The Smart City Expo World Congress, held this year from November 5-7 in Barcelona, is the world’s leading event in urban innovation. This congress serves as a global platform where industry executives, government leaders, researchers, and entrepreneurs gather to shape the future of cities, making them more sustainable, inclusive, and livable. This year’s congress welcomed over 25,000 professionals from more than 130 countries, hosted simultaneous events with participation from over 1,100 exhibitors, 600 speakers, and representatives from more than 850 cities.

IREC researchers and innovators have participated in several events during the Congress. Jordi Pascual and Enric Mont from the Thermal Energy and Building Performance Department at IREC, together with Ramon Canal from Barcelona City Council’s Agenda 2030, presented “LOCALISED: Tools for tailored decarbonization of cities and businesses” at the Barcelona City Council Agora. They showcased the Climate Action Strategiser (CASt), a powerful tool for planning and monitoring decarbonization strategies, thanks to the LOCALISED project. Developed to support local administrations, CASt aligns with Europe’s net-zero targets by providing downscaled national decarbonization trajectories and assisting local governments in formulating Sustainable Energy and Climate Actions Plans.

In a parallel session, the Barcelona Deep Tech Summit took place at Hall 3. As part of The Collider – Opportunity Validation program, Juande Sirvent, alongside Marc Torrell and Albert Tarancón from the Nanoionics and Fuel Cells Department at IREC, has presented Oxhyd at the Demo Day on November 6. The presentation, took place at the Pitch Corner, highlighting Oxhyd as an advanced project focused on the commercialization of ultra-compact solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) using innovative 3D printing of ceramic components. These fuel cells are designed to deliver emission-free energy solutions for heavy transportation and auxiliary energy systems.

Also at the Deep Tech Summit, the IREC spin-off company Bamboo Energy delivered a pitch on their operation of demand-response flexibility aggregation.

Members of the Tech Transfer team at IREC, including Teresa Muñoz, Gabriela Espinosa and Anna Magrasó, were also present at Congress, actively engaging in networking opportunities with national contact points as well as international experts in the smart city industry and with public entities. Through strategic connections and knowledge exchange, the Tech Transfer team aims to foster collaborations that drive innovation and support the implementation of cutting-edge energy solutions in urban environments.

IREC’s involvement in this year’s Smart City Expo World Congress underscores its commitment to pioneering sustainable solutions that shape resilient cities and buildings for today.