Merida Will Host Smart City Expo LATAM for 3rd Year In A Row.
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Merida Will Host Smart City Expo LATAM for 3rd Year In A Row.

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María José Goytia By María José Goytia | Journalist and Industry Analyst - Tue, 02/08/2022 - 13:58

In an effort to transform Latin American cities through technology and innovation, Smart City Expo LATAM Congress 2022 will seek to promote the activation and acceleration of projects. For the third year in a row, Merida will host the event.  

Mauricio Vila Dosal, Governor of Yucatán, Manuel Redondo, president of FIRA Barcelona in Mexico, Lleïr Daban, delegate of the Government of Catalonia and Hugo Isaak Zepeda, General Urban International Coordinator of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE), presented this year´s details edition. The conference will have a hybrid format (both in-person and online). On-site activities will be held at the "Siglo XXI" Convention Center in Merida from June 7 to 9, under the strictest biosecurity protocols. Online activities will be held from June 14to 16. All contents will be retransmitted and all attendees will have the opportunity to take part in virtual networking activities.

This year´s conference theme is "Activate, Act, Accelerate". The program will address seven main topics: digital transformation; connected society; climate change and resilient cities; mobility and sustainable urbanism; water management, as well as legislation and financing for cities that take care of their citizens.

More than 300 cities from 45 countries are expected to participate, in addition to 14,000 accredited attendees, both on-site and virtual, as well as more than 300 speakers.

In Mexico, there are cities that have made a strong commitment to technological implementations and have the potential to become Smart Cities. Such as the cases of Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monterrey, Tijuana, Puebla and Querétaro. In addition, the National Confederation of Industrial Chambers (CONCAMIN) issued in June 2021 a list of 13 cities that will seek to promote technological innovations under a smart-city perspective. However, Eduardo de la Peña, Partner at Deloitte, highlights that as of today, Mexico does not have a smart city as a whole, and the lack of a national strategy has affected the development of smarts cities.

Agustín Levy, CEO of Levy Holding shares the same point of view. "To be able to talk about Mexico as a Smart Cities benchmark is one of our objectives because even though there are cities in the country with the potential to achieve this designation, we must focus on further enhancing the use of technological resources on a daily basis and know how to translate all the data obtained to meet the needs of the population."

According to the analysis published by HEI Community, to the extent that the collaboration of public and private institutions with a long-term vision is achieved, it will be possible to ensure the optimal development of smart cities in Mexico. Initiatives like the Smart City Expo LATAM Congress promote the implementation of urban innovation and solutions with citizens at its core and create an environment for collaboration between the public and private sector to push this agenda further in national planning.

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