United Nations Pavilion @ Smart City Expo Congress

Master of Ceremonies: Paul Wilson, Advisory Board Chair, SmartCitiesWorld

Opening Remarks:

Bilel Jamoussi, Deputy Director, Telecommunication Standardization Bureau, International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
Edlam Yemeru, Director, Knowledge and Innovation Branch, United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat)
Ugo Valenti, Director, Smart City Expo World Congress
Maria Eugènia Gay, Second Deputy Mayor of Barcelona
José de la Uz Pardos, Mayor of Las Rozas and President, Spanish Network of Smart Cities (RECI)
Luuc Dekkers, Deputy Mayor for Digitalisation, Public Services, Governance and European Affairs, City of Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Mohammed Al Rubay, General Director of Public Relations and Media at the Mayoralty of Baghdad
Luis Martínez-Sicluna Sepúlveda, Secretary General of the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP)
H.E. Mr. Jaume Duch Guillot, Minister for European Union and External Action, Government of Catalonia

Keynote speech:

Dae-ho Choi, Mayor, Anyang, Korea (Republic of)

Moderator: Nicolas Brass, Chief of the Global Compact on Refugees, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

Speakers:

Kathryn Travers, Policy Specialist, Ending Violence against Women and Girls, UN Women
Ryszard Frelek, Counsellor, External Relations Division, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
Sanjeevani Dilanthi Singh, Economic Affairs officer, Sustainable Urban Development Section, Environment and Development Division, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)
Indra-Jeet Mistry, Urban Forestry and Green Cities Officer, Forestry Division (NFO), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
Irene Kaggwa Sewankambo, Giga Programme Manager, ITU

This session is organized by UN-Habitat.

Speakers:

Livia Nonose, United Nations Innovation Technology Accelerator for Cities (UNITAC)
Sophie Naue, United Nations Innovation Technology Accelerator for Cities (UNITAC)

This session is organized by UN-Habitat.

Moderator: Edlam Yemeru, Director, Knowledge and Innovation Branch, UN-Habitat

Speakers:

Juan Carlos Uribe, Program Manager, UCLG
Mukul Bhola, Director of the United Nations Satellite Center, United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR)
Sophie Naue, Innovation Specialist, UNITAC
Peter Sailer, Project Director for the International Smart Cities Network, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH

This session is co-organized by UN-Habitat and ITU.

Opening remarks: Edlam Yemeru, Director, Knowledge and Innovation Branch, UN-Habitat

This session is co-organized by UN-Habitat, ITU and the United Nations Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies (ODET).

Opening remarks: Aline Machado da Matta, Head of the Geneva Office and Head of the UN Innovation Technology Accelerator for Cities, United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat)

Moderator: Andrés Domínguez Hernández, Research and Partnerships Programme Manager for AI Governance for Humanity, United Nations Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies (UN ODET)

Speakers:

Low Yen Ling, Senior Minister of State and Mayor of South West District, Singapore
Betina Worm, Vice-Mayor, Porto Alegre, Brazil
Luuc Dekkers, Deputy Mayor for Digitalisation, Public Services, Governance and European Affairs, City of Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Dae-ho Choi, Mayor, Anyang, Korea (Republic of)

Closing remarks: Bilel Jamoussi, Deputy Director, Telecommunication Standardization Bureau, International Telecommunication Union (ITU)

This session is organized by the United for Smart Sustainable Cities (U4SSC) Initiative.

Moderator: Sanjeevani Dilanthi Singh, Economic Affairs officer, Sustainable Urban Development Section, Environment and Development Division, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)

Speaker:

Daniel Vega Diaz, Deputy Directorate for Smart Territories, Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP)
José Antonio Teixeira Vitienes, Head of Smart City and a Data Spaces committee, COITT
Fermín Galán Márquez, Senior Smart City Platforms Expert, Telefónica
Jesús López Baeza, Head of Urban and Regional Solutions, MB3
Jordi Ortuño Ribé, Directorate of Innovation and City Technologies, Barcelona City Council

Official launch of the U4SSC Deliverable on Connecting Smart City Platforms and Data Spaces: The strategic Role of Data Offices.

This session is organized by the United for Smart Sustainable Cities (U4SSC) Initiative.

Moderator: Ryszard Frelek, Counsellor, External Relations Division, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)

Speakers:

Gamze Hakli Geray, Adjunct Faculty Lecturer, Middlesex University Dubai
John Smičiklas, Director, ESG, Morguard Corporation

Official launch of the U4SSC Deliverables on Digital Transformation Assessment of People-Centred Cities Performance and Impact Assessment Guide and Details of 100 Key Performance Indicators.

