What it is
Smart City Expo World Congress is a three-day congress and trade fair run by Fira de Barcelona at its Gran Via venue every November. The organiser describes it as the annual meeting point for company leaders, public officials, entrepreneurs, experts and academics working on cities. The 2025 edition, held with its co-located events Tomorrow.Mobility, Tomorrow.Building and Tomorrow.Blue Economy, drew more than 27,000 attendees from 138 cities, according to the organiser’s 2025 highlights.
The brand also travels. In 2026 Fira de Barcelona runs local editions in Brazil, the United States, Argentina, Mexico, Chile, China, Colombia and Qatar. The Barcelona event remains the main one.
How the programme is organised
There are two layers. The exhibition, spread over two halls with more than 1,190 exhibitors, has open stages that any pass holder can attend. The congress programme on the main stage, with keynotes and high-level panels, is reserved for Full Congress, Speaker, Exhibitor and Investor passes. The same passes also open two side congresses: the Barcelona Cybersecurity Congress and HOWS Barcelona, the Housing World Summit.
For city governments the most relevant part is the Cities Programme, run by Barcelona City Council. In 2026 it is organised around two questions: tackling the housing crisis while protecting affordability and the right to remain in the city, and governing the data, technologies and infrastructures that public services now depend on. Its sessions are by invitation; the Housing Mayors Meeting on 4 November is a closed-door working session for mayors.
The World Smart City Awards are presented during the event, and the ceremony is open to every pass type. Applications for 2026 have closed.
What came out of the last edition
The organiser’s summary of 2025 lists five takeaways. Two are close to the questions the cities on futurehubs are working on. Speakers treated rules such as the EU AI Act as something that builds trust rather than as a brake on innovation. And cities were urged to invest in “digital fluency” for residents and for their own staff, not only in technology.
Going, or following from home
The 2026 halls are open from 9:00 to 19:00 on 3 and 4 November and from 9:00 to 17:00 on 5 November. The call for speakers has closed, so the remaining way to take part is with a pass. A Visitor Pass covers the halls, the open stages and the awards evening; the main stage needs a congress pass. Fira de Barcelona also lists a Government Pass for public officials, but we could not find its conditions published as text, so check the passes page before you rely on it.