Melbourne:  The Cities & Regions 4.0 Summit will host its third edition in Melbourne from 12-14 March under the theme Smart Cities – Beyond the Hype.

The event will gather over 200 thinkers and practitioners from fields that range from technology and smart governance to sharing economy and mobility.

Among the top speakers for the 2019 edition are Tim Moonen, Professor at The Business of Cities UK who manages the bi-annual review of over 200 global city benchmarks and indexes. Tim works with partners such as OECS, Brookings, and UK Future Cities Catapult, and with leadership teams in world cities such as London, Moscow and Oslo. Other speakers include the CEO of Future Cities Catapult UK, Nicola Yates, Stephen Yarwood, the former Lord Mayor of City of Adelaide and now a siting member on Airbnb’s Global Mayoral Board and Professor Kes McCormick, Program Director from Sharing Cities Sweden.

This edition's theme aims to underline the ultimate and common goal of making cities better places to live in - and the keynote speakers supported by over 30 local Australian smart city leaders exemplify this purpose.

There are 12 project updates covered within the programme delivered by large Australian cities as well as regional councils including City of Sydney, City of Melbourne, City of Greater Geelong, City of Darwin, City of Wagga Wagga, Bathurst and Cairns regional councils and more.

These look at how digital technologies are being used to solve urban challenges such as transport congestion, social equity, public safety, environmental sustainability and economic development.

In addition to the inspiring presentations, the event features deep dive workshops and interactive roundtables that enable attendees to work in collaborative teams to co-create solutions to some of the biggest challenges faced by cities & regions that want to become “smart” including technology selection and investment, attracting talent, AI, funding projects and procurement.

National benchmark In 2019 the summit program has been structured along 5 themes, Digital Transformation, Community Engagement, Urban Operations, Urban Infrastructure and Smart Mobility; and will cover such topics as Data Driven Cities, Governance & Finance, 5G and the future of Connectivity, Resilient Cities, Sharing and Collaborative Economy and more.

You can view the full programme and registration details at the event website by visiting http://www.cities4pointzero.com.au/