ERTICO – ITS Europe has once again joined the Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona with over 25,000 professionals, sharing expertise on the digitalisation of transport and engaging in dialogues on building a safe, more sustainable, urban mobility future for all cities.
An opportunity for smart city stakeholders to engage with ERTICO.
Since 2011, the Smart City Expo has stood as the world’s leading event dedicated to urban innovation and smart solutions. This year, ERTICO showcased a myriad of its activities in the Exhibition Hall 2, stand A165.
From exhibition and partnership opportunities at the 2026 ITS European Congress (Istanbul, 27-29 April), and early engagement possibilities for the 2027 ITS World Congress (Birmingham, 25-29 October), our team welcomed attendees to learn more about the realm of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), including the unique public-private partnership model.
Our experts will also be present at the booth to showcase how concrete EU projects advance the real-life application of Connected, Cooperative, and Automated Mobility (CCAM), and innovations shaping the future of urban environments and cities.
ERTICO’s experts at the Tomorrow Mobility World Congress
Tuesday, 4 November
Navigating Tomorrow´s Mobility: Expert Analysis from the Academic Research Board
Dr Tamara Djukic, Head of Green and Urban at ERTICO, joined an interactive workshop on “Navigating Tomorrow’s Mobility: Expert Analysis from the Academic Research Board”, addressing key priorities for the future of urban mobility research, building on the insights of the first report from the EIT Urban Mobility Academic Research Board (ARB).
Four EU CitiVerse projects and 3DxVERSE & EDIC Digital Twin
Dr Eusebiu Catana, Head of Transport for Logistics at ERTICO, participated in two back-to-back events focused on the EU CitiVerse initiative:
- 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM: The "Four EU CitiVerse projects".
- 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM: The session on “3DxVERSE & EDIC Digital Twin”.
Both events were hosted by the European Commission, DG CONNECT, Unit A5, AI for Societal Good. The latter session also included the ITU and the EDIC Digital Twin as hosts.
Presentation at the European Commission at the CIVITAS Booth from 14.00 - 14.30
A presentation of the CIVITAS’ New Mobility Services (NMS) projects at the EU for Resilient Green Cities stand by the European Commission and CIVITAS Initiative, including the ERTICO-coordinated metaCCAZE Project, the SUM Project, and MOBILITIES FOR EU Project presented insights into their latest developments: from business model assessment carried out within the SUM project’s Geneva Living Lab to metaCAZZE's ambitions to revolutionise mobility in European cities, serving both passengers and freight, with innovative electric, automated, and connected solutions.
10th Anniversary Edition of MaaS Alliance: Partnership Forum 2025 & MaaS STAR Awards at Zone ‘CC1 – Room 1.1’
The MaaS Alliance Partnership Forum 2025 held its landmark edition, celebrating 10 years of the MaaS Alliance and its mission to advance Mobility as a Service across Europe and beyond. The Forum included inspiring presentations, an interactive workshop designed to foster collaboration, and networking opportunities. A key highlight of the event featured the MaaS Star Awards, honouring outstanding achievements in categories such as Best MaaS App, Top MaaS City Award, Rising MaaS Star, and MaaS Impact Award, recognising those shaping a smarter, more connected mobility future. The 2025 MaaS Star Awards were honoured to:
- Top MaaS City Award: Comune di Torino (with the technical support of 5T - Services and Innovation for Mobility)
- MaaS City People’s Choice Award: EMT Madrid
- Best MaaS App Award: umob
- Rising MaaS Star Award: Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund GmbH
- MaaS Impact Award: KTM Berhad
Wednesday, 5 November
Integrating New Cooperative, Co-created Shared Mobility Business Models into SUMPs at Zone ‘CC1 – Room 1.1’ from 15.00 – 18.00
The SUM project hosted a workshop focusing on how to integrate New Mobility Services (NMS) into Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs). Over 20 participants came together to share their real-life lessons from the project's Living Labs and interactive group discussions.
Following an inspiring introduction by Daniel Alberto Herrera Meek (POLIS network), marking the first capacity-building activity of a series under the ERTICO Academy umbrella, within the SUM Project framework, Marko Stančec (POLIS network) presented what the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP) entails, setting the scene for the forthcoming panel discussions with representatives from the cities of Madrid, Budapest, and Leuven. Moderated by Karen Vancluysen (POLIS network), each city had the opportunity to share its SUMP progress and experiences with shared mobility deployment, highlighting both achievements and challenges.
Beyond the exploration of key models such as Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS), demand-responsive transport, and mobility hubs, while gaining practical tools to support their implementation, participants were presented with the brand-new SUM video.
The discussions continued with one of ERTICO's Partners, VEDECOM, represented by Hassan Mahdavi, who gave his perspectives on the different business models developed in the SUM project to lead to the world café session. During the discussions, participants focused on 3 SUMP planning phases linked to the integration of NMS Business models:
- Demand-responsive and on-demand mobility
- Integration of NMS into local ecosystems
- Development of mobility hubs
The session concluded with Daniel Alberto Herrera Meek encouraging participants to continue as SUMP champions, supporting more integrated and inclusive mobility planning. A detailed report on the session's last part will be published by the end of the year. Learn more about the SUM project.
