The international community, accustomed to using the most innovative technology to grow urban environments, has chosen Barcelona as the most advanced smart city outside of Asia-Pacific. The recognition was awarded within the framework of the World Smart City Expo Korea 2022, held in Seoul (South Korea).
The designation as best foreign Smart City, during the sixth edition of this fair, highlights Barcelona's governance and leadership as one of the cities that is contributing most to innovation with projects that promote technological transformation in diverse and varied fields of application.
Barcelona has been recognized for its ability to boost key strategic sectors through the Barcelona Green Deal plan in areas such as the digital and creative economy, industry 4.0, health and biology, as well as the urban transformation of the superilles project and the northern sector of the 22@ technological District, as reported by the Barcelona City Council.
A delegation made up of professionals from the International Economic Promotion team of the Barcelona city council, led by the Commissioner for City Promotion Pau Solanilla, traveled to the South Korean capital not only to collect the distinction, but also to strengthen institutional, business, and innovation relationships with this Asian country. "Barcelona has been working for some time to position itself as a digital innovation hub in southern Europe and wants to be the reference capital and gateway to Asia, so consolidating ties with Korea, the tenth economy in the world and the most innovative, is a priority for the city's positioning," the city council expressed in a statement.
During their visit, they closed agreements with the Seoul Business Agency (SBA), Barcelona Activa's counterpart entity, and with the Korean International Trade Association (KITA), a multisectoral group of companies and the Korean chamber of commerce. The objective: to reinforce and explore collaboration opportunities in the field of promoting innovative startups in both territories and facilitate access for technology companies to business landing platforms, and open internationalization avenues for Barcelona's technology companies and attract investors. Likewise, it was a meeting for the exchange of initiatives between the economic and innovation ecosystems of Seoul and Barcelona.
The Barcelona delegation has also participated in a meeting with sixty Korean tour operators within the framework of the exhibition Joan Miró, women, birds and stars, which the Fundació Joan Miró has organized at My Art Museum (MAMU) in Seoul. The meeting, designed for the "promotion of Barcelona as a cultural destination for Korean visitors," has taken place at a time when direct intercontinental air connections with Barcelona, interrupted since the pandemic, are beginning to recover, through Korean Airlines which ---starting this September--- will resume connections between both capitals, with three weekly frequencies.