BARCELONA, Spain, Nov. 16 (Xinhua) -- The 11th edition of the Smart City Expo World Congress focusing on improving the lives of city dwellers opened Tuesday in the northeastern Spanish coastal city of Barcelona.
More than 800 exhibiting companies and 400 speakers from 700 cities and regions attend the three-day event that ends on Thursday to share insights and draw on each other's practices for a more sustainable urban world.
"Nowadays we talk a lot about citizens, about how citizens are at the forefront and about what can be done to improve our way of life. It is we as people who have to inspire cities, governors and companies to do things for our benefit," Ugo Valenti, Director of Smart City Expo World Congress, told Xinhua.
The concept of a smart city has changed in recent years, said Valenti, noting that with a shift of focus from the purely technological to the social impact of smart technology, a change has been reflected in the expo since it held its first edition in 2011.
Making cities more sustainable, accessible and secure is the inspiration for the innovative solutions on show at the expo, such as remote control delivery vehicles, drones and flying taxis, smart lamp posts and even an automatic bicycle washer.
"Cities everywhere are doing exceptional work to provide a better service to their citizens and to improve their quality of life. Obviously this has to get better and continue improving little by little, but I think we're on the right path," added Valenti.
Present at the expo are delegations from cities such as Amsterdam, New York, and Rome, as well as representatives from such countries as China, Germany, Brazil, and Canada. It also features hundreds of talks by leading professionals.
The organisers expect to have an attendance of 20,000 at this year's event, close to pre-pandemic levels when the attendance figures stood at some 24,000 in 2019. The next edition of the expo is scheduled for Nov. 7-9, 2023. ■