Smart City Expo Barcelona: how to work with cities and partners at the fair

Why does Smart City Expo matter for companies eyeing Central and Eastern Europe?

Smart City Expo World Congress brings together, every November in Barcelona, the people who buy and deploy urban solutions: city halls, municipal companies, transport and energy operators, and their suppliers. The 2026 edition is the fifteenth, running 3-5 November at Fira de Barcelona Gran Via. The organiser expects around a thousand cities, more than 25,000 attendees and over a thousand exhibitors.

For companies from Spain, Germany or elsewhere in Western Europe that are considering Poland and Ukraine, we see three reasons to treat the fair as a starting point. First, delegations from Central and Eastern European cities come to Barcelona, so you can meet potential clients before you travel to their markets. In 2025 the mayors of Vinnytsia and Kharkiv presented Ukrainian solutions built under wartime conditions, from automatic shelter doors to energy management systems. Second, EU programmes for cities are visible here. In the SUN4Ukraine project, twelve European cities advise Ukrainian municipalities on climate-neutral reconstruction, and Barcelona works with Mykolaiv. Third, the 2026 theme, “Urban Solutions, Real Impact”, with a dedicated housing summit, overlaps directly with what Ukraine needs now: housing, energy, water and mobility. We explain how Poland works as a base for that route in Polish market entry.

Who should you meet at Smart City Expo?

The fair is huge, so without a target list it is easy to spend three days in conversations that lead nowhere. In our experience, four groups matter most.

European cities and municipal companies

City hall delegations and municipal energy, transport and water companies. They come to see solutions and talk to suppliers before a tender is announced, which is a rare chance to speak to a buyer without procurement restrictions.

Polish and Ukrainian companies and cities

For a company planning to enter Poland or Ukraine, Barcelona is a convenient place for first conversations with potential local partners, integrators and municipal representatives from the region. Polish firms often act as contractors and supply chain for projects in Ukraine. How we find and vet such partners is described on our partner sourcing in Poland and Ukraine page.

Tech corporations and integrators

Exhibitors in 2026 include Google, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Dell Technologies and Deutsche Telekom IoT, plus hundreds of smaller integrators. Large players rarely buy from newcomers, but they often look for local partners to deliver projects in a specific country.

EU programmes and institutions

Participants of EU programmes for cities, including SUN4Ukraine, along with the Enterprise Europe Network and national export agencies. They know which projects are really heading for funding and which requirements suppliers will face.

How is a conversation with a city different from one with a company?

Most trade fair advice is written for selling to companies. Cities follow a different logic, and it pays to plan for that before the first meeting.

• The person at the stand does not decide. Even a mayor or deputy can rarely promise a purchase: it takes a budget, a council decision and a procurement procedure. The goal at the fair is not to close a deal but to get onto the list of firms the city invites to market consultation before the tender.
• The cycle is long. From first conversation to a municipal contract often takes a year or more. So the next step should be small and concrete: a pilot, a technical meeting with the relevant department, or a visit to a city where the solution already runs.
• References beat presentations. A city wants to see another city that already uses your solution, with results in numbers.
• Funding often comes from EU programmes. Ask which source the city plans to use. The answer tells you what the tender will require and who else to talk to.

Companies are more familiar territory: there is a decision maker and a budget. The rule is the same, though: every conversation should end with an agreed next step. We explain how to build trust with a partner who sees your company for the first time in the B2B credibility triangle.

How should you prepare for meetings in Barcelona?

Three weeks before the fair there is still time to raise the quality of your conversations considerably. Here is one preparation sequence that, in our experience, works well:

1. A list of 15-20 targetsCities, municipal companies, integrators and pavilions where a joint project is realistic. For each, one sentence on why you have something to offer them.
2. MatchmakingRegister for the Smart City Open Innovation Challenge on b2match. It is free, meetings last 30 minutes, on site or online. The challenge owner chooses whom to meet, so your profile should answer their published challenges directly.
3. Materials in EnglishA one-page company overview, one case study with results in numbers, and contact details.
4. Meetings in advanceWrite to the targets on your list two to three weeks before the fair and propose 20 minutes at a fixed time. Without an appointment, city representatives are usually fully booked.

If you are still choosing markets and deciding whether to go, it helps to run a market entry discovery first: the fair gives most to those who know whom they are looking for.

How do you log meetings and keep what you agreed?

In three days in Barcelona you can hold dozens of conversations and, a week later, remember the details of only a few. The simplest advice, and in our experience the most effective: log each meeting within two minutes of it ending. A voice note with AI transcription, a photo of the business card, a calendar reminder for the next step and a LinkedIn connection made on the spot.

For meetings with cities, add three points to the note: which department owns the topic, whether there is a budget or funding programme, and roughly when procurement might happen. Without these, a month later it is hard to tell whether the conversation has a future. We cover the full note template and a 72-hour follow-up plan in ReBuild Ukraine Warsaw: how to keep the meetings and contacts you make at the fair.

The value of a trade fair is set by how many conversations have a written next step with a date, not by how many conversations you had.

Barcelona, then Warsaw: how do you use two events in a row?

This year there is just one week between two major events for cities and reconstruction: Smart City Expo in Barcelona on 3-5 November and ReBuild Ukraine in Warsaw on 12-13 November. For a company working with cities, energy or infrastructure, that is a chance to turn two trips into one campaign.

The logic is simple. In Barcelona you meet European cities, integrators and EU programmes. The week in between goes to follow-up: summaries and materials. To those who will also be in Warsaw, you propose a second meeting there, where Ukrainian municipalities, ministries and international financial institutions will be present. A second meeting a week after the first noticeably raises the chance that a conversation becomes a project.

1. 3-5 November, BarcelonaMeetings with cities, integrators and EU programmes. Every note with a next step and a date.
2. 6-11 NovemberPersonal messages with a summary, promised materials, and an invitation to meet in Warsaw or online.
3. 12-13 November, WarsawSecond meetings with Barcelona contacts, plus new ones with Ukrainian municipalities and financial institutions.
4. After 2-4 weeksOne contact table for both events, a second message to anyone who has not replied, and first technical meetings with those who have.