Date: 3 November 2026 Location: Viladecans, Spain
The Urban Transitions Mission (UTM) is proud to announce that the UTM Global Innovation Summit 2026 will take place on 3 November 2026 in Viladecans, Spain. This high-level global convening will investigate the theme: “Accelerating Urban Transitions: Scaling Impact with AI and Digital Innovation”.
As a growing global cohort of 136 cities across 51 countries, UTM is focused on one shared, urgent question: how do we get to net-zero, resilient and inclusive communities? Too often, conversations about urban AI begin with the technology and work backwards.
The 2026 UTM Global Innovation Summit aims to flip this narrative, beyond tech solutionism in favour of a people-centered approach where AI acts in service of a clear purpose.
“We should not ask ourselves: what can AI do to help cities? We should ask: what is our goal and how do we reach it? How do we decarbonize our energy and transport system? How do we futureproof our infrastructures and make our cities more resilient? And then look at AI as a tool at our disposal to reach our target — evaluated against a clear purpose,” says Giorgia Rambelli, Director of the Urban Transitions Mission.
UTM is delighted to be convening its Global Innovation Summit in a city that serves as a living illustration of this message. Viladecans, a municipality of 70,000 people just south of Barcelona, is a live laboratory of the net-zero transition and the winner of a 2025 European Green Leaf Award. They achieved this by asking what their community needed and by building solutions around that answer.
The Summit will bring together hundreds of urban policymakers, city leaders, AI and tech innovators, climate finance institutions, partners from the private sector and researchers from both the Global North and South.
Expect fresh ideas and new perspectives.
Through policymakers and expert discussions, interactive workshops, live simulations, and peer-to-peer dialogue, the event will explore practical pathways for leveraging digital tools. Attendees will dive into concrete, city-driven applications, including how to use predictive foresight and digital twins to test policy impacts, how to de-risk investments in nature-based solutions, and how to scale “plug-and-play” innovations that put citizens at the center of the transition.
Join us to forge the partnerships that will define the intelligent, resilient, and inclusive cities of tomorrow.
There is no time like the present to prepare for the future.
Participation is free of charge, with both in-person and virtual attendance options available.
👉 Registration will open in May.
The UTM Global Innovation Summit is supported by the European Commission, the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy (GCoM), the City of Viladecans and the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities and the UTM’s Global Innovation Alliance.
