Summit goes to Conce! The City Science Network will arrive to Biobío next year

It was an option that had alreade been anticipated in various city science labs around the world, including MIT. However, the decision was communicated to the entire network of researchers during the tenth edition of this meeting, which is being held this year in Andorra.

Kent Larson, director of the City Science group at the MIT Media Lab, confirmed Gran Concepción as the epicenter of innovation, technology and city for the next year.

City Lab Biobío, based in Concepción, was selected among proposals from renowned labs such as those in Guipúzcoa (Spain) and Hamburg (Germany), thanks to a solid proposal submitted earlier this year. The meeting will be held during the first weeks of October 2025, adding to the list of international events that will take place in Gran Concepción.

The meeting will be held during the first weeks of October 2025, adding to the list of international events that will take place in Gran Concepción. Regional Governor Rodrigo Díaz, who was in Boston last week, accompanying the City Lab Biobío delegation at the Innovation Day of Chile Mass, has highlighted on several occasions the possibility of improving the quality of life of people through strengthening urban planning, incorporating the science and technology of this lab into decision-making. Therefore, the regional authority was the one who led the official announcement made from the front of City Lab Biobío, in the city of Concepción.

“These global instances do not occur in Chile, much less in a regional capital. nd to be understood, this instance is like the world championship of city labs that were thought of at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). For this reason, it is a deep source of pride for the people of the region.” Having this Summit in Biobío gives all the people of Biobío a great sense of pride”.

“We presented a solid proposal to the principal investigators at MIT. We invited them to organize this meeting in Gran Concepción, with the aim of opening cities to research, exploring their neighborhoods together, and meeting those who inhabit them. We want this Summit to go beyond a conference room, using Gran Concepción as a great stage for city science.”

“We are proud to be the host of the SUMMIT, as this is an instance that encompasses a conglomerate of all the labs that make up this network of the City Science Network. Therefore, it is a great meeting, which will allow us to soak up all the innovation and technology developed in other labs.” Therefore, it is a great meeting, which will allow us to soak up all the innovation and technology developed in other labs.”

The meeting, considered one of the global milestones in city science, technology, and urbanism, will mean that for a week Gran Concepción will be the stage where researchers and scientists will explore different solutions to the main challenges facing the world’s major cities.
From City Lab Biobío, it is expected to mark a turning point regarding national regional academic events, by bringing researchers in city science who are at the forefront of technologies for mobility, artificial intelligence, data science, interactive simulation platforms, and the urbanism of the future.