Smart City Expo and ITU Sign Five-Year Pact to Set Global AI Standards for Cities

Smart City Expo World Congress (SCEWC), organized by Fira de Barcelona, and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) have signed a five-year strategic agreement to develop international standards for interoperable, safe, inclusive and trustworthy artificial intelligence in cities. Signed at the headquarters of the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP), the deal aims to help cities, governments and solution providers deploy AI across mobility, energy management, environmental monitoring, public safety and urban planning. ITU Deputy Director for Telecom Standardization Bilel Jamoussi stated the partnership reinforces the bridge between global dialogue and local action, stressing that city AI must be interoperable, safe, inclusive and trustworthy to achieve scale. SCEWC Director Ugo Valenti described the alliance as a decisive step toward using AI to build the cities of tomorrow. The agreement includes integrating sessions on emerging technologies and human-centred smart cities into the SCEWC congress program, and the Annual Special Session of the UN U4SSC initiative — coordinated by ITU alongside 20 UN entities — will be hosted within SCEWC.