Barcelona, 4–6 November 2025
The International Urban and Regional Cooperation (IURC) Programme will gather over 240 delegates from 132 cities and regions across Europe, Asia, Australasia and the Americas for its Global Thematic Networking Event alongside Smart City Expo World Congress (SCEWC) 2025. The three-day workshop is the largest IURC convening since the programme’s launch and focuses on accelerating climate action, innovation and international partnerships.
Programme at a glance
- Opening Plenary (Nov 4, 09:30–11:00, CC4–Room 4.1) with welcomes from the Government of Catalonia and the European Union; keynote on “Energy, Mobility and Digital Transition – Cross-Cutting Challenges to IURC.”
- 14 interactive cluster sessions (Nov 4) spanning city-to-city themes—Mobility & Transport, Urban Innovation, Circular Economy, Climate Adaptation, Urban Regeneration, Social Cohesion/Housing, and Strategic Sectors—and region-to-region themes—Clean Energy, Agri-food Systems, Industrial Modernisation, Blue Economy—plus cross-cutting Business and International Engagement tracks.
- Expo visits & bilateral meetings (Nov 5) at the EU Joint Projects Pavilion (Hall 2, Stand D101), followed by an interactive closing session.
- Site visits (Nov 6) spotlighting Catalonia’s innovation ecosystem:
- Barcelona Supercomputing Center (MareNostrum 5) & AI Transfer Network (digital twins/AI for cities)
- Agropolis & ERA Gavà-Viladecans (water management, circularity, agritech)
- Port of Barcelona (hydrogen strategy, BIP Positive Impact Port, BlueNetCat).
EU leadership and cooperation focus
Implemented by a consortium commissioned by the European Commission’s Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI) and DG REGIO, IURC advances decentralised subnational cooperation in sustainable urban development and regional innovation. Andreas Roettger (FPI) underscores that IURC’s hands-on pilots translate EU partnerships into responses citizens can feel—from clean energy transition to circular economy—through peer learning and cooperation with research, business and civil society.
From partnership to impact
Building on online preparations in September–October 2025, delegations will refine pilot projects and 2026 cooperation visits, moving beyond knowledge exchange to tangible implementation. Since 2021, IURC has connected 47 European cities and 26 regions with 139 counterparts across Asia, Australasia, North America, Latin America and the Caribbean—progress the Barcelona workshop aims to convert into measurable outcomes and partner engagement.
Media & participation
Media are invited to the Opening Plenary (Nov 4, 09:30–11:00 CET) at Fira Barcelona Gran Via, Conference Center 4, Room 4.1. For interview requests or details, contact David Zeller, Communications Manager at dzeller@iurc.eu.
About IURC: The EU-funded IURC Programme links cities and regions across continents to co-develop and implement pilot solutions for sustainable urban development and regional innovation, working through thematic clusters and a quadruple-helix approach.