europe will discuss work in their cities to meet these goals reflecting on both positive and negative lessons learned through real world deployments.

The event will bring together cities that have extensive experience adapting their transportation networks to NetZero and will focus on lessons learned through real world deployments. 

With cities such as Utsunomiya in Japan which has recently completed a NetZero LRT system, Grenoble in France which is driving its entire transportation system towards NetZero as part of a city wide sustainability program and Istanbul in Turkey, currently planning significant growth of public transportation within a larger personal mobility framework – the event will discuss what has worked and what hasn’t and how to ensure that transportation changes towards NetZero fit into the larger city goals of sustainable and healthy living. 

Key objectives
The session will lay out some of the complexities when mid and large size cities attempt to move their transportation systems towards NetZero. Each of the cities represented has adopted a different approach but all share similar goals. The session will allow enough time for discussion so that audience members can understand some of the trade offs when adopting solutions in the real world. 

High level goals for the session include:

  • Share real world experiences with audience members. All panel members represent real cities that have addressed this complex task. 
  • Be honest about what worked and what didn’t. No city has all the answers, and no solution is perfect. By understanding what didn’t work, other cities can jump start their own plans.
  • Help build connections between cities at different stages on their transformation journey. Cities learn best from other cities. 

The session will attempt to spark new city connections through discussions, Q/A and post session networking. 

Participants:

  • Rodger Lea: Chief Technical Officer, Urban Technology Alliance – Moderator/Presenter
  • Mr Tatsuya Kitamura: Executive Managing Director, Smart City Institute Japan – Speaker
  • Prof. Akinori Morimoto: Faculty of Science and Engineering of Waseda University; Special Advisor for Utsunomiya City LRT – Speaker

  • Ms. Julie Blais: Head of the Observation, and Mobility Foresight Department, SMMAG, Grenoble-Alpes Metropole Speaker

  • Ms. Verónica Gutiérrez: General Director of Innovation, Digital Transformation, and Modernization, City of SantanderSpeaker
  • Mr Greg Brenner, Project Leader and Coordinator, Innovation and IT, Wiener Linien, City of ViennaSpeaker

  • Mr Juho Kostiainen: Project leader of Mobility Lab Helsinki, City of HelsinkiSpeaker

  • A Representative from the Smart City Division , City of IstanbulSpeaker

As UTA and its members prepare to engage with global stakeholders at the Smart City Expo World Congress, this year’s participation will further cement their role as an important player in the development of sustainable, technology-driven urban solutions. With a strong focus on real-world challenges and solutions, Smart City Expo 2024 promises to be an invaluable opportunity for cities, companies, and innovators to collaborate, exchange insights, and accelerate the progress toward smarter, greener cities. We look forward to welcoming attendees to our booth and to a dynamic discussion during the panel on NetZero Cities, where transformative ideas and practical solutions will take center stage.