From November 16 to 18, 2021, one of the world’s most important smart city conferences and trade fairs, the Smart City Expo World Congress (SCEWC), took place in Barcelona. This important event offers municipal stakeholders a platform to exchange ideas with experts and technology providers on the topic of smart and sustainable urban and regional development and to initiate possible partnerships. 400 exhibitors, 350 speakers and 10,000 visitors took part in the tenth anniversary edition of the trade fair. aconium GmbH was also represented with its regional office for Bavaria and the Smart Regions team and presented itself with other partners at the Bavarian joint stand.
More and more municipalities and regions in Europe, Germany and Bavaria are addressing the topic of digitalization and want to use the unstoppable technological progress to improve the quality of life in the municipalities and regions. However, digitalization does not happen on its own and support from experts is needed, especially in rural areas, where resources and know-how are often lacking. In many places, an impetus is still needed to open up to the digital world and embark on the path towards a smart region.
“Raising citizens’ awareness of the benefits and necessity of digital solutions to create equal living conditions and improve the quality of life should be the concern of all municipal and regional decision-makers. The transformation can only succeed with the involvement and participation of citizens and local stakeholders,” says Dr. Peyman Khodabakhsh, head of the Smart Regions team at aconium GmbH. In order to support local authorities on their way to becoming smart regions, aconium GmbH accompanies them in their process, from raising awareness in the region’s society to analyzing the initial situation and developing strategies, through to project implementation and continuation. In doing so, it relies on an integrated approach, according to which the entire process is to be designed in a cross-departmental and cross-sectoral manner with the participation of all local stakeholders. This is just a small selection of the many topics that aconium GmbH presented at the trade fair.
Another aim was to exchange ideas with other renowned experts on the topic of data and the use of municipal data. This is seen as one of the most important topics in the field of smart regions, which aconium GmbH is working on and continuously developing. If you would like to find out more about aconium GmbH’s services, expertise and projects in the field of smart regions, please visit our website: