The International Urban and Regional Cooperation (IURC) programme, funded by the European Commission, wrapped up its inspiring Global Thematic Networking Event during the Smart City Expo World Congress (SCEWC25) between the 4 and 6 of November, in Barcelona, bringing together more than 240 delegates from over 130 pilot cities and regions across Europe, Asia, Australasia, and the Americas. The event highlighted city-to-city and region-to-region partnerships towards innovation, sustainability, and resilience worldwide.
The event aimed to take enhance the IURC thematic clusters’ work and the emerging communities of practice. It also supported pilot cities/regions in defining and co-designing pilot projects for implementation in 2026-2027. Due to the cooperation with the Smart City Expo 2025, the IURC thematic event showcased relevant urban development technologies from EU countries and encouraged the IURC triple-helix cooperation approach by involving the research and business sectors. IURC delegates also had the opportunity to visit the Port of Barcelona, where they learned about its ongoing innovation projects and comprehensive strategy, including hydrogen-powered equipment, refuelling infrastructure, and collaborative initiatives with research centres and companies aimed at advancing sustainable port operations.
Sociedade Portuguesa de Inovação (SPI) was represented at the event by Sara Medina, Francisco Rocha and Igor Lopes. SPI is part of the EU-funded IURC programme, focusing on Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) – IURC-LAC, and is responsible for managing the regional thematic clusters on Blue Economy and Industrial Modernisation.
