Like many rural regions in Germany, the district of Lippe is also working to take advantage of the opportunities offered by digitalization. The district in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia sees the transformation of society, the economy, administration and science brought about by digitalization as an opportunity for greater prosperity and quality of life.
District Administrator Axel Lehmann summarizes the district’s plans: “By 2025, the district of Lippe will be a leader among rural regions in terms of digitalization and dynamic economic development. The Lippe district council adopted this core objective back in 2017 as part of the Lippe 2025 future concept in order to proactively shape structural change and secure Lippe’s future viability.” Stefan Ostrau, who is responsible for Lippe’s key objectives, sees the expansion of high-speed internet, the implementation of digital administration and the development of a digitalization and open data strategy as necessary steps in this direction. The various digitalization projects in the district show that the region is already working on implementing its core objective.
Opportunities through a high-performance broadband network
Interdisciplinary collaboration and cooperation between municipalities promote digitalization in the district of Lippe and strengthen the entire region. With the development of “smart” economic systems from regional partners, the district has the opportunity to establish itself as a facilitator of digital change.
In order to meet the needs of the “village of tomorrow” and promote civic engagement, high-performance network connections are indispensable, as Ostrau emphasizes: “The expansion of digital services and digital model regions will not be possible in the long term without a high-performance broadband network”. For District Administrator Lehmann, the potential of fast and stable internet connections is also obvious: “In addition to digital administrative services, this can also significantly boost the opportunities for rural areas.” The creation of an efficient digital infrastructure is therefore a top priority for the district of Lippe. The district sees the recipe for success in a cooperative approach.
Joint digitization strategies of towns and municipalities in rural areas contribute to the attractiveness of the region as a place to live and do business. Since 2010, the district of Lippe has been coordinating the district-wide broadband expansion together with the city of Detmold and the IHK Lippe zu Detmold. If local telecommunications companies are not expanding on their own and the existing Internet speed is below 30 Mbit/s, districts, towns and municipalities can apply for funding from the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure’s (BMVI) federal broadband funding program if the relevant conditions are met.
With the help of the federal broadband funding program, the district wants to achieve nationwide NGA broadband coverage. It is to receive federal funding of more than 11.4 million euros for this. The state of North Rhine-Westphalia is contributing almost 9.5 million euros, while the district is providing two million euros of its own funds. The funding will be used to finance 497 kilometers of civil engineering work and the laying of 497 kilometers of empty conduits.
Once the infrastructure project is complete, over 18,000 households, 948 companies and 48 institutional users, including 14 schools, 17 other educational institutions, a hospital and 13 care facilities, will be provided with bandwidths of at least 50 Mbit/s. The outlying areas in the predominantly rural district in particular should benefit from the broadband expansion with the funding program.
Digitization projects in the Lippe district strengthen the entire region
The Ostwestfalen-Lippe (OWL) region, which includes the district of Lippe, has established the “it’s owl” (intelligent technical systems OWL) technology network, which was recognized as a cluster of excellence by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) in 2012. By 2017, 200 companies and research institutions had worked on 47 research and development projects in the cluster. This is developing new business models and securing jobs in the region. The state government of North Rhine-Westphalia sees the technology network in OWL as a “role model for strengthening regional innovative power”, says Jürgen Gausemeier from the Heinz Nixdorf Institute in Paderborn.
The state of NRW is funding the cluster with a total of 53 million euros over the next five years. The aim is to develop 30 new concepts for technology transfer, which will also involve small and medium-sized companies. In addition to participating in “it’s owl”, digitization strategies are being developed in the district of Lippe, both in individual cities and for several municipalities. The city of Lemgo, for example, is developing a digitalization strategy in collaboration with the Fraunhofer Institute IOSB-INA with a focus on the smart city sector. For Lemgo Digital, the city and institute are working together with citizens, retailers, companies and local authorities.
At the kick-off event, salespeople, city marketing staff and citizens gathered initial ideas, which were then discussed by a panel of experts on technological solutions. Topics included mobility, the environment and bricks-and-mortar retail. In addition, several impulse projects for Lemgo Digital have already been launched. For example, sensors and apps are helping people to find a parking space in the city center and better networking of city buses is helping to coordinate public transport services more effectively. Other medium-sized towns are also set to benefit from the three-year Lemgo Digital project in the future. A project that several municipalities are already using was developed by the Minden-Ravensberg/Lippe Municipal Computing Center (krz) and its association municipalities. Their digitalization strategy comprises over 170 recommendations for action.
The strategy for the municipalities was coordinated by the e-government working group. Together with the Institute for Administrative Management, SME Research and Future Planning (IVM²), the working group determined the current digital status in eight model municipalities. To this end, data, statuses and plans for e-government in the municipalities were evaluated. With the help of the e-government strategy, recommendations could be made for the reference municipalities, for example in terms of staffing or process optimization. “The digitalization of local authorities is primarily an issue for the entire administrative organization and cannot be viewed solely from an IT perspective,” commented Lars Hoppmann, Deputy Managing Director of krz, on the project’s final report. He sees the overarching management of activities as a major advantage. For the district of Lippe, open data and open government are key building blocks for regional innovation. These topics are to be further strengthened through “hackathons”, among other things.
Cover photo: Logo for the Lippe 2025 Future Concept
Photo credit: Kreis Lippe
Photo below: The Hermann monument near Detmold.
Photo credit: Falko Sieker / Kreis Lippe