WeGO Strengthens Global Collaboration and Smart City Leadership at Smart City Expo World Congress 2025 in Barcelona
Barcelona, November 4–7, 2025 – The World Smart Sustainable Cities Organization (WeGO) successfully concluded its participation at the Smart City Expo World Congress (SCEWC) 2025, held in Barcelona from November 4–7, 2025. As the world’s premier event on urban innovation, SCEWC gathered leading voices from cities, governments, and global corporations to exchange ideas and shape the future of smart, inclusive, and sustainable urban development.
Led by Eunbyul Elena Cho, Program Director at WeGO, the organization’s delegation actively promoted its vision for human-centric Smart Sustainable Cities and the Seoul Smart City Prize, while expanding its international network and reinforcing partnerships with key organizations and cities worldwide.
The delegation engaged in a dynamic series of meetings, sessions, roundtables, and networking activities aimed at promoting WeGO’s vision, strengthening partnerships, and laying the groundwork for the 2026 edition of the Seoul Smart City Prize.
During the main program of SCEWC, Program Director Eunbyul Elena Cho served as a panelist in the session “Making It Happen: How Cities Can Turn Livability Plans into Reality,” placing a strong emphasis on promoting the Seoul Smart City Prize and underscoring its core values of inclusion, sustainability, and the equitable use of technology for governance. In her remarks, Ms. Cho showcased successful case studies from Seoul and the award-winning project from São Paulo “Accessible Service Network Map (ASNM)”, both exemplifying how innovation and collaboration can drive tangible improvements in urban equity and citizen well-being.
Following the session, WeGO received significant interest from cities and organizations in Japan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, UCLG, and other regions seeking to engage with the Seoul Smart City Prize and explore potential collaborations.
WeGO also participated in a closed reception hosted by the City of Barcelona, where Ms. Cho met with the Mayor of Barcelona Jaume Collboni, introducing WeGO’s global mission and extending an invitation to visit Seoul during Smart Life Week 2026 and the WeGO General Assembly.
Throughout the congress, WeGO further held strategic meetings with representatives from the Union of Ibero-American Capital Cities (UCCI), the Association of Catalan Municipalities, the Spanish Smart City Network, the Brasil–Catalunya Chamber of Commerce, and major cities including Prague, Kuala Lumpur, Curitiba, and Rome, which expressed alignment with WeGO’s vision of human-centric smart city development. The organization also reconnected with and engaged new partners from Stockholm, Manchester, Liverpool, Helsinki, Tallinn, and Seongnam, many of whom showed interest in participating in future editions of the Seoul Smart City Prize.
Midway through the week, WeGO also attended the Smart City Awards ceremony, where Ms. Cho had earlier served as a judge, offering another meaningful platform for WeGO to connect with recognized leaders in the smart city field.
On November 6, WeGO signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Open and Agile Smart Cities (OASC) network to enhance collaboration and encourage cross-participation in upcoming events, including the 2026 WeGO General Assembly. The delegation also held follow-up discussions with Dassault Systèmes and Deloitte to explore future cooperation in smart city innovation and digital transformation initiatives.
Last but not least, WeGO held a productive meeting with Metropolis to strengthen collaboration in supporting Seoul Smart City Prize winners and finalists, gaining valuable insights to increase engagement from Metropolis member cities. Finally, the delegation also visited Harbour.Space University, identifying opportunities for cooperation in digital education, entrepreneurship, and smart city research initiatives, as well as future linkages with WeGO’s academic partners.
WeGO’s active presence at SCEWC 2025 reaffirmed its role as a global convener and thought leader in the smart city ecosystem, advancing its mission to connect cities, accelerate innovation, and build a more sustainable urban future for all.
About WeGO
The World Smart Sustainable Cities Organization (WeGO), is a membership-based international association of local governments, smart tech solution providers, and institutions committed to the transformation of cities into smart sustainable cities through facilitating public-private partnerships (PPP). WeGO was founded by 50 member cities in 2010 as the World e-Governments Organization, hence our acronym. In response to the evolving concept of smart cities, WeGO expanded its vision and mandate at the 7th General Assembly (2017) and its name to the World Smart Sustainable Cities Organization. WeGO’s Secretariat is based in Seoul, Korea, and has regional offices in East Asia (Chengdu, China), the Mediterranean (Beyoglu, Turkey), Africa (Abuja, Nigeria), Middle East & North Africa (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates), Latin America (Cuenca, Ecuador), and Central Asia (Almaty, Kazakhstan). As the leading platform on smart city development, WeGO’s mission is to share knowledge and good practices in e-Governance; strengthen administrative efficiency and transparency; advance digital capacity; facilitate civic involvement; bridge the digital divide and inequality; and promote cooperation solidarity among cities and local governments around the world.
WeGO serves for its members as their international platform to improve the quality of life, innovate in the delivery of public services, and strengthen regional competitiveness.
Press Contact:
Name: Junho Jeong
E-mail: j.jeong@we-gov.org
Phone: +82-70-4202-9169