URBIS The Smart Cities Meetup will focus on energy, smart mobility and efficient public administration

The topic of Smart Cities is becoming an increasingly important part of the development of Czech cities, municipalities and regions. The growing challenges facing local governments today require the search for innovative solutions and practices that are key to ensuring sustainable development, prosperity and the quality of our everyday lives. The successful development of Smart Cities and the implementation of innovations into practice can only happen with strong collaboration among stakeholders across sectors and levels. That is why URBIS The Smart Cities Meetup is being prepared this year in collaboration with four ministries and about ten other institutions. All relevant activities and information will thus be concentrated in one place at one time.

The conference programme is full of important information
URBIS The Smart Cities Meetup consists of a conference and an exhibition part. The conference programme focuses on three areas – energy, transport and public administration efficiency. The main programme will take place in the Rotunda of Hall A, with two auditoriums in Hall A1 reserved for the other specialist programme, which also houses the exhibitors.

Tuesday's programme with the participation of three ministers
The opening ceremony will take place on the first day of URBIS, followed by keynote speeches on all three topics. The morning discussions will be attended, among others, by Minister for European Affairs Martin Dvořák, Minister of the Environment Petr Hladík and Minister of Transport Martin Kupka. The afternoon will focus on energy transformation at neighbourhood and city level and innovative transport concepts that do not require car ownership. Tuesday's programme in the Rotunda will conclude with a session on innovation management.

Wednesday – Energy Day
Wednesday's programme in the Rotunda will start with a session on regional and European cooperation. At 11am, the programme dedicated to energy will start, with partners from several European countries presenting the NetZeroCities platform, the New European Bauhaus concept and other initiatives within the EU mission of climate neutral and smart cities. From 2pm speakers will focus on community and municipal energy and from 3:45pm on energy management in municipalities. The expert programme in Hall A1 will include a mix of topics related to energy, logistics and urban planning.

Thursday – Transport Day
In the morning, the programme will start with the block Taming Advanced Transport Technologies, which will focus on the benefits of intelligent transport technologies for municipalities and cities, practical experiences of cities with transport and autonomous mobility. Together with guests from Austria, the transformation of city centres and their transport patterns will be addressed from 11am. From 1pm onwards, the Living Lab, which is being set up at the Brno Exhibition Centre, will be presented as part of a wider programme with online participation of the Czech Minister for Regional Development, Ivan Bartos.  The Czech-Austrian exchange of experience in the field of smart urban mobility and the subsequent presentation of start-ups in this area can be highlighted from the expert programme.

The programme actively involves representatives of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Regional Development, the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Transport, representatives of regions, municipalities and cities, universities, institutions, entrepreneurs and experts from the Czech Republic and abroad. The programme in Hall A1 also focuses on help for Ukraine. During URBIS, the Living Lab project, which is now part of the Brno Exhibition Centre and focuses on smart solutions for municipalities and cities, will also be presented. The complete updated programme is available on the URBIS event website.

Exhibitors will present a range of innovations and functional solutions
Nearly 50 exhibitors from the energy, transport and other services and products for municipalities and cities will be presenting their solutions in Hall A1 at URBIS. Among the exhibitors will be start-ups offering applications of artificial intelligence in municipal management, advanced energy monitoring, various solutions for shared transport or the digitalisation of public administration. A list of exhibitors is available on the URBIS website.

The exhibition centre is open from 9am to 6pm. Representatives of municipalities, municipal companies, entities cooperating with municipalities and the academic sector are admitted free of charge upon registration as part of the inclusive concept of the URBIS transformation edition.