For the second consecutive year, ICF partnered with the Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona, the largest annual Smart City conference in the world.

This year, ICF coordinated a VIP Delegation with a curated agenda for the week, bringing together participants from around the world to explore, learn, and contribute to the conversations defining how cities adapt, innovate, and thrive.

Below are our most popular posts on SmartCitiesWorld in 2018, highlighting smart city priorities such as transportation, governance and partnerships.

For me, the most interesting thing in smart cities in 2018 was the more open discussion around the social risks of smart cities and practical moves to address them. This included more attention on the risks associated with the rise of facial recognition technology, concerns about data privacy, the acknowledgement of unintended consequences and the need to pay attention to growing cyber risks as our cities get more connected.

The hype for 5G at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2017 in Barcelona from February 27- March 2 was so thick it was palpable:

“Sir, do you realize that this is a revolution that will have a great impact on economies and in the quality of our everyday lives?”

“Excuse me Mister, but did you know that 5G will enable brand new services and things that have not been possible before?”

“Hello, can I offer you an Espresso? By the way, while commercialisation of 5G is not expected to start before 2020, our company is pushing other companies and governments to standardise norms for a smooth transition to 5G use worldwide. Is that with or without sugar?”