Rome awarded “Smart City of 2025” for its urban model and the great success of The Smart City Journal
Smart City Expo World Congress (SCEWC), the world’s leading summit on smart cities and urban innovation organized by Fira de Barcelona, closed this afternoon its 2025 edition with record-breaking figures. With more than 27,000 attendees from 143 countries gathered at Fira de Barcelona’s Gran Via venue, the event highlighted how cities must lead the urban transformation by leveraging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), capable of accelerating the development of large-scale international initiatives.
Under the slogan “The Time for Cities,” SCEWC 2025 showcased the transformative potential of technology, with a special focus on AI as a driving force for sustainable and efficient urban development. The debut of the new AI-enabled Cities area allowed participants to explore how this technology is rapidly powering solutions across major metropolitan areas worldwide, consolidating itself as a catalyst for change.
Ugo Valenti, Director of Smart City Expo World Congress, stated that “cities are assuming their role and responsibility in shaping the future. The challenges are complex, but they are being addressed head-on with a clear willingness to act. Artificial Intelligence has emerged as a fundamental tool, not only in terms of efficiency, but also in accelerating the transformation that metropolitan areas urgently need. Cities must lead this movement, and after this year’s event it is clearer than ever that we are on the right path.”
SCEWC was held jointly with Tomorrow.Mobility World Congress (organized with the EIT Urban Mobility), Tomorrow.Building, Tomorrow.Blue Economy, and the Barcelona Deep Tech Summit, bringing together 1,190 exhibitors, including Axis Communications, Bentley, Dahua Technology, Dassault Systèmes, Dell, Deloitte, Google, iotsquared, Microsoft, Nvidia, Spie, Urbaser, and Veolia.
The events also featured 600 international experts such as Nikki Greenberg, Kate O’Neill, and Carlo Ratti, who shared insights and proposals to shape the future of urban life, governance, and mobility.
Startups played a key role at SCEWC 2025, with their relevance in the urban ecosystem reflected in the Innovation Playground, which connected investors, research centers, and nearly 350 emerging companies showcasing new products and technologies.
World Smart City Awards
The Italian city of Rome was awarded “Smart City of 2025” at the World Smart City Awards, which annually recognize the most outstanding initiatives and projects in the field of urban transformation. The awards also honored Maimunah Mohd Sharif, Mayor of Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) and former Executive Director of UN-Habitat, for her contribution to advancing new global urban development paradigms.
Smart City Expo World Congress will return to Fira de Barcelona’s Gran Via venue for its 15th edition, from November 3 to 5, 2026.
Key Interviews
Once again—now for the twelfth consecutive year—The Smart City Journal (www.thesmartcityjournal.com) served as Media Partner of the event.
Its booth, set up as a television studio, hosted leading figures who responded to three key questions on the current state and future of smart cities. Participants included: José de la Uz (President of RECI and Mayor of Las Rozas), Luis Martínez-Sicluna (Secretary General of FEMP), Javier Peña (General Coordinator of RECI), Sonia Frías (City of Barcelona), Sonia Gómez and Marta Cruz (Madrid Capital Digital), and Ane Miren Ibañez (City of Bilbao) from the institutional sphere, as well as Patricia Molina (Tecnalia), Lucía Alcibar-Arechuloaga (Inkolan), Frédéric Vieuxmaire (Telefónica), and Federico Rodríguez (Gemini) representing the corporate sector. They were the true protagonists of this year’s edition.
Photos: 1.- Mosaic of participants and award winners 2.- Ane Miren Ibañez, Director of Modernization at the Bilbao City Council, with Manuel Tarín, President of The Smart City Journal, on the TV set installed at the stand.
