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From 4 to 6 November 2025, AIT will present its latest tools for quantifiable sustainability assessments and variant comparisons, as well as innovative digital tools from the City Intelligence Lab at Smart City Expo Barcelona. In urban and neighbourhood development, these digital tools make complex planning and urban development measurable, comparable and understandable. With clear assessments and interactive dashboards, decisions can be made based on facts for greater sustainability, energy efficiency, resource conservation and climate resilience.
"Our tools make the future tangible," explains Markus Ray, Head of Competence Unit Digital Resilient Cities, AIT Austrian Institute of Technology. "They translate complex data into understandable comparisons, highlight opportunities and risks, and enable fact-based sustainable decisions to be made at an early stage of planning. In this way, we not only create transparency, but also lay the foundation for effective and cost-efficient measures."
Compare variants – make decisions tangible
At Smart City Expo Barcelona, the AIT team will use practical examples to show how digital tools can help to quickly compare different options in urban and neighbourhood planning. The following questions can be answered using these methods:
- How efficient is the planning in terms of built density, resource conservation, material recycling rate, energy efficiency (degree of self-sufficiency) and economic efficiency?
- What are the qualities of the planning in terms of accessibility to parks, public transport connections, relationship to population density and microclimate analyses of public spaces?
This information is presented in a comprehensible manner via an interactive dashboard, providing a sound basis for consultation and decision-making.
Presentation highlights at Smart City Expo Barcelona
"Autonomous Bus & Mobility Innovations: Austria's Road to the Future" on 4 November 2025 on the Shaping Mobility Stage. This session will present cooperation projects between AIT and the Smart Urban Region Austria Alps Adriatic (SURAAA). Markus Ray, Head of Competence Unit Digital Resilient Cities at AIT, will join Walter Prutej from SURAAA to present the latest developments and innovative approaches to autonomous driving and intelligent mobility solutions.
"From Bricks to Algorithm: The New Language of Building Design" on 5 November 2025 on the Infrastructure & Building Stage. In this session, Theresa Fink, Business Manager for Digital Resilient Cities and Regions, will join experts to discuss how digital tools will revolutionise construction in the cities of tomorrow.
"Urban Planning for Smarter Places" on 6 November 2025 on the Move Better Stage. In this session, Philipp Fanta-Jende, Senior Scientist Assistive & Autonomous Systems, will discuss how intelligent mobility planning can optimise space utilisation while improving health, accessibility and overall quality of life in cities.
AIT shows the future of navigation with egeniouss
With the EU project "egeniouss", AIT is presenting a new solution for reliable navigation at the Smart City World Congress. Satellite navigation is the basis for many services today, but in cities it can be inaccurate and easily disrupted by tall buildings. "egeniouss" makes precise positioning available to everyone – with a cloud-based solution that only requires a smartphone and can also be integrated into vehicles, drones or trains. This makes navigation more accurate, safer and independent of individual satellite signals. https://www.ait.ac.at/en/about-the-ait/center/center-for-vision-automation-control/assistive-autonomous-systems/projects/egeniouss