Shanghai hosts Tomorrow.City 2025 with global focus on smart solutions
Tomorrow.City Shanghai 2025 opened at Zhangjiang Science Hall under the theme “Challenge and Solution,” drawing delegations from more than 110 cities across Asia, Europe, Latin America and Africa. Organizers said the expanded program — featuring more than 100 exhibitors, 20 industry roundtables, 32 city shows and over 40 closed-door meetings — aimed to move smart-city planning from discussion to implementation by matching city challenges with practical solutions.
Exhibits and sessions covered four core domains: Tomorrow.Technologies, Tomorrow.Mobility, Tomorrow.Environment and Tomorrow.Utilities. The event positioned China as a growing leader in urban tech while creating new avenues for cross-border partnerships and pilot projects.
Smart city awards recognize regional leaders
The Region & China Smart City Awards highlighted projects making measurable progress in digital transformation, low-carbon transition and public-service innovation. Eight winners took home Best Projects (X-SDI) awards: PLANMalaysia (Department of Town and Country Planning), Malaysia Sepang Municipal Council, Thailand’s Chonburi City Municipality, and initiatives from Kazakhstan, New Zealand, Oman, the UAE and China. The Leadership Award — Leader distinction honored the principal architect of Thailand’s Smart City Capacity-Building Programs for contributions to national implementation and capacity building.
Delegates at the ceremony stressed that awards help signal scalable practices to cities seeking tested models for governance, green transition and citizen services. Organizers said the recognition will feed into technical exchanges and pilot partnerships promoted during the show.
Tomorrow.City Community Shanghai launched to deepen collaboration
A key milestone at the opening was the launch of Tomorrow.City Community Shanghai, the first physical hub of the Tomorrow.City global network. The hub is intended as a trusted platform for project collaboration, knowledge exchange and faster project preparation, enabling cities and vendors to move from pilots to financed projects more quickly.
Alongside the hub, organizers released a Collaboration List of City Challenges & Opportunities developed with 16 international cities. The list outlines priority themes — including smart governance, infrastructure renewal and the green transition — and will guide matchmaking and closed-door negotiations over the coming year.
Looking ahead, organizers said they expect follow-up memoranda of understanding and pilot agreements to emerge from closed meetings and roundtables, aimed at fast-tracking demonstrations and sourcing financing for scalable projects.
