The 2026 ICF Smart21 Conference and Announcement will take place this March at the second annual Smart City Expo in Curitiba, Brazil, the 2024 Intelligent Community of the Year!
The selection of the Smart21 Communities of the Year begins the semi-finalist phase in ICF’s annual Awards Program. Each year, ICF analyzes data from hundreds of communities around the world, and announces the highest scoring eligible towns, cities, and regions as the Smart21 Communities of the Year.
The Awards Program will then continue in June, ICF will announce the Top7 Intelligent Communities as finalists in the Awards program at the Top7 Conference & Announcement in Brightlands-Limburg, Netherlands. The program will conclude when ICF names the 2026 Intelligent Community of the Year at the ICF Global Summit in Columbus, Ohio, USA in October. One of these twenty-one communities named will succeed Durham Region, Ontario, Canada, the 2025 Intelligent Community of the Year.
Speakers:
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Alison Burgess |
Ariel Sujarchuk |
Marisa Fassi |
Jaime Santamarta |
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Giovani Bernardo |
Tônia Mansani |
Lucía Bellocchio |
Dario Paixão |
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Igor Oliveira |
Jorge Regis |
Paulo Cesar Krauss |
Nicolás Ramírez |
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Alejandro Saldaña González |
Lucas Lanza |
Lou Zacharilla |
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Agenda:
Tuesday, March 24th (Pinhão Hub – 1732 Engenheiros Rebouças St.)
- 10h30 - Registration opens
- 11h – Welcome Brunch
- 11h20 - Opening Remarks
- Lou Zacharilla, Co-Founder, Intelligent Community Forum, New York, NY, USA
- 11h30 – Host Welcome Address from Curitiba, 2024 Intelligent Community of the Year
- Dario Paixão, Presidente, Agência Curitiba de Desenvolvimento e Inovação SA, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil
- 11h45 – Intelligent Community of the Year 2025 Presentation: Durham Region, Ontario, Canada
- Alison Burgess, Executive Director, Communications and Engagement, Durham Region, Ontario, Canada
- 11h20 - Opening Remarks
The Welcome Brunch is sponsored by ROIT and EXXAS
- 12h30 – Curitiba Agency, winner GIMI Awards 2025
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Paulo Cesar Krauss, Technical Director, Curitiba Agency for Development and Innovation, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil
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Paulo Cesar Krauss, Technical Director, Curitiba Agency for Development and Innovation, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil
- 13h00 – Panel Discussion: The Intelligent Community Journey
- Igor Oliveira, Secretary of Science, Technology and Innovation, City of Assaí, Paraná, Brazil
- Tônia Mansani, Chair, Municipal Council of Science, Technology, and Innovation of Ponta Grossa
- Nicolás Ramírez, Coordinator of Vale do Pinhão, Advisor to the Presidency at Agência Curitiba de Desenvolvimento e Inovação
- Alejandro Saldaña González, Technical Advisor, Las Rozas City Council, Spain
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Giovani Bernardo, CEO e Partner, EXXAS, Canada (Moderator)
- 14h – Coffee and Networking Break
- 14h30 – Presentation: Atech – Air Mobility – EVTOL/Drone Delivery
- Jorge Regis, Systems Engineering Specialist, Atech
- 15h00 – Panel Discussion: The Journey from Smart to Intelligent
- Alison Burgess, Executive Director, Communications and Engagement, Durham Region, Ontario, Canada
- Dario Paixão, Presidente, Agência Curitiba de Desenvolvimento e Inovação SA, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil
- Jaime Santamarta, Councilor for Environmental, Urban Services, Smart City & Transport, Las Rozas de Madrid, Spain
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Lou Zacharilla, Co-Founder, Intelligent Community Forum, New York, NY, USA (Moderator)
- 16h00 – Panel Discussion: Smart Urban Management: Collaboration Between Ibero-American Cities
- Ariel Sujarchuk, Mayor of Escobar, Buenos Aires (Argentina)
- Marisa Fassi, Mayor of Cañuelas, Buenos Aires (Argentina)
- Lucía Bellocchio, CEO, Trend Smart Cities
- Lucas Lanza, Argentine Network of Smart Cities Director (Moderator)
- 17h00 – Happy Hour and Networking
The Happy Hour is sponsored by DRZ and IEBT
Wednesday, March 25th Morning (Arena Stadium - 1.260 Buenos Aires St.)
