WCI Annual International Conference
For over a decade the WCI Annual International Conference has been a world summit focused mainly on Knowledge Cities and was named KCWS. Our current approach reaches beyond cities to regions and wider system change . This conference brings not only profile and prestige to the hosts but enables active engagement with leading global thinkers and practitioners across all aspects of knowledge-based development.
The annual summit aims to contribute to these discussions as experienced in the host city’s context. Academics, professional practitioners, civil servants and policy makers from around the world engage in discussions bringing insight from a wide range of disciplines and sharingtheir knowledge and experiences with delegates.
La Rambla, Barcelona. Photo by Ralf Roletschek
The summit also provides opportunities for practical learning in workshops and small group sessions in innovative formats. Summits have been held successfully across the globe for the past 16 years and are shown in the map below.
Global locations of past and upcoming
Knowledge City World Summits
Global locations of past and upcoming Knowledge City World Summits (KCWS)
For elegible candidatures: kcws@worldcaptalinstitute.org
World Capital Institute
Benefits of being a hosting city
Hosting such a summit not only enables the city to showcase its approach to building a successful knowledge city and society, butit promotes the surrounding locality as aplace which: can attract investment and talent, displays its partnerships in actionand builds its links with like-minded, aspirational cities from around the world.
Previous conferences have brought im-mediate benefits to their local hosts and attendees by highlighting, to a wider local audience, the trends emerging elsewhere in the world. Attendance by global leading thinkers can stimulate and challenge local partners and players to think differently and come together to design new strategies. Hosting the WCI Annual International Conference offers an outstanding opportunity for formal and informal networking across relevant people and partners in the locality and make new connections.
Being globally recognized, the summit and the awards offer a unique promotional opportunity for the city. In addition to the immediate benefits, hosting cities enter in a number of wider connected networks and activities through the summit:
- The CISC (Comunidad Iberoamericana de Sistemas de Conocimiento) network has been integrated as a regional branch ofthe WCI.
- The Australia-Brazil Smart City Research and Practice Network held its forum as part of the KCWS in Caxias do Sul (Brazil) in 2021.
- Additionally, spin-off activities such as Master courses and topic focused conferences have been under taken jointly by WCI and KCWS host as follow-up activities.
Picture by Amy Bracks
WCI Annual International Confererence Editions
The Knowledge Cities World Summit
2024
WCI Annual International Conference
🇮🇹 Ragusa, Italia
2023
16th KCWS
🇩🇪 Lake Constance | Lindau, Inselhalle
2022
15th KCWS
🇵🇷 Puerto Rico
2021
14th KCWS
Caxias do Sul, Brazil
2020
13th KCWS
Tijuana, Mexico
2019
12th KCWS
Florianopolis, Sta. Catarina, Brazil
2018
11th KCWS
Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
2017
10th KCWS
Arequipa, Peru
2016
9th KCWS
Vienna, Austria
2015
8th KCWS
Daegu, South Korea
2014
7th KCWS
Tallinn, Estonia
2013
6th KCWS
Istanbul, Turkey
2012
5th KCWS
Matera, Italy
2011
4th KCWS
B. Gonçalves, Brazil
2010
3rd KCWS
Melbourne, Australia
2009
3rd KCWS
Shenzhen, China
2008
2nd KCWS
Virtual Premiere
2007