URBIS has been ceremonially opened by Jan Kubata, Markéta Vaňková and Jan Grolich

"It is a great honour for me to open the URBIS fair, which is being presented in a completely new format. The Central European region has so far lacked a strong meeting platform dedicated to the transformation of cities and I am pleased that thanks to cooperation with institutions from all over the country this situation is changing and a fundamentally transformed URBIS is coming to life. Its aim is to help local governments to innovate and share good practice, not only for larger cities but also for smaller municipalities. The unique combination of the conference and exhibition part makes URBIS an extraordinary event that has the ambition to be the most important event for Smart Cities in Central Europe, and not only for them," said Jan Kubata, CEO of BVV Trade Fairs Brno, at the beginning. Jan Kubata also thanked all those who supported URBIS and participated in such an important project. In his opening speech it was also said that this year's edition focuses on topics that are really burning and that municipalities and cities must respond to, including energy, climate, efficiency of public administration and mobility of the future. "Enjoy Brno, enjoy the expo, enjoy URBIS," concluded his speech Jan Kubata.

Mayor of Brno Markéta Vaňková also greeted the visitors. "I would like to say that innovation is the engine of progress, thanks to technology we can live, communicate and work. It is an honour for me that Brno and the South Moravian Region were the first in the Czech Republic at the birth of an innovation strategy and thanks to this, a strong innovation community has been building up here for several years. We are a trade fair city with a big overlap. It is therefore quite obvious that URBIS belongs in Brno in particular. This trade fair enables meeting and sharing, because without mutual cooperation, nothing would work. I wish that this networking would be there throughout the three days and even into the night hours, because Brno is not only a city of science and research, a city of universities and justice, but also a city of gastronomy."

"Brno and the entire South Moravian Region are known for their innovations and technology companies operating here, which is certainly helped by the existence of the South Moravian Innovation Centre, whose activities are known all over the Czech Republic. We have also established the JINAG agency, which is focused on supporting innovation in state and local government, which will be presenting here. We hope to see a lot of inspiration from you through this agency. However, our region is not only about innovation; innovation is also combined with tradition. We are a wine region and therefore I hope that this will also contribute to a pleasant time here in Brno, at the URBIS fair," concluded with these words the opening part in front of the full Rotunda the Governor of the South Moravian Region Jan Grolich.