Smart City Expo 2025: UrbanThink honors France and unveils the ASCEND demonstrator.
The 2025 edition of the Smart City Expo World Congress marked a decisive step for UrbanThink Platform.
Invited to Barcelona to present the project " Lyon Confluence with UrbanThink® Platform", the company also became the only French finalist of the World Smart City Awards 2025 – category Energy & Environment, among 462 projects from 65 countries.
A pivotal moment.
An international spotlight.
And the beginning of a scale change, both technological and European.
Presenting Lyon Confluence to the world: a low-carbon demonstrator at the heart of Smart City 2025
On the stage of the Smart City Expo, UrbanThink presented the demonstrator Lyon Confluence – Digital Twin for Positive Energy District, developed as part of the European program ASCEND Project.
This presentation showcased a unique model in Europe:
➡️ an environmental digital twin covering 150 hectares and 1.3 M m², capable of tracking in real-time energy, climate, water, heat, biodiversity, and analyzing the impacts at the neighborhood scale.
In Barcelona, visitors were able to discover:
a 3D model that is enriched and continuously updated;
measurement tools (surfaces, volumes, natural shadows) for more precise planning;
the comparison of energy consumption and production;
the gradual integration of connected objects for continuous neighborhood monitoring.
This demonstrator directly addresses a key question at the Smart City Expo:
how to make low-carbon strategies measurable, manageable, and verifiable?
A historic nomination at the World Smart City Awards 2025
The Smart City Expo 2025 was also marked by a major recognition:
UrbanThink Platform was named a finalist for the World Smart City Awards 2025, in the category Energy & Environment, alongside the City of Guangzhou (China), the 2025 winner.
This nomination highlighted:
the ability of UrbanThink to bring French innovation to the global stage,
the relevance of the ASCEND demonstrator for European cities,
the growing importance of environmental data in urban policies.
More than a competition, this international visibility confirms a strong belief:
➡️ cities can only succeed in their ecological transition by making their data actionable.
Smart City Expo 2025: an event that scales up
The 2025 edition — the largest ever organized, gathered:
25,000 professionals,
850 cities,
1,100 exhibitors,
600 speakers from 130 countries.
In this context, UrbanThinkPlatform was able to:
present the Lyon Confluence Monitoring System platform,
exchange ideas with international decision-makers on low carbon modeling,
create new European connections,
position France among the leaders in environmental innovation.
The Smart City Expo 2025 was not just a trade fair.
It was an accelerator.
A collective project supported by Lyon and its partners
UrbanThink warmly thanks:
The City of Lyon, Métropole de Lyon, Urban Practices, Alain Kergoat, Samuel Linzau, Maxime Valentin, Baptiste Mougeot, Christophe Geffroy, Caroline Dénès — as well as all the partners who contributed to making the Confluence demonstrator a project recognized internationally.
