ABU DHABI — The World Future Energy Summit, WFES, 2021, will feature the highly anticipated Smart Cities Expo & Forum bringing the cities of the future to life.

WFES, organized by Reed Exhibitions, will be held at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre from April 5 to 7, 2021.

It will be a fascinating exhibition that demonstrates many of the world’s newest and most ground-breaking technological innovations, with recent summits having attracted nearly 35,000 visitors from around the world.

The expert-led forum, in addition, will reveal the enormous commercial and economic opportunities that lie ahead for urban planning. The most recent Smart Cities Forum featured 73 speakers, 27 sessions and was attended by more than 1,200 people.

The Smart Cities Expo & Forum will bring together proactive governments and municipalities, along with pioneers in planning, mobility, digitalization, smart health, and safe city technology.

It will also showcase the potential of connected communities through fostering dialogue and the exchange of ideas between the brightest and most disruptive minds in the business.

Abu Dhabi has been pioneering smart city concepts for more than a decade, proving the effectiveness of sustainable urban planning and such developments are now the foremost focus of planners hoping to achieve sustainable, safe and happy city life.

One of the key speakers at the Smart Cities Forum is Stephane le Gentil, COO and Acting CEO of Abu Dhabi Energy Services Company (ADES) who noted that the term ‘smart cities’ doesn’t necessarily relate to future projects.

"In line with Abu Dhabi’s Demand Side Management and Energy Rationalization Strategy 2030, ADES is focused on increasing the energy efficiency of Abu Dhabi’s existing building stock through existing solutions. We can make use of today’s technology and retrofit systems to improve water and electricity consumption by making older buildings more efficient.

"In the process, we are able to utilize the skills and services of private sector contractors and suppliers who are already based here in the UAE. The knock-on effects of this are a more settled population and enormous contributions to the local economy while improving our neighborhoods and commercial premises. It’s definitely a win-win situation, not just for Abu Dhabi, but for all of us fortunate to live and work in the UAE."

The Smart Cities Forum will also host keynote speakers from Amana Investments, Taka Solutions, Ark Energy, EV Lab and AD Little, among others, and they will focus on such subjects as government plans and initiatives for regional smart cities, 5G, connectivity and leveraging Artificial Intelligence, AI, in urban development.

Also, under the spotlight will be cyber safety, the Internet of Things, IoT, people and data in the urban environment. Considered too will be the future of smart health, energy and water efficient architecture, 3D printing and smart mobility.

Regional authorities are already working at solving the multiple challenges faced by urban planners, harnessing the power of artificial intelligence, machine learning and the Internet of Things to transform the ways in which people live together, when it comes to mobility, communication, healthcare and neighborhood development.

More needs to be done, however, and the opportunities for global economic recovery are closely entwined with the large-scale adoption of sustainable technology.

The Oxford Business Group wrote about the future of Smart Cities in a report published on June 16, 2020, quoting a 2018 forecast from Grand View Research, which stated that the global market size of smart cities was set to rise to $2.57 trillion by 2025, up from $737 billion in 2018.

It added that the International Data Corporation’s Worldwide Semi-annual Smart Cities Spending Guide projected global expenditures of $124 billion in 2020, up 18.9 percent on 2019. And according to a recent KPMG report, ‘The Rise of Smart Cities’, the Mena smart cities market will double in value from $1.3 billion in 2018 to $2.7 billion by 2022.

Grant Tuchten, group event director at WFES, said that the Expo & Forum would be instrumental in making tangible progress throughout the region and beyond.

"We’re providing a key meeting point for governments to share a platform with technology providers and innovators, as well as financiers with a vested interest in making urban planning smarter and more sustainable.

“Sharing of knowledge is vital for the acceleration of smart city development across the Mena region, and the Smart Cities Expo & Forum is a perfect opportunity to continue moving in the right direction."

"The forum will explore regional plans and initiatives for smart city development, as well as cyber safety, smart mobility and the future of architecture, which impacts our use of energy and natural resources.

“It’s a fascinating, thought provoking experience to see ideas coming to life with global prosperity being at the center of everything we do." — WAM