From 2 to 4 June 2026, we participated in the URBIS The Smart Cities Meetup conference fair at the Brno Exhibition Centre, the most important Czech and Central European platform focused on the future of cities, municipalities and regions. This year's edition welcomed over 6,000 visitors, 176 exhibitors and more than 200 speakers from home and abroad. The focus of the program was on the resilience of cities, the use of data for decision-making by local governments and testing innovations in a real environment. On behalf of ICUK, the event was attended by Simona Fronc, Marek Hart, Zbyněk Novák and Petr Hlaváček as part of the CESMOD project and the Smart Accelerator for the Ústí nad Labem Region IV.
CESMOD: on-site working meeting
One of the priorities of our participation was a visit to the stand of the CESMOD project, of which ICUK is an application partner under Simona Fronc and Zbyněk Novák. A working meeting was held with the project partners, we coordinated further activities, the schedule of planned events and the involvement of regional actors in dissemination activities. At the same time, we participated in the workshop "Innovation ecosystem for the 21st century II: People and SMART Skills", which was directly implemented within the CESMOD project. The workshop focused on the development of modern public administration competencies and brought experience from the Netherlands, Germany and other European regions in the area of supporting innovation capacities and entrepreneurship.
Smart data and foreign experts
A strong point of the program for us was a specialized workshop dedicated to smart data and decision-making, led by Dennis Dokter and Barry Singleton from the Nexus Innovation Center at the University of Leeds. The topic of data for effective regional management is one where we see direct relevance for the Ústí nad Labem Region, and it was this part of the conference that brought the most concrete ideas for our further work.
Living labs: cities as incubators of innovation
The main guests of this year's URBIS were representatives of the European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL), the world's largest network of open platforms for testing innovations in a real environment. In addition to the ENoLL experience, the workshop "Living Labs - How to Turn a City or Region into an Incubator of Successful Innovations" also presented specific examples from practice, including autonomous trams in Tampere, Finland, and the newly emerging Czech platform CZELLAP. We consider the concept of living labs, where innovations are tested directly in a real urban environment in cooperation with public administration, companies, research and citizens, to be one of the most interesting directions that makes sense to develop in the Ústí nad Labem Region.
Financing after 2028 and RIS3
We also attended expert panels focused on setting cohesion subsidy policy and directing public finances in the period 2028+. We actively participated in a roundtable discussion dedicated to the implementation of RIS3 strategies, a topic that directly affects how we will support innovation in the region in the coming years.
Inspiration from Brno for the Ústí nad Labem Region
A valuable moment was the bilateral meeting with the strategic planning coordinator of the city of Brno, which is several steps ahead in building an innovation ecosystem. Sharing specific experiences on how to connect public administration, companies and academia into a functional whole was a very practical inspiration for us.
This year's URBIS confirmed that topics such as smart data, living labs or regional innovation ecosystems are no longer the prerogative of large cities. The knowledge that Simona, Marek, Zbyněk and Petr brought will directly enter the projects Smart Accelerator for the Ústí nad Labem Region IV., CESMOD, SMART Academy and other ICUK activities in the Ústí nad Labem Region.
