Sports and Technology: Key Pillars for Building Smart and Sustainable Cities in Casablanca Smart City
The second day of the ninth edition of the Casablanca Smart City event, held on Thursday, May 16, 2025, witnessed a significant momentum in discussions centered around the Sportech theme, one of the three strategic pillars for this version, themed “Smart Cities for the Next Generation: Innovation for a Sustainable and Inclusive Urban Future – Smart NexGenCities.”
The sessions began with fruitful dialogues among experts and innovators from both the public and private sectors, focusing on the role of technology in enhancing sports infrastructure and improving citizen experiences. The Moroccan startup Bluor, represented by Mohamed Amin Hajji, introduced the revolutionary “ZARC” system, a 100% national artificial intelligence engine capable of transforming traditional surveillance cameras into smart tools for facial recognition, sentiment analysis, crowd monitoring, motion tracking, and enhancing stadium management through digital twins.
The presentation did not solely cover technical aspects but also highlighted the sovereign positioning of the project supported by Google, trained using advanced processors such as the H100, thereby boosting Morocco’s standing in the realm of sports artificial intelligence.
In another intervention, Professor Abdel Rahim Mahareb, an economic expert and academic at ENCG Casablanca, emphasized the impact of digitization in transforming stadiums into integrated interactive spaces that allow fans to purchase tickets and reserve parking electronically, while also interacting with events from their seats, in addition to enhancing communication among technical, sports, and security personnel, reflecting a model of participatory governance.
Discussions also illuminated the contributions of artificial intelligence in bolstering security by preventing the entry of banned individuals, crowd tracking, and analyzing videos as legal evidence, to provide a safe sporting environment that encourages the attendance of families, women, and youth.
The interventions did not overlook environmental aspects, showcasing smart resource management techniques such as sensors that regulate lawn irrigation and manage lighting and air conditioning as needed, thereby contributing to energy consumption reduction and enhancing preventive maintenance within stadiums.
At the end of the day, speakers stressed the importance of building stadiums with community involvement, considering that technology alone is not sufficient without the active engagement of all stakeholders to ensure the success of digital transformation.
The second day of Casablanca Smart City clearly illustrates that sports and technology together form the cornerstone for building smart, safe, and inclusive cities, where smart stadiums are a launchpad for achieving the well-being of Moroccan citizens in a smart, green, and integrated urban space.
