Visitors look at a Transformers robot cosplayer during Smart Life Week 2025, which took place at Coex in southern Seoul from Sept. 30 to Oct. 2, 2025.SEOUL METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT
In Seoul, generative AI could soon handle public inquiries in the civic quarter of Gwanghwamun, while self-driving taxis could be available around the clock at Seoul Station, the capital’s main transit hub.
This is just the tip of the iceberg of what the Seoul Metropolitan Government is envisioning for an AI-powered future.
The city government will underpin how advances in AI could shape Seoul and the lives of Seoulites in its annual Smart Life Week (SLW) 2026 event, set to take place at Coex in Gangnam District, southern Seoul, from Tuesday to Thursday.
SLW 2026 will showcase a myriad of technologies, services and urban policies related to AI, robotics, mobility and smart health care, through exhibitions, conferences and interactive activities.
This year, SLW 2026 is run under the slogan “Where AI Meets Life, Cities Become Better,” with participants from more than 500 cities and companies.
While last year’s event focused on proposing how AI could improve people’s daily lives in the future, this edition is centered on allowing visitors to experience firsthand what living in an AI-powered city looks like.
Even the scale of the event space has increased by 46 percent compared with last year’s. While there were 130 cities and 330 companies that participated last year, along with 60,605 visitors, this year the event expects to welcome over 70,000 visitors.
Another new highlight for SLW 2026 is the expansion of the Seoul AI Robot Show, a hands-on program that was introduced last year and featured wearable robot competitions, quadruped robot races, AI-powered Go-playing robots and humanoid robot sports. This year, the event will shed light on how such robots can be used in industrial settings and disaster response, with programs including a robot fashion show, humanoid DJing, robot K-pop dancing and a traditional folk performance.
Visitors take part in an urban air mobility simulator during Smart Life Week 2025, which took place at Coex in southern Seoul from Sept. 30 to Oct. 2, 2025.SEOUL METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT
At the opening ceremony on Tuesday, Marc Raibert, founder and chairman of Boston Dynamics, will give a keynote speech on the future of physical AI and robotics. Raibert will discuss the latest advances in robotics and the challenges of integrating robots into everyday life. He will also provide insight into the development of next-generation robots and their potential benefits in terms of increased productivity and safety, as well as the changes required for humans and robots to coexist.
Visitors look at a robotic dog during Smart Life Week 2025, which took place at Coex in southern Seoul from Sept. 30 to Oct. 2, 2025.SEOUL METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT
From humanoid robots to AI pianos
At SLW 2026, visitors can explore how eight major locations across Seoul are being reimagined and tailored around the ways AI can be used practically in the future.
The locations — Sejong-daero, Yangjae and Suseo, Dongdaemun Design Plaza, Bukchon Hanok Village, Seoul Station, Seoul Metropolitan Library, the Han River and Gwanghwamun — are presented as distinct zones inside the SLW Showroom main exhibition.
For example, a Boston Dynamics’ Atlas mock-up and IL Bot H2 are set to be on display at the Yangjae and Suseo zone, showing how such humanoid robots would adapt in the real world.
CreativeMind’s AI piano, Infinia, will be on display at the Bukchon Hanok Village zone, which is capable of analyzing the user’s facial expressions and emotions and generating personalized music. Visitors will be able to try Infinia out for themselves.
The Seoul Station zone offers a glimpse of future mobility through Level 4 autonomous driving technology —which allows vehicles to operate without a driver on board — with self-driving taxis, a full-scale urban air mobility aircraft, a flight simulator and a model vertiport, giving visitors a sense of how they may someday actually be available for use at the station.
The Han River zone will emphasize the use of AI for administrative tasks — like crowd-management systems, water-quality monitoring technology, intelligent CCTV systems and autonomous drones. A demonstration showing how Google Cloud’s generative AI and Gemini can be used to summarize large volumes of documents and answer questions about civil petitions will be arranged at the Gwanghwamun zone.
This year’s event also introduces new pavilions dedicated to Tokyo and Beijing. As major cities in Asia, the two pavilions showcase each capital's technologies and policies, with the aim of making SLW a platform for cities across the continent to exchange ideas and share experiences.
Visitors look around the exhibition halls at Smart Life Week 2025, which took place at Coex in Gangnam District, southern Seoul, from Sept. 30 to Oct. 2, 2025.SEOUL METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT
Urban governance and conferences
SLW 2026’s exhibitions will show visitors how AI will actually be used in daily life. Its conferences, on the other hand, will explore how AI could shape urban governance and serve as a platform for municipal governments from around the world to exchange ideas and experiences.
This year, the event comprises 18 forums and 300 speakers, an increase from last year’s 16 forums and 227 speakers.
The forums will explore themes related to the city government’s AI policies, city innovation, robots and physical AI, changes to citizen life and urban spatial data. Collectively, they aim to discuss how AI can be applied safely and effectively to improve the lives of residents and the city itself.
Visitors try out an omnidirectional treadmill during Smart Life Week 2025, which took place at Coex in southern Seoul from Sept. 30 to Oct. 2, 2025.SEOUL METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT
For example, the Global Chief Digital Officers Forum, running from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Wednesday, will bring together digital policy officials from cities such as Beijing; Montreal; Tartu, Estonia; and Rio de Janeiro to share insights regarding AI-powered administration and urban innovation.
SLW’s flagship session, Mayors Forum, takes place from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday under the theme “AI, Opening the City’s Next Chapter.”
Mayors and city officials from major metropolises including Granada, Spain; Naples, Italy; Tokyo; and Manila will take part in the forum to discuss their own vision for urban administration in the AI era and their experiences with smart city policies.
The Smart Life Conference, opening under the theme “Transforming Everyday Life, Building the Future with AI” from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Wednesday, will feature experts from overseas research institutions, including MIT, the University of Cambridge and Fraunhofer IESE. Topics are set to include robot-friendly cities, digital twins, trust infrastructure and spatial intelligence.
SLW 2026 also aims to connect technology companies with potential overseas partners and investors.
The event will expand its “Present for Your City” program, which gives companies the opportunity to showcase their technologies directly to representatives from overseas cities, while launching a new investor-relations meetup to help Korean companies enter overseas markets and attract foreign investment.
Visitors try out an industrial robotic arm during Smart Life Week 2025, which took place at Coex in southern Seoul from Sept. 30 to Oct. 2, 2025.SEOUL METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT
Awarding smart cities
SLW 2026 also recognizes outstanding local governments, smart tech solution providers, public organizations and individuals from around the world who have achieved impressive feats in technological innovation, social inclusion and sustainability through the Seoul Smart City Prize.
The ceremony will be held on Tuesday.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government has received 210 submissions from 133 cities around the world, including Paris, Taipei, Tokyo, Dubai, Buenos Aires, Madrid and Manila. Twenty-one will be given awards.
Last year, Dubai; Hong Kong; Pohang, North Gyeongsang; Prague; and Sharjah, United Arab Emirates were among the recipients.
For example, the “AI-powered Food Safety Ecosystem,” a six-year project launched by the Dubai Municipality, was acknowledged for modernizing Dubai’s food safety management systems with real-time data, generative AI tools and user-friendly interfaces. Prague was praised for its “Innovation Management” citywide innovative solutions service.
“The Seoul Smart City Prize searches for policies dedicated to technology and people who have changed the lives of the citizens,” said Chung Young-jun, head of the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s Digital City Bureau.
“We look forward to discovering a wide range of people-centric smart city solutions that have brought innovative and tangible changes in cities from all over the world.”