- 8h00 to 12h00 – Smart City Expo Curitiba Attendance
Wednesday, March 25th Afternoon Site Visits: (Departing from the Arena Stadium)
Site Visit Schedule:
- 13h00 – Site Visit Program Departs Expo
- 13h30 – Site Visit – IPPUC (Curitiba Institute for Research and Urban Planning)
- 14h30 – Site Visit – Urban Hypervisor
- 15h30 – Site Visit – Digital Wall
- 16h30 – Site Visit – Urban Farm
- 17h30 - Site Visits Conclude
IPPUC (Curitiba’s Institute for Research and Urban Planning)Curitiba’s Institute for Research and Urban Planning is a municipal agency created in 1965 with the mission of monitoring and guiding the implementation of the proposed Master Plan for the city. The multidisciplinary team and specialized Institute are a crucial part of what makes Curitiba recognized for excellence in urban planning. |
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Urban HypervisorDesigned by the IPPUC in partnership with the Municipal Secretariat of Administration, Personnel Management and Information Technology (SMAP), the French Development Agency (AFD) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Urban Hypervisor is a public data sharing platform equipped with tools capable of collecting, processing and distributing information, enabling the management of services in real time and the planning of public policies. |
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Digital WallThe Digital Wall is an intelligent video surveillance system, launched in 2021, that is integrated and interconnected with various actions. The structure speeds up data traffic and, therefore, allows for continuous exchange of information. With this system, it is possible to employ public security agents in a combined way and develop public policies for the prevention of crime and violence. |
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Urban FarmUrban Farm is a city initiative dedicated to the education of citizens in agricultural practices. Currently, there are three Urban Farms across the city, and each one of them is equipped with vegetable gardens, greenhouses, composting facilities, a multipurpose room, and a social gastronomy school. |
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Wednesday, March 25th Evening: Smart City Expo Awards featuring the Smart21 Announcement
Location: Oscar Niemeyer Museum. 999 Marechal Hermes St.
Thursday, March 26th (Arena Stadium - 1.260 Buenos Aires St.)
- 9h00 to 17h00 – Smart City Expo Curitiba Attendance
- 19h – Brazilian Awards - Smart City Expo Curitiba
Friday, March 27th (Arena Stadium - 1.260 Buenos Aires St.)
- 9h00 to 17h00 – Smart City Expo Curitiba Attendance
- 17h – Smart City Expo Curitiba – Closing Happy Hour
A Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil: Host of the 2026 Smart21 Announcement and 2024 Intelligent Community of the Year
Urban planning works. That is the lesson of Curitiba, which has engaged in proactive planning for its future for nearly 40 years. While other Brazilian cities welcomed heavy industry, Curitiba accepted only non-polluters and developed an industrial district with so much green space that it was derided as a “golf course” until it filled up with more than 3,500 companies. Beginning in the 1970s, the master plan laid out streets, public transportation, shopping, industrial and residential areas. Today, clean water reaches 100% and sanitation 93% of the population, and the city offers a range of services still rare in emerging market nations: municipal healthcare, education and daycare networks, neighborhood libraries, and sports and culture facilities near mass transport terminals.
Curitiba has become one of the first Brazilian cities to offer TIM 5G based on approving decree 989, which simplified the process to acquire an installation and operation license for radio base stations and antennas in the city. The decree also made small antennas and building-top equipment exempt from licensing requirements in their entirety. The city implemented EmpregoTech, a program to train young people ages 16 to 22 for a future in high-tech jobs. Curitiba developed an innovation ecosystem in Pinhão Valley. When COVID-19 reached Brazil in 2020, the Curitiba Agency for Development and Innovation worked with local startups and other companies to help entrepreneurs, local street market workers and artisans to create a virtual shop where they could exhibit and sell their goods, as they had previously had no online stores. The Agency also created a variety of online training courses for these businesses to help with their transition to online activities. The city also focused on multiple studies and projects to produce and implement clean energy in public buildings and public transportation. The city has installed a small hydroelectric plant in Barigui park to supply energy to the park, a project that will be replicated in other parks across the city. Read more about Curitiba.
About the Smart City Expo
Smart City Expo Curitiba has been the largest smart city event in Latin America since 2023, connecting governments, companies and organizations to transform innovative ideas into urban realities that improve people's lives. Visit smartcityexpocuritiba.com to learn more.