Every aspect of urban digitalization addressed by international leaders, decision-makers and experts
This three-day congress and exhibition on smart cities was held at the prestigious CityCube complex and attended by international delegates from more than 400 different cities. Motivated by their strong professional interest in sustainable urban development and a thirst for valuable know-how, they embraced the event’s rich offering of conferences, workshops and exhibits.
The 26 individual conferences featured 342 speakers from around the globe intent on sharing insight on a rich array of topics, including energy, infrastructure, mobility, resource conservation and public space design. But if there was one topic that was on everyone’s minds, it was urban digitalization. The push to digitalize urban systems and infrastructures was the common denominator at all the conferences, meetings and talks held at Metropolitan Solutions 2016.
The great importance of sustainable and intelligent urban development was clearly evident from the large number of high-ranking government officials at the event. For instance, the German Habitat Forum was opened by Germany’s Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Dr. Gerd Müller. Around 800 invited guests used the forum to discuss sustainable urban solutions for tomorrow’s cities and, in so doing, helped formulate Germany’s principal contribution to the UN HABITAT III program.
Meanwhile, German Environment Minister Dr. Barbara Hendricks discussed smart urban development with Indian Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu at the "100 Smart Cities in India" conference.
Other top government officials, policymakers and experts in attendance at this year's Metropolitan Solutions included Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies Founding Director and former UNEP Executive Director Dr. Klaus Töpfer, German Association of Cities (DST) President Dr. Eva Lohse, UN-HABITAT World Urban Campaign Project Leader Christina Auclair, Head of Unit at the European Commission’s Smart Cities and Sustainability unit, Colette Maloney, Governing Mayor of Berlin Michael Müller, as well as several state secretaries from various German federal ministries.
26 world-class, independently staged conferences and workshops
Of course, the message of sustainable urban development addressed at Metropolitan Solutions not only attracted government VIPS and officials from the world’s megacities, but also from urban centers of every magnitude, for example from the German cities of Cologne, Munich, Hannover, Darmstadt and Dresden.
Metropolitan Solutions 2016 comprised 26 world-class, independently staged conferences and workshops plus an exhibition featuring some 100 solution providers. IT and industrial firms such as Siemens, AWS Intel and Doppelmayr also used the event to showcase their sustainable, smart solutions for tomorrow’s cities.
The conferences addressed such wide-ranging topics as "Sustainable Urban China", "Municipal Finance" and electric urban mobility. Highlights here included the 5th International E-Bus Conference by trolley:motion, the "Smart Cities – Needs & Barriers" events and the ISOCARP/CORP workshops "Best Practices for Sustainable Cities – Towards the City We Need 2.0" and "Plant it Smart! Clever Solutions for Smart Cities".