Moderator: Ivan Monforte, Programme Coordinator at International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Giga Barcelona Technology Center

Speakers:

Soumaya Ben Dhaou, Research Specialist, United Nations University Operating Unit on Policy-Driven Electronic Governance (UNU-EGOV)
Mukul Bhola, Director of the United Nations Satellite Center, United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR)
Elena Bonetti, Consultant and Environmental Regulations Lawyer, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)

The session is co-organized by ITU and UN-Habitat.

Moderator: Chenayi Mutambasere, Director, Africa Centre for Economic Justice

Speakers:

Bilel Jamoussi, Deputy Director, Telecommunication Standardization Bureau, ITU
Edlam Yemeru, Director, Knowledge and Innovation Branch, UN-Habitat
Ramy Ahmed Fathy, Chief of International Cybersecurity, National Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (NTRA), Egypt
Ramya Krishnaswamy, Senior Director, Center for Experience Economy and Cities, World Economic Forum

This session is co-organized by ITU and UN-Habitat.

Master of Ceremonies: Paul Wilson, Advisory Board Chair, SmartCitiesWorld

Opening Remarks:

Anacláudia Rossbach, Executive Director, UN-Habitat
Bilel Jamoussi, Deputy Director, Telecommunication Standardization Bureau, ITU

Speakers:

Cristina Bueti, Focal Point on Smart Sustainable Cities and AI-Enabled Citiverse, ITU
Edlam Yemeru, Director, Knowledge and Innovation Branch, UN-Habitat
Okan Geray, Chair, United for Smart Sustainable Cities (U4SSC) Initiative
Alicia Izquierdo, Councillor, Malaga, Spain
Ahmed Al-Yasiri, Secretary General, International Chamber of Commerce in Iraq (ICC Iraq)
Dae-ho Choi, Mayor, Anyang, Korea (Republic of)
Eberto Núñez, Mayor, Municipality of Bonao, Dominican Republic
Rodrigo Passos, Deputy Mayor of Porto, Portugal

Celebrating ten years of U4SSC leadership, pioneering cities and global partnerships advancing people-centred, smart and sustainable urban development.

This session is co-organized by ITU, the European Commission, OASC and UNICC.

Opening Remarks:

Karl-Filip Coenegrachts, Chair of the Board of Directors and Executive Director, Open & Agile Smart Cities & Communities (OASC)
Martin Bailey, European AI Office, Head of Unit, AI for Societal Good, DG CONNECT, European Commission

Moderator: Anish Sethi, Chief Digital Solutions Centre, United Nations International Computing Centre (UNICC)

Speakers:

Cristina Bueti, Focal Point on Smart Sustainable Cities and AI-Enabled Citiverse, ITU
Martin Brynskov, Founding Director and Standardisation Lead, OASC
Antonio Jara, CTO, Libelium
Roland van der Heijden, Chief Citiverse Officer, City of Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Anna Wennblad, Project Manager for European Citiverses Uniting for Inclusiveness
Karen Kee, Head of Maritime Digital Twin, Director, Smart City Digital Systems, Singapore

Closing remarks: Bilel Jamoussi, Deputy Director, Telecommunication Standardization Bureau, ITU

Official launch of the AI-enabled Citiverse Standardization Landscape.

This session is organized by the United for Smart Sustainable Cities (U4SSC) Initiative.

Moderator: Soumaya Ben Dhaou, Research Specialist, United Nations University Operating Unit on Policy-Driven Electronic Governance (UNU-EGOV)

Speaker:

Okan Geray, Senior Digital City Strategy Advisor, Dubai Digital Authority

Official launch of the U4SSC Deliverables on An urban federated agentic AI framework and Good practices for city AI agents.

This session is organized by the United for Smart Sustainable Cities (U4SSC) Initiative.

Moderator: Soumaya Ben Dhaou, Research Specialist, United Nations University Operating Unit on Policy-Driven Electronic Governance (UNU-EGOV)

Speaker:

Okan Geray, Senior Digital City Strategy Advisor, Dubai Digital Authority

Official launch of the U4SSC Deliverable on An Urban Future Foresight Framework.

This session is co-organized by ITU, the European Commission, OASC and UNICC, under the framework of Global Initiative on AI, Digital Twins and Virtual Worlds – Discovering the Citiverse.

