We are just a few weeks away from Smart City Expo World Congress kicking off, and we’re excited that this year will be the debut of the Curiosity Lab Pavilion! Our team has been working closely to bring this exhibition to life to showcase the cutting-edge technology shaping our ecosystem here in Peachtree Corners. The week-long conference will also feature fun in-booth events, panels, pitching competitions, and allow plenty of time to connect with global industry leaders who are revolutionizing the way cities connect and move. Here’s a look ahead at what’s in store for our team in Barcelona.
Welcoming The First-Ever Curiosity Lab Pavilion
This year, we are unveiling the Curiosity Lab Pavilion, an interactive exhibit highlighting our continuous smart city work, members and partners, spotlighting the technology that is changing the way the City of Peachtree Corners stays connected, safe, and efficient. From AI-powered metaverse platforms to traffic monitoring technology and innovative human-sized video camera screens, the Pavilion is a true one-of-a-kind display of six years of innovation, growth, and partnerships. Members joining us in the booth at SCEWC 2025 include:
- BizzTech: AI-powered metaverse solutions for immersive collaboration and engagement.
- The Black Arcs: Creator of Citisketch, a real-time urban planning simulation platform.
- Cyber 2.0: Cybersecurity platform preventing the spread of cyberattacks.
- Digi International: IoT connectivity leader powering smart city infrastructure and mobility.
- Geotab: Telematics and analytics for connected, sustainable fleet management
- Mitsubishi Electric – Urban Hawk: AI-driven asset management and digital twin technology for smart infrastructure.
- La Vitre: Life-size video portals enabling real-time global collaboration.
- NfoldROI: AI-driven digital twins measuring ROI and impact of smart city projects.
- UPCITI: Edge-based vision sensors delivering high-precision urban data.
Visit the Curiosity Lab Pavilion in Hall 2, C151!
Global Partnerships Driving Innovation Panel
We’ll also be hosting an exclusive panel this year highlighting how global partnerships are driving innovation. Curiosity Lab Executive Director Seth Yurman will be joined by:
- Jennifer Sanders, Executive Director of the North Texas Innovation Alliance, USA
- Tero Kyckling, Senior Business Advisor, Business Tampere
- Timo Kero, Chief Technology Officer, AstaZero
Together, they will explore how leading living-laboratories are turbo-charging smart city innovation through cross-border partnerships. The panel will convene all four leaders as they delve into trailblazing cross-border case studies, deliver replicable frameworks, speak further on de-risking global expansion and so much more.
Attendees will also have the opportunity to engage in a live Q&A session designed to dive deeper into how these global entities are illustrating repeatable success factors and pitfalls. The panel will be moderated by Clara Soler Bañuelos, Transport Researcher (CENIT). The session will be held on Wednesday, November 5 at 12:20PM in Hall 3, Stage 8, Tech X Cities.
We hope to see you there!
Second Annual Smart Cities Global Startup Challenge
Last year, we joined forces with the North Texas Innovation Alliance and Texas cities, Frisco and McKinney and Plug and Play to launch the first-ever Smart Cities Global Startup Challenge. This year the challenge is back, and five finalists are heading to Barcelona in November to pitch in front of a live judging panel, competing for pilot opportunities and funding in the United States. The competition is focused on addressing problems in transportation, public safety, connectivity, and infrastructure with the goal of encouraging and supporting international innovation and economic development.
The selected startups are tackling major challenges in transportation, connectivity, infrastructure, and public safety. Congratulations to this year’s finalists:
- Advanced Services in Mobility: Spain-based company aiming to improve safety for road users and AVs by connecting road managers with their infrastructure for an inside look of what is happening on the road on a daily basis through the use of on-board equipment such as sensors and cameras, cloud services and web applications.
- Helpful Places: Canadian-based startup providing a solution to close the gap between technology governance and public understanding by providing transparency into smart cities. By leveraging the open-source standard Digital Trust for Places and Routines (DTPR), Helpful Places can provide proven planning frameworks and governance infrastructure to engage, plan and share consistent publicly legible information.
- Latitudo 40: Italy-based, Latitudo 40 helps simplify the use of comprehensive geospatial data and actionable insights by using satellite technology with high-resolution imagery and AI to drive transformative change and environmental resilience. By analyzing data on land surface temperature, vegetation cover, and urban heat islands, this technology enables cities and industries to proactively manage climate impacts and optimize decisions for enhanced sustainability.
- Omniflow: Portugal-based Omniflow provides carbon neutral smart IoT applications powered by wind and solar with integrated energy storage and grid connection, enabling multiple integrated applications with its solutions enabling cities to transform utilities such as streetlights or city benches into carbon neutral objects that be used for multiple IoT purposes.
- Tiami Networks, Inc.: US-based startup pioneering cutting-edge solutions at the intersection of wireless, sensing, machine learning and AI by building AI-native 5G/6G networks with integrated sensing and communications, the US-based company’s AI hardware extracts radar sensing information from ambient 5G and WiFi wireless signals with the capability of creating a digital twin of an entire city with real-time information on pedestrians, traffic and building occupancy flows without relying on cameras or by deploying new infrastructure.
Join us on Wednesday, November 5 at the North Texas Innovation Alliance booth located in Hall 2, B161 for the final pitching showdown where judges will choose the final winner live! We hope to see you there!
We’re excited for a week full of global connections, game-changing innovation, and exciting collaboration. Visit us at the Curiosity Pavilion in Hall 2, C151, and be a part of the future of smart cities.
We can’t wait to share everything we learned with you all when we’re back!