CARNET Participates in the Tomorrow.Mobility World Congress 2024
From November 5th to 7th, CARNET participated in the Tomorrow.Mobility World Congress (TMWC) in Barcelona, held in the context of the Smart City Expo World Congress. With over 25,771 attendees and 1,150 exhibitors for this 2024 edition, the event provided a platform for CARNET to highlight its innovative projects focused on building smarter, more sustainable cities through its mobility. Throughout multiple sessions, workshops, and presentations, CARNET presented its latest developments in the field of transportation.
CARNET’s contributions included sessions on projects such as ELDERS, Mobilities for EU, and the Scale-up Programme. In collaboration with the SUM Project, CIVITAS Initiative, and New Mobility Services (NMS), CARNET took part in a workshop on Tuesday, November 5th. This session explored best practices in the co-creation, evaluation, and monitoring of new mobility services, emphasizing Living Labs and their role in designing innovative and impactful mobility solutions. In a panel of this session, CARNET’s Chief Innovation Officer, Cristina Juarez Batlle, presented the MOBILITIES4EU project, discussing methodologies for assessing urban mobility and improving service design to meet the needs of modern cities.
On Wednesday, November 6th, CARNET joined the Measuring and Promoting Active Mobility round table, where Paloma Nieri Romero took part. This discussion focused on ways cities can enhance active mobility options, drawing on insights from CARNET’s projects like sCOOL2walk, which promotes safe walking routes for children, ELDERS, which adapts urban paths for senior citizens, or FOLLOW, a route planner enhancing accessibility for vulnerable groups. In this session, CARNET was able to highlight its commitment to creating walkable urban spaces that support safe and inclusive mobility for all citizens.
On Tuesday, November 7th, CARNET also hosted the Scale-up Programme Startup Pitches, where Cristina Juarez Batlle moderated a session showcasing the solutions from the 2024 Scale-up Programme alumni. This session was key to discover the transformative role of start-ups in reshaping urban mobility and introduced attendees to pioneering technologies redefining how people navigate cities. As the programme reaches its end, it was also an opportunity for start-ups to pitch what they have achieved so far and their upcoming business steps, aiming to create new collaborations to keep advancing their products.
CARNET also took part in the Stakeholder Consultation Panel on November 5th. This panel, part of the EU’s Mission on Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities, centered on Urban Data Governance. Stakeholders shared their experiences and discussed policies supporting climate neutrality in urban areas, addressing data spaces, digital twins, and monitoring systems. This dialogue aimed to enhance the European policy framework, with CARNET contributing valuable insights into the role of data in urban sustainability.
Throughout the whole duration of the congress, CARNET also participated in ACCIÓ’s Open Innovation Challenge, taking place during the event. Together with CARNET’s founding member, Volkswagen Group Innovation, a challenge named “Inclusive Autonomous Mobility for Users with Disability” was identified. The proposal focused on enhancing the experience of riding unmanned vehicles for users with disability, such as visually impaired people. The goal was to seek an innovative digital service that provides inclusive predictive features to assist users in navigating the vehicle and accessing its services. This initiative aims to find ideas that optimise the overall experience, making it more accessible and user-friendly for everyone, regardless of their unique needs. The outcome was a series of meetings with innovators that presented their approaches and explained how they could contribute to solving the challenge. Thanks to this initiative, it is clear that a bridge can be built between Catalonia and the world in terms of innovation.
Through its active participation in TMWC 2024, CARNET reaffirmed its dedication to designing urban mobility solutions that are aligned with the current climate goals and urban inclusivity. By showcasing projects, engaging with industry leaders, and collaborating with start-ups, CARNET continues to pave the way for collaborations to build smarter cities.
