Smart City Expo World Congress (SCEWC), the leading international event for cities will host on 2018 its eighth edition under the theme Cities To Live In. From November 13 to 15, Fira de Barcelona’s Gran Via venue will gather over 400 speakers and thinkers from fields that range from technology and smart governance to sharing economy and mobility. Among the top speakers for the 2018 edition are Rufus Pollock, economist and founder of Open Knowledge International; Andrew Keen, economist and author of How to fix the Future and Cult of the Amateur; Víctor Pineda, social development scholar and disability rights advocate; and Bangladeshi social entrepreneur, banker and economist Muhammad Yunus, 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner.
This edition’s theme aims to underline the ultimate and common goal of making cities better places to live in. And the keynote speakers featured in the 2018 SCEWC exemplify this purpose. The first keynote is British economist Rufus Pollock, founder of Open Knowledge International, a foundation that defines itself as a “leading international non-profit that empowers people and organizations with access to information and the tools and skills to make sense of it.” A recognized global expert on open data and open knowledge, he has worked with multiple governments and institutions such as the World Bank and the UN.
Andrew Keen will also take part in SCEWC. Keen is an entrepreneur and author and is considered among the world’s best-known contemporary analysts of digital business and culture, and the digital revolution. He is executive director of the Silicon Valley innovation salon FutureCast. In 2015, he was named by GQ magazine in their list of the “100 Most Connected Men”.
The third keynote will be Víctor Pineda, president of World Enabled, an educational non-profit to promote the rights and dignity of disabled people and works to build Cities for All. Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, he is a leading global expert on disability rights, policy, planning, and design, and has worked closely with cities and institutions like World Bank, United Nations, UNESCO or UNICEF.
The last keynote is Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus. Widely known as the banker to the poor, Professor established the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh in 1983, fueled by the belief that credit is a fundamental human right. His objective was to help poor people escape from poverty by providing loans on terms suitable to them and by teaching them a few sound financial principles. Rated number 2 in Foreign Policy magazine’s list of the ‘Top 100 Global Thinkers in 2008, Yunus also serves on the board of directors of the United Nations Foundation.
International benchmark
In 2018 the congress program has been restructured into 5 themes, Digital Transformation, Urban Environment, Mobility, Governance & Finance, and Inclusive & Sharing Cities; and will cover topics such as Data-driven Cities, 5G and the future of Connectivity, Resilient Cities, Gentrification, Innovative Transport Systems, Multilevel Governance, Sharing and Collaborative Economy, Circular Economy and Cities for All.
On its next edition, SCEWC expects to gather over 700 cities worldwide as well as 700 exhibitors and more the 400 speakers and 20.000 attendees from 120 countries. The international impact of the show has grown with regional events in Curitiba (Brazil), Casablanca (Morocco), Istanbul (Turkey), Kyoto (Japan), Puebla (Mexico), Jaipur (India), Montreal (Canada), Bogotá (Colombia) and Buenos Aires (Argentina) further consolidating Smart City Expo as the international leading event in smart urban solutions and drawing more attendees and interest toward the global event held in Barcelona every year
