Smart City World Congress 2022 is a Complete Success

8 billion people, half of whom live in cities. Cities that are supposed to be worth living in. 853 exhibitors, 400 speakers and more than 20,000 visitors focused on exactly that from 15-17 November 2022 in Barcelona. It became clear that Bavaria and Germany are key players in this matter. 

We arrive at the huge exhibition hall and there is a babylonian babble of voices. Still completely flashed by the unbelievable amount of visitors and exhibitors, our gaze is deliberately directed upwards. “See you in Bavaria. Or around the corner” appears on the large advertising poster at the entrance to the hall from the mouth of a futuristic robot wearing traditional leathers and a hat. Tradition and modernity. While our thoughts are still focused on the robot, we turn the corner and are immediately immersed in the real world at the large Bavarian stand, which this time is divided into two areas and cannot be overlooked due to its prominent location. Here too we find both tradition and modernity. Beautiful winter motifs, Neuschwanstein Castle, people in traditional Bavarian garb –
and at the same time the Invest in Bavaria robot with a rhombus look for Bavaria as a business location.

Making connections

This motto was the central thread running through the entire event, like the elegant grey carpet that connected the Bavarian stand with the stands of many other German states, which this time presented themselves together in one area under the GTAI advertising banners with the campaign title “Germany Works”.

Connecting and standing out 

The extensive programme at the Bayer stand was presented as a business card with a QR code in heart format and two design variants. Tradition and modernity. Here, too, Bavaria played with the classic subjects such as the Weißwurst breakfast, the Bavarian Happy Hour, the cross-state stand welcome reception “German Night”, Smart City Boosters as well as the cowbell music challenge by the improv theatre group Bühnenpolka, which provided high spirits as well as bonding experiences for the numerous visitors. Parallel to this, innovative workshops, panel talks and pitches took place at the exhibition stand.

Some highlights 

• MeetUp: Women in Mobility & Smart City & Mobility together with Bayern Innovativ and the network Women in Mobility
• Cross-Industry-Panel with Invest in Bavaria, LiangDao, SaveNow & HawaDawa
• Lego-Workshops (Caroline Hoffmann, City of Regensburg at the Smart Cities & Regions stand)
• Pitch Mobility Solutions with Perpetuum Progress / Mobiworx / Cluster Mobility & Logistics / Cleverciti / Mocci / dometic / Inyo mobility
• Pitch Technology & Hardware solutions with the companies Blickfeld / HawaDawa / S+S Regeltechnik
• Pitch Software & Dashboards (Ariadne Maps / UI B2 Software / roosi / Urbanisitc)
• Pitch Solution & Services with: 5G Synergiewerke / atene Kom / GBCI / LiangDao / Fujitsu / PwC / Swarm Analytics
• Numerous talks ranging from Digital Transformation in Rural Areas (Claire Piqueret Rose / Atene Kom) to Enabling Smart City Experiences (Dr Katrin Schleife, Fujitsu Services), Connected Urban Twins (Hany Abo El Wafa, City of Munich) to Digital Health (Ruth Vollmar) and New Video Technology for Fewer Cameras (Josua Braun, Dallmaier electronic). 

In addition to the events offered directly at the Bavarian stand, the Free State also presented itself at the stand of Germany Trade & Invest (GTAI), where all the federal states were able to present themselves and, among other things, Bayern Innovativ designed a panel on the topic of “networked mobility”. Under the motto “Meet Bavaria”, Andreas Fischer (Invest in Bavaria) and Dr. Mara Cole (Bayern Innovativ) demonstrated the many opportunities for international companies in Bavaria in a very Bavarian manner. And the “Quiz of Germany” also took place with lively Bavarian participation. 

Prominent visitors and delegations 

The Bavarian stand also attracted prominent visitors and delegations. For example, State Secretary Roland Weigert, who, together with his counterpart Dr. Patrick Rapp from Baden-Württemberg and high-ranking representatives of the City of Munich, took a lot of time for discussions at the joint Weißwurst breakfast. This included the delegation from the Würzburg-Schweinfurt and Nuremberg Chamber of Industry and Commerce, which was in Barcelona as part of its “Fact-Finding Smart City” tour and also came to the Bavarian stand. Important representatives from inside Messe München (Digital BAU, Bau München, IFAT, IAA Mobility, ExpoReal), the Bavarian Digital Ministry and Margarete Gosse, our Ambassador to Spain, Dr. Georg Schulze Zumkley, Head of the Economic and Scientific Section at the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Madrid and Consul General Dr. Dirk Rotenberg from Barcelona also attended.

The Mobility & Logistics Cluster was present with its own delegation for the RECIPROCITY project. At times, the whole world seemed like a village at the stand: for example, people from Mexico, Japan, Colombia and Brazil met under the roof of the Bavarian stand and visited the congress as part of delegation trips.

Win-win situation for all participants 

The expectations for this year’s congress were high. But from the point of view of the partners and initiators, they were even surpassed – in terms of the number of visitors at the stand and discussions in person. The more than 30 exhibitors at the Bavarian stand were able to establish interesting networks, enhance partnerships and thus already achieve great added value.

Both the large number of German and Bavarian companies involved and the high degree of innovation clearly showed that Germany and Bavaria are key, interesting players in the “Smart City & Mobility” complex.

List of exhibitors at the Bavarian stand

Ariadne Maps (Real-time customer analytics) | atene KOM (Support in the development and implementation of digitisation projects) | Bayern Innovativ (Cooperation and knowledge transfer between stakeholders) | Thinknet 6G (ThinkTank and agile community centred around 6G) | Bavarian Smart Cities (Sustainable and inclusive urban development) | Bearing Point (Consulting) | Blickfeld (LiDAR sensors) | mocci (CIP Group, e-Bikes) | Cleverciti (Intelligent parking space search) | Cluster Mobility and Logistics (Leadership of the European Reciprocity project) | dometic (Innovative transport solutions) | Fujitsu (Digital technologies and IT services) | GBCI (Consulting / certifications in the field of green building) | Hawa Dawa (Air measurements) | Inyo Mobility (Smart transport systems) | Liangdao (Service provider for LiDAR sensors) | City of Munich | Munich Metropolitan Region | Messe München (Construction in 2023) | Bauzentrum Poing (exhibition area pertaining to building and living) | Mobiworx Telematik (Web-based telematic system solutions) | Perpetuum Progress (Partner for simulations for OEMs and first tiers) | pwc (Consulting, auditing) | Swarm Analytics (Artificial Intelligence) | roosi (Smart data services) | S+S Regeltechnik (Innovative sensor technology) | SAVeNoW (Production of digital twins for urban traffic) | 5G Synergiewerk (5G street lighting) | Urbanistic (SaaS platform for identifying opportunities and risks) | ui! (Innovative urban mobility solutions) | More information: Congress brochure with exhibitor and partner information

Like the robot from the beginning, all that is left to say is “see you in Bavaria”!

And for you: See you at one of our events in 2023! If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact our industry contact Sebastian Zettelmeier or Andreas Fischer for Invest in Bavaria.  

You can gain further impressions from the congress in the Congress Fair gallery or on our Congress YouTube channel.