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Author's profile photo Marlene Eichholz
Marlene Eichholz
November 22, 2016 2 minute read

It’s a wrap (and a hit); Smart City Expo World Congress 2016

Last week’s Smart City Expo World Congress (SCEWC) in Barcelona was a huge hit as the largest gathering in the history of the event (16,688 visitors, 591 exhibitors, 600+ cities, 420 speakers) and SAP Public Sector was proud to be a part of it. With a theme of ‘Cities for Citizens’, the sixth edition of SCEWC focused on the design of strategies for citizen empowerment and the democratic participation of people in the development of their cities.

In between the tapas, rioja and sight-seeing of beautiful Barcelona, here are some of the highlights:

  • A formidable list of keynote speakers: the expert on the circular economy, Ellen MacArthur; international geopolitical analyst Parag Khanna; the director of Big Boulder and a benchmark in the field of big data, Susan Etlinger; and the co-founder of the Commons Strategies Group and activist in the fight against the excesses of intellectual property law, David Bollier
  • City Award was given to New York City; the Mayor’s Office of Technology and Innovation, for their comprehensive OneNYC plan for building a smart and equitable city focused on four tiers:
  • Project Award went to Aspern Smart City Research, a pilot from Vienna, Austria focused on integrated energy research for the future including:
    • Optimization of buildings own energy consumption through energy flexibility and planning/operation of local voltage networks
    • Implementing an integrative system optimization in the domain of smart buildings, smart grids and smart ICT at three building sites with mixed use – a student residence, a primary school and a residential building
    • Analysing the consumption, production and performance data of traditional power networks to transform them into smart grids optimizing energy consumption and minimizing CO2 emissions
  • Innovative Global South Award was awarded to Microclinic Technologies, Nairobi, Kenya for transforming healthcare through hospital and clinic digitization:
    • Addressing the poor quality of care, lack of health experts, large distances travelled to get care, and inefficiency in collecting health data
    • Enabling remote consultations and doctor training through video conferencing
  • Congratulations to all the World Smart City Award finalists; the smart citizens of the world salute you and your accomplishments in all three areas: innovative ideas addressing global challenges in Asia, Africa and Latin America; world-class projects benefitting smart city area inhabitants; and cities that demonstrate strategies, initiatives and policies that have been developed for their citizens
  • The SAP Public Sector booth was busy showcasing SAP software for Smart Cities, designed to help cities transform for the digital era; improving citizen services and livability, growing economic prosperity, and keeping pace with change, including the announcement of new solutions:



    For an in-depth demonstration on how cities around the globe are smartening-up using SAP to run more efficiently, watch “The Spin” with Megan Meany. To stay in touch and learn about future public sector happenings, follow us on twitter @SAPPublicSector.

    And now, it’s time to unpack…

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