Breakout session: Four CitiVerse projects, one shared European vision at Stage People - First from 17:45h - 18:15h
How to make Europe’s digital transformation inclusive, ethical, human-centred and citizen-driven? And how to ensure that emerging technologies – such as AI, XR and cloud services – serve public values and social needs? This session highlighted four EU-funded projects that are helping cities move toward a more digital and connected future through the CitiVerse, a virtual version of a city where citizens can explore, interact, and help shape urban life in simple and engaging ways. Dr Eusebiu Catana, project coordinator of the 3DxVERSE project at ERTICO, joined experts from xCITE, SENSE, and European Citiverses Uniting for Inclusiveness in the session “Four CitiVerse projects, one shared European vision.” The discussion, moderated by Mr Karl Filip Coenegrachts from OASC, will last 30 minutes and include defining what the CitiVerse is, followed by a 20-minute Q&A.
More information here
Thursday, 6 November
Breakout Session: Societal Readiness of C-ITS Services at the 'Shaping Mobility' Stage from 11.30 - 12.15
How can perceived value for road users and broader societal benefits of C-ITS be aligned to accelerate its adoption and fully unlock its potential? What role do the users play? Does higher user acceptance lead to faster adoption and quicker realisation of benefits? Why is user acceptance important, and how can C-ITS be designed to maximise it? Dr Tamara Djukic participated in a round table moderated by Christoph Vollath (RACC), featuring Xavier Daura (Autopistas) and Luca Studer (Politecnico Milan). Together, they uncovered different angles on how perceived utility for road users and societal benefits can be aligned to accelerate the adoption of C-ITS and unleash its full potential.
More information here.
Co-Creating Inclusive Cities: Advancing Societal Readiness in Urban Mobility at the Stage ‘Shaping Mobility’ from 12.30 - 13.15
As cities lead the transformation of urban mobility systems to meet climate and sustainability goals, one challenge remains essential: ensuring that innovation is inclusive, accepted, and shaped by the people who will ultimately use it. The dedicated session on co-creating inclusive cities will explore how cities can ensure mobility innovation is trusted, inclusive, and ready for scale, featuring a tour of CIVITAS’ New Mobility Services (NMS) Cluster projects, MOBILITIES FOR EU, SUM, and metaCCAZE.
They will share insight into concrete methods and experiences on how cities can strengthen societal readiness through co-creation, inclusive governance and collaborative experimentation.
A keynote address from CIVITAS will set the stage by reflecting on the broader challenge of societal readiness in urban mobility and pose the guiding question to the conversation: “How can cities build trust and align stakeholders to scale urban mobility innovation?”
Followed by four lightning talks, which will offer practical insights from project implementation:
- MOBILITIES FOR EU will present how Urban Mobility Labs have been established as inclusive spaces for experimentation, supported by governance models that foster stakeholder engagement and replication of solutions.
- metaCCAZE, SUM and GEMINI will present concrete strategies and examples of co-creation activities they have carried out at local and regional level involving different types of stakeholders: From Munich (Germany), metaCCAZE will introduce the metaDesign Approach and co-creation tools such as mini-dialogues, used to shape services like dynamic curbside management and multimodal logistics hubs around future user needs.
- Larnaca (Cyprus), representing the SUM project, will share how Living Labs help integrate citizen feedback and behavioural insights into mobility planning, offering strategies that can be adapted to a range of urban settings.
- GEMINI will highlight how Copenhagen (Denmark) is working to build societal trust in shared mobility through peri-rural Living Labs, with a focus on social inclusion, mobility commons, and collaborative stakeholder models.
The session will conclude with a moderated discussion featuring all four speakers. The dialogue will explore common challenges and transferable lessons, and respond to the session’s guiding question, offering forward-looking reflections on how cities can foster societal readiness and scale innovation more effectively.
This session is ideal for city officials, mobility planners, and project developers seeking concrete tools, tested strategies, and collaborative governance models to make mobility innovation more inclusive, impactful, and ready for scale.
More information here
Deploying Autonomous Driving Technology in Our Cities at the Stage ‘Move Better’ from 14.25 - 15.15
As cities prepare for the deployment of autonomous vehicles, questions around infrastructure, safety, and urban planning are front and centre: “Are We Ready to Deploy Autonomous Vehicles in Urban Environments?” Agne Vaitekenaite, Head of Partnership and Advocacy at ERTICO – ITS Europe, joined a panel discussion alongside Maxime Flament, CTO of the 5G Automotive Association (Brussels, Belgium), Adriana Diaz, Innovation Director at EIT Urban Mobility (Barcelona, Spain) and panel moderator, and Clément Lemardelé from Carnet – UPC (Barcelona, Spain). This panel delved into how AVs can be integrated into the urban fabric while advancing public policy goals for urban mobility. Agne contributed with insights about the unique value of public and private partnerships in expanding collaboration efforts for the deployment of autonomous vehicles.
More information here.
Check the draft agenda here and register for the workshop to attend here.
Join us during these sessions and visit the ERTICO Stand 165 (Hall 2) to connect with our experts, explore partnership opportunities, and discover how our work across Europe is accelerating the digital transformation of mobility and transport.
For more information and to register, visit https://www.smartcityexpo.com/passes-and-prices/. ;