The event will gather over 6,000 attendees and 100 international experts and companies
From September 26th to 28th, the Indian city of Jaipur Will become the Asian capital of smart cities due to the first edition of Smart City Expo India. The trade show and congress, organized by Jaipur Development Authority and Fira de Barcelona with the support of Jaipur City Council, the government of the state of Rajasthan and the Indian government, will gather 6,000 professional visitors from over a hundred cities and 100 speakers and exhibitors. They will all focus on the need to use technological tools and strategies to improve city life, environmental quality, combat poverty, promote equality, education, womens rights, community development, increase safety and stimulate peoples talents and skills.
Under the theme "Smart India: Making it happen", the event aims to identify specific solutions to address the challenges cities are facing nowadays in fields such as Innovation, Technology and Digital Governance; Social Development; Clean Tech and Circular Economy; The Future of Mobility and Urban Planning; Smart Destinations; and Smart Villages. Smart City Expo India will showcase examples of smart city projects to understand the key factors to make sustainable, equitable and smart initiatives real.
The events congress will feature over 100 international experts among which are Joan Clos, Former Executive Director of UN Habitat and Secretary-General of Habitat III; and Peter Hirshberg, Chairman at Maker City, a social-impact and advocacy firm based in San Francisco that has driven technology-based change initiatives for The White House, United Nations, World Economic Forum and Silicon Valley companies.
Jaipur, a city with a smart vocation
In India, 400 million people, out of a total population of 1,300 million, live in cities. Many experts expect this country to become the most populated in the world in a few years time, outgrowing China. There are three cities –including their metropolitan areas– in India such as Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore that are among the 15 most populous cities in the world. The United Nations have forecast that 500 million Indians will become new residents of super-populated cities in the new 30 years. It is no accident that the Indian government is backing the idea of smart cities, with the commitment to helping to transform a hundred of these metropolises across the country to make them more sustainable and habitable.
It is in this context that Jaipur, with 3.5 million inhabitants is hosting Indias first Smart City Expo Congress. Its rich cultural and architectural heritage has made Jaipur an important tourism destination, and the Jaipur Development Authority. has enabled it to advance towards adopting smart city proposals. Hosting this event is an opportunity for international positioning as one of the leading smart cities in the region, promoting innovation and technology as drivers of a smarter society in which business and city governments work together to tackle the challenges of the 21st century.
