The city of Barcelona became the world capital of sustainability for three days after hosting four international events focused on sustainable development at Fira de Barcelona's Gran Via. Over 32,000 professionals from a hundred countries discovered the latest innovations, trends and technologies, as well as sharing experiences regarding smart cities, energy, the integral water cycle and circular economy through the Smart City Expo World Congress, Circular Economy European Summit (CEES), iWater and the European Utility Week.

Huawei showcased its Digital Platform based on leading new ICTs including artificial intelligence (AI), internet of things (IoT), big data and cloud, enabling city-wide intelligence and sustainable development across the international smart city industry, at the Smart City Expo World Congress (SCEWC) 2018.

The city of New York has been chosen as the Best Smart City of 2016 by the jury of the sixth edition of the Global Smart City Awards, announced at the Smart City Expo World Congress to recognize the most outstanding initiatives and projects in the urban innovation and transformation industry. The other two awards - best project and Innovative Global South - have been given to the Austrian company Aspern Smart City Research GmbH & Co. KG and the Kenyan company Microclinic Technologies, respectively.