The Ministry of Housing, Urban Development and Building (BMWSB) and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) have launched a new event format to support cities and municipalities on their way to becoming a smart city or smart region. Twice a year, the ministries will now take turns inviting employees from the state ministries responsible for digitalization to an exchange round.
In this new round of talks, participants will have the opportunity to find out about current plans and projects for smart cities and regions. Furthermore, the countries can network more easily for cooperation projects and thus exploit synergies.
The results of the meetings are incorporated into the Smart City step-by-step plan process. An advisory board and a working group with representatives from business, science, municipalities, federal states and the federal government are currently developing a draft for the step-by-step plan. To this end, overarching issues are being clarified jointly by the federal and state governments so that local authorities can make use of solutions from other local authorities in a resource-saving and targeted manner. The aim is, for example, to open up a marketplace for successful solutions. There are legal challenges and technical and institutional requirements to consider. There are also issues relating to public procurement law. The advisory board supports and develops recommendations for action and proposals for their implementation.
At the first meeting of the new format of the federal and state governments on February 16, the smart city step-by-step plan process was presented and the participants reported on their respective projects. These included open source solutions, digital marketplaces and the use of interfaces to projects relating to the Online Access Act (OZG). The discussions made it clear that both the federal and state governments are interested in scaling up the pilot projects and ensuring their continued use. Overall, the representatives were pleased with the new opportunity for exchange and welcome the productive cooperation.