Recently, bee smart city were fortunate enough to visit the Spanish capital of Madrid and explore the Global Mobility Call, a holistic mobility event that aimed to unlock the future of smart mobility and address some of the biggest challenges that the transport industry will be facing over the next few years. Read more about sustainable mobility, transportation and the effects for the future:
This was the first edition of Global Mobility Call, and as an inaugural event, it didn’t disappoint. Organised and coordinated by IFEMA Madrid and Smobhub, Global Mobility Call has emerged as the primary world congress for sustainable mobility, inclusive transportation, and new and innovative smart solutions that move people from A to B.
For three days, Madrid was the centre of the smart mobility movement, with Global Mobility Call attracting more than 4,500 on-site visitors, and as many as 13,000 online attendees from all over the world. Bee smart city was proud to join more than 250 journalists at the event and represent the press from the smart city industry, and listen to a host of thought leaders, mobility experts, innovators, urbanists, and futurists about the trends in the mobility industry.
Despite being located in the Spanish capital, the event had an undeniably international vibe. While many of the speakers came from Spain, the event also attracted experts and leaders from all over the world, particularly from the LATAM region, and with actors from both the private and public sectors.
From a smart city perspective, the event tackled some of the biggest issues affecting the mobility industry, with a particular focus on innovative solutions and urban design. However, important topics such as decarbonisation, digitalisation, inclusivity, connectivity, and strategic governance were also discussed.
Some of the most interesting insights came from well-known figures, such as Carlo Ratti, Michio Kaku, and Jeffrey Sachs.
The keynote speakers and special guests drew a number of exciting and important conclusions, from the need for important changes to the way that mobility solutions are innovated and deployed, especially with regard to resilience in extreme times (such as the Covid-19 pandemic and Russian invasion of Ukraine) to more abstract concepts such as the use of quantum physics and powerful computer learning to enhance robotisation in the transport sector.
However, one of the most important insights came from Jeffrey Sachs, who underlined the need to better the integration of many different sectors to provide the best mobility solutions. Just as a smart city is more than obvious tech deployment, the mobility sector needs to evolve into an eco-system of solutions in order to succeed.
The future of the sustainable mobility transformation was best summed up by the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, at the closing of the Global Mobility Call, who explained that the event was “the best example of the capacity for resilience, ambition to transform, the essential collaboration between the public and private sectors, the strength of companies and of Spanish society as a whole. Both private and public sectors share a special ability to face difficulties and adapt to new scenarios" before explaining that time is of the essence and that the mobility industry "should not delay" in furthering the sustainable mobility transformation.
Images courtesy of Global Mobility Call
Tip: Discover more Smart City and Urban Mobility Events in our global event calendar