Opening remarks:

Bilel Jamoussi, Deputy Director, Telecommunication Standardization Bureau, ITU
Karl-Filip Coenegrachts, Chair of the Board of Directors and Executive Director, Open & Agile Smart Cities (OASC)
Anish Sethi, Chief Digital Solutions Centre, United Nations International Computing Centre (UNICC)

Moderator: Anish Sethi, Chief Digital Solutions Centre, United Nations International Computing Centre (UNICC)

Speakers:

Christina Yan Zhang, CEO, The Metaverse Institute
Ernesto Faubel, Chair of European Digital Infrastructure Consortium (EDIC) on Local Digital Twins
Teppo Rantanen, Senior Advisor, Business Tampere
Louisa Barker, Senior Research Manager, IDC Government Insights, Europe
Pilar Orero, Professor, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Closing remarks: Okan Geray, Senior Digital City Strategy Adviser, Dubai Digital Authority

This session is organized by UNITAC.

Speakers:

Livia Nonose, United Nations Innovation Technology Accelerator for Cities (UNITAC)
Sophie Naue, United Nations Innovation Technology Accelerator for Cities (UNITAC)

This session is organized by ITU.

Opening remarks: Yining Zhao, Project Officer, ITU

Moderator: Bamidele Adebisi, Professor of Intelligent Infrastructure Systems and Director of Smart Communities and Innovations, Manchester Metropolitan University

Speakers:

Dennis García, Senior Manager, CINTEL
Martin Brynskov, Founding Director and Standardisation Lead, OASC
Olivier Beaujard, Chair of the Board, LoRa Alliance

Closing remarks: Bilel Jamoussi, Deputy Director, Telecommunication Standardization Bureau, ITU

Official launch of the U4SSC Key Performance Indicators Brochure.

This session is organized by the United for Smart Sustainable Cities (U4SSC) Initiative.

Moderator: Kamelia Kemileva, Co-Director, Programmes and Administration, Global Cities Hub

Speakers:

Ramy Ahmed Fathy, Chief of International Cybersecurity, National Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (NTRA), Egypt
Manuel Cabugueira, Board Member, ANACOM

Official launch of the U4SSC Deliverable on Security Framework of Digital Public Infrastructure for Smart Sustainable.

Moderator: Andras Szörényi, Senior Policy Advisor, Global Cities Hub

Speakers:

Sharon Gil, Head of Subnational Climate Action Unit, UNEP
Nuria Felipe Soria, Regional Partnership and Resource Mobilization Specialist, UN-Women Americas and the Caribbean
Silvia Sala, Catalan Committee Director, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
Patricia Purcell, Senior Adviser, Sustainable Finance Hub, UNDP

This session is organized by the United for Smart Sustainable Cities (U4SSC) Initiative.

Moderator: Gamze Hakli Geray, Adjunct Faculty Lecturer, Middlesex University Dubai

Speakers:

Beatriz de Esteban Martín, Director of Projects, Institutional Relations, SEGITTUR
Lorena Villar, Senior Project Specialist, UN Tourism

Official launch of the U4SSC Deliverables on Building smart destination platforms: A guide for governments and cities and Smart tourism in action: How cities are managing destinations with data.

This session is organized by the United for Smart Sustainable Cities (U4SSC) Initiative.

Moderator: Yining Zhao, Project Officer, ITU

Speaker:

Okan Geray, Senior Digital City Strategy Adviser, Digital Dubai Authority

Official launch of the U4SSC Deliverable on AI-Driven Urban Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

This session is organized by the United for Smart Sustainable Cities (U4SSC) Initiative.

Speakers:

Ivy Yang, AI/Digital Policy Navigation Specialist, Open & Agile Smart Cities (OASC)
Gert Hilgers, Local Digital Twin (LDT) Strategist, OASC

This session is organized by the United for Smart Sustainable Cities (U4SSC) Initiative.

Moderator: Teppo Rantanen, Senior Adviser, Business Tampere, Finland

Speakers:

Chenayi Mutambasere, Director, Africa Centre for Economic Justice
Mani Dhingra, ADAPT Digital Twin Research Lead, University College Dublin
Salma Siddiqi , Technology Cosultant, Synergy Consulting Partnership Ltd

This session is organized by UN-Habitat.

Speakers:

Livia Nonose, United Nations Innovation Technology Accelerator for Cities (UNITAC)
Sophie Naue, United Nations Innovation Technology Accelerator for Cities (UNITAC)

This session is organized by UN-Habitat.

Opening Remarks: Edlam Yemeru, Director, Knowledge and Innovation Branch, United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat)

Moderator: Roberta Maio, Digital Rights and Inclusion Officer, UN-Habitat

Speakers:

Sophie Naue, UNITAC
Tanya Merger, ICLEI

Closing Remarks:

Cristina Bueti, ITU Focal Point on Smart Sustainable Cities and AI-Enabled Citiverse
Edlam Yemeru, Director, Knowledge and Innovation Branch, UN-Habitat