UTA Café | EU–Japan Webinar Series | Session 1

UTA Café | EU–Japan Webinar Series is a three-part online event connecting smart city stakeholders from Europe and Japan. Discover the latest trends in smart cities, AI, digital twins, climate action, and Horizon Europe while exploring opportunities for international collaboration, research, and innovation.

Speakers for the Session 1

Wednesday, July 22, 2026, 9:00-10:30 CEST | 16:00-17:30 JST 

In the first session, UTA leadership members, together with speakers from European cities and companies as well as Japanese companies and research institutions, will introduce UTA’s initiatives, the current state of European smart city practice, and opportunities for collaboration with Japan. 

Dr. Levent Gürgen

Urban Technology Alliance, President & Kentyou, CEO

Dr. Rodger Lea

Urban Technology Alliance, Technical Director 

Laurent Deslattes

Grenoble City, Smart City Project Manager

Gaetano Volpe

Latitudo 40, CEO 

Dr. Takuro Yonezawa

Nagoya University, Associate Professor

Dr. Masahiro Mochizuki 

Japan Research Institute for Social Systems, Principal Researcher

Agenda

Session 1

09:00–09:05 CEST | 16:00–16:05 JST 

Dr. Levent Gürgen 
Urban Technology Alliance, President & Kentyou, CEO

Opening Remarks & Introduction to UTA 
Welcome participants and introduce the UTA Café series. Brief introduction to the Urban Technology Alliance (UTA). 

09:05–09:15 CEST | 16:05–16:15 JST 

The UTA Ecosystem: From Innovation to Deployment 

Dr. Rodger Lea 
Technical Director, Urban Technology Alliance 

The UTA Ecosystem: From Innovation to Deployment 
UTA’s vision, mission and international ecosystem, highlighting the importance of collaboration between cities, academia and industry in addressing urban challenges. 

09:15–09:25 CEST | 16:15–16:25 JST 

Laurent Deslattes 
Smart City Project Manager, Grenoble Alpes Métropole 

Urban Heat Islands (UHI): Emerging Challenge in Grenoble 
Emerging global environmental challenge: Urban Heat Islands, why it became a priority for Grenoble. 

09:25–09:35 CEST | 16:25–16:35 JST 

Dr. Levent Gürgen 
Urban Technology Alliance, President & Kentyou, CEO

UTA Solution to the UHI Challenge: Digital Twin for Evidence-Based Decision Making 
UTA members’ jointly built solution for the Grenoble challenge: a digital twin for the measurement, analysis, understanding, monitoring and visualisation of the impact of urban planning and construction projects on the Urban Heat Island phenomenon.  

09:35–09:45 CEST | 16:35–16:45 JST 

Mr. Gaetano Volpe 
CEO, Latitudo 40 

Satellite Imagery and Earth Observation for Climate Challenges 
How Earth Observation and satellite imagery can support urban climate analysis, environmental monitoring and Urban Heat Island assessment, providing cities with valuable data for climate adaptation and urban planning. 

09:45–10:00 CEST | 16:45–17:00 JST 

Dr. Takuro Yonezawa 
Associate Professor, Nagoya University 

Smart Cities for Serendipitous Social Connections
Smart cities should not only improve efficiency and convenience but also create opportunities for unexpected and meaningful social connections. This talk introduces our research on using urban AI technologies to connect people with places, activities, and communities that they may not otherwise encounter. Through these serendipitous connections, we aim to address social isolation and support more inclusive and human-centered cities.

10:00–10:15 CEST | 17:00–17:15 JST 

Dr. Masahiro Mochizuki 
Principal Researcher, Japan Research Institute for Social Systems

Data-Driven Urban Mobility
Understanding how people and traffic move is difficult in cities without dense observation networks.
JRISS studies low-cost ways to measure urban mobility — Wi-Fi packet sensors, CCTV, and vehicle probes — and how to use the resulting data for transport planning.
Drawing on cases in Japan and abroad, including the 2024 Noto Peninsula earthquake, the talk also discusses where collaboration in UTA could go.

10:15–10:30 CEST | 17:15–17:30 JST 

Discussion, Audience Q&A and Closing Remarks