When a city becomes smarter, it takes more than good intention It takes teamwork, vision, and action and this year’s Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona made that clearer than ever. For us at Smart Sense, exhibiting at the world’s largest smart-city gathering is always a privilege, but 2025 brought something special: a sense of collective momentum, clarity, and genuine readiness for change.
This was our third consecutive year exhibiting independently, after several years of attending through partners, and by every metric we can measure, it was our strongest year yet. The energy at our stand, the quality of conversations, and the number of purposeful visitors all pointed in the same direction: cities now know exactly what they need, and they’re ready to act.
Our Story at the Expo: Cities, Data, and One Clear Vision
This year, our stand was built around a simple question:
What can one city achieve when all Smart Sense solutions are deployed and connected?
To illustrate that idea, we presented a familiar example: our home city of Zagreb. We used it as a living (and working!) showcase — a real-world glimpse of how our technology integrates into city life. (We’ve captured that full story in this blog: link.)
The goal wasn’t just to show devices, dashboards, and data flows, it was to show how everything fits together. Because a smart city isn’t the result of a single device, platform, policy, or initiative. It is the result of synergy.
And clearly, this message resonated.
A Stand Full of Partners, Friends, and Future Collaborators
Across the three days, our stand was constantly buzzing with familiar faces we proudly call partners and with new municipalities, project leads, and innovators who visited us for the first time.
What truly impressed us was the level of preparedness among city representatives this year.
In previous editions, conversations often began with broad questions, like: “What can we measure? What can sensors do? Where do we even start?”
This year, the tone was entirely different:
“We need this specific type of air-quality data.”
“We’re preparing a multi-year strategy.”
“We want a system that scales city-wide.”
“We want reliable partners for long-term environmental monitoring.”
Cities were not exploring possibilities, they were outlining concrete needs and looking for solutions that work today.
And one topic rose above all others: Air quality as a strategic priority for the next decade.
Buzzing on Smart Sense stand
Municipalities clearly recognize that improving the urban environment is no longer a “nice to have.” It is vital for health, sustainability, and quality of life. Seeing that global commitment firsthand was incredibly motivating.
Why the Barcelona Expo Inspires Us Every Year
Of course, we love showcasing what we build: our devices, our data platform, the projects we deliver across the world. It is something we are deeply proud of. But what makes Smart City Expo so energizing is not just what happens at our own stand, it’s everything happening around it as well: the innovative ideas, bold prototypes, and fresh thinking from companies, startups, and research teams shaping the future of urban life.
Walking through the halls, it’s impossible not to feel inspired by the creativity, the purpose, and the shared ambition to make cities cleaner, safer, and more sustainable.
And, we must admit, occasionally also by the stands offering surprisingly good coffee, late-afternoon cava, and the kind of warm hospitality that makes you wonder whether you’ve stepped into a tech expo or a neighbourhood fiesta. Barcelona always knows how to keep spirits high – in more ways than on
Work, ideas, innovation… and just a bit of Expo fun in between. Photo credit: smartcityexpo.com
If anything, the Expo is a reminder that the world’s challenges are bigger than any single solution, and that the future of cities will be shaped through collaboration across disciplines, technologies, and borders.
That idea – collaboration as the engine of smart cities – became the guiding theme of this years’ experience for us.
Smart Cities Are Built Together
As the lights of the Expo fade and we return to our work, one message stays with us: Smarter cities don’t happen because one solution is brilliant. They happen because many solutions work together.
Data, infrastructure, mobility, energy, citizen engagement, environmental quality… each is one part of a much bigger picture. And when all these elements connect with clarity and purpose, cities unlock their full potential.
This year in Barcelona confirmed that cities are ready.
And we’re proud to play our part: from Zagreb to cities across the globe.
Until next year, Barcelona.
Let’s keep making (smart) sense of the future of smart cities together.