The agreement harnesses AI to drive sustainable, people-centred urban innovation
Smart City Expo and ITU join forces to shape global standards for cities
Smart City Expo World Congress (SCEWC), the world’s leading event on cities and smart urban solutions, and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) have signed a strategic agreement to promote the development of international standards for interoperable, secure, inclusive and trusted artificial intelligence (AI) in cities. This new collaboration strengthens the shared ambition of both organizations to accelerate the responsible use of digital technologies that improve quality of life and strengthen urban resilience worldwide.
The agreement builds on a growing global need for aligned frameworks capable of guiding cities as they deploy AI across essential fields such as mobility, energy management, environmental monitoring, public safety and urban planning. By developing common guidelines and reference models, SCEWC and ITU aim to help cities, governments and solution providers adopt systems that can operate across borders, integrate safely with existing digital infrastructures and support transparency, fairness and accountability.
Bilel Jamoussi, Deputy Director of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau at ITU, stated: “With Fira de Barcelona, we reinforce the bridge between global dialogue and local action, ensuring innovation translates into tangible impact for communities. As cities deploy AI across mobility, energy and urban planning, international standards are mission-critical. AI in cities must be interoperable, secure, inclusive and trusted — or it will not scale.”
Along these lines, Ugo Valenti, Director of Smart City Expo World Congress, added: “This alliance marks a decisive step forward in ensuring that AI becomes a trusted foundation for the cities of tomorrow. By joining forces with the ITU, we enhance our shared commitment to help governments, industry leaders and urban innovators deploy technologies that genuinely improve people’s lives. Together, we aim to accelerate a global movement toward urban environments that are secure and truly human‑centric.”
A shared commitment to trustworthy, people‑centred AI
The five‑year agreement signed last week at the headquarters of the FEMP (Federación Española de Municipios y Provincias) also establishes means to intensify knowledge exchange between both institutions including introducing sessions within the main congress program of SCEWC that focus on people‑centered smart cities and emerging technologies, highlighting how digital tools enable inclusive and sustainable urban transformation. Also new Agora and thematic discussion spaces will be created to address key areas such as the AI-enabled citiverse, and digital public infrastructure.
In addition, the Annual Special Session of United for Smart and Sustainable Cities (U4SSC) will be hosted as part of SCEWC to facilitate global dialogue, stakeholder engagement, and coordinated policy development on smart and sustainable urban development. U4SSC is a United Nations initiative coordinated by ITU together with another 20 UN entities, supporting cities worldwide in advancing digital transformation and sustainability to build more people-centred, inclusive, and resilient cities through policy guidance, international standards, and knowledge sharing.