Urban Tech Summit 2025 - Adaptive Intelligence: Activating Urban AI

Cornell Tech’s Urban Tech Summit returns on November 11-12, 2025, focusing on the theme of “Adaptive Intelligence: Activating Urban AI.” Organized by the Urban Tech Hub at Cornell Tech’s Jacobs Institute, this year’s Summit will explore quick wins and ways cities can begin to assess, test, and amplify innovations in artificial intelligence for rapid impact.

The 2025 Summit is set against a backdrop of growing global uncertainty—from governance and markets to climate risks, migration, and rapid technological change. These disruptions are already reshaping the landscape for innovation in urban tech. The Summit will offer practical insights and examples of how companies, governments, and communities can continue to drive innovation amid these headwinds—and how urban tech can help cities do more with less as they prepare for future shocks.

Tickets:

• 1-Day Ticket (Nov. 11): $499
• 1-Day Ticket (Nov. 12): $499
• 2-Day Ticket (Nov. 11 + 12): $749
• 2-Day VIP Ticket (Nov. 11 + 12): $1,000

What to expect at the 2025 Urban Tech Summit:

The 2025 Urban Tech Summit focuses on four Grand Challenges related to urban climate adaptation—build, boost, move, and power. These are the core areas cities must act on to prepare for the hazards ahead. Yet, each challenge also offers an opportunity for transformation, delivering co-benefits that reduce risk and improve everyday life.

Day 1: BUILD + POWER

AI-Accelerated Construction: Building Climate-Ready Cities

Cities face an urgent timeline to build and retrofit infrastructure for climate resilience. As construction costs rise and project timelines lengthen, the window for adapting our cities is closing. This Grand Challenge explores how AI can dramatically accelerate planning, design, permitting, and construction processes to prepare cities to adapt to a changing climate.

AI + Grid Resilience: Powering Climate-Ready Cities

Grid decentralization is good for decarbonization—making it easier to integrate renewable, distributed energy resources. But, it's even more effective in boosting resilience, allowing microgrids to operate independently when regional systems fail. This Grand Challenge asks how the AI boom’s growing demand for electricity could undermine current energy resilience plans, and how we might harness AI itself to shock them back to life.

Day 2: BOOST + MOVE

AI for Community Mobilization: Advancing Inclusive Adaptation

Urban climate adaptation is everyone’s work—government and industry can’t do it alone. This Grand Challenge takes a deep dive into harnessing AI for engagement. How do we deepen the adaptive capacity of communities by connecting them to the right knowledge, networks, and tools? We’ll explore how AI can be used to reach the most vulnerable and isolated, demonstrate the benefits of adaptation projects in affected communities, and map out the tools and platforms that could power future resilience hubs.

AI-Powered Infrastructure: Transforming Urban Mobility Networks

Climate change is disrupting how cities move—weakening the systems that connect people, goods, and information. As traditional infrastructure faces growing stress, AI presents powerful tools to redesign and fortify urban mobility networks for long-term sustainability. This Grand Challenge investigates AI applications that orchestrate and optimize more distributed, dynamic, and responsive networks and services.

More details will be revealed as the Summit approaches. For more information and to sign up for our newsletter, visit our website: www.urbantechsummit.com