The municipalities, cities and districts of Baden-Württemberg have a responsibility to drive forward the mobility transition and face up to the technical challenges of Mobility 4.0. What substantial added value does digitalisation create for the mobility of municipalities? How can municipalities meet the challenges of future-oriented forms of mobility innovatively and successfully? What role do data platforms and architecture play in this, and what funding opportunities are there for local authorities?
Addressing these complex problems requires cross-sector ideas and cooperation between local authorities and forward-looking companies in the mobility industry. Modern digital technologies can not only be used to create innovative data architectures, but also enable demand-oriented mobility services and targeted traffic management. The provision of traffic data is therefore an essential component of the mobility turnaround for Baden-Württemberg. This challenge was addressed at the 10th Match Making event on July 25, which was held as part of the InKoMo 4.0 project.
It welcomed the InKoMo 4.0 office together with the Association of Cities of Baden-Württemberg to the event on the topic of “Data platforms and architecture”. Gudrun Heute-Bluhm, Managing Director of the Baden-Württemberg Association of Cities and Towns, took stock after ten matchmaking sessions: “InKoMo 4.0 has proven to be a versatile project. While the initial focus was on promoting start-ups in the mobility sector, it is now clear that we need to bring together municipal needs and offers from the private sector. We must maintain this marketplace in the future. For the municipalities, we need special assistance with procurement and data protection as well as a targeted exchange of experience.”
Dr. Susanne Nusser, Deputy Managing Director of the Association of Cities and Towns, pointed out the special significance of the 10th event: “The anniversary event took place in the Hospitalhof, just like the founding event. Today we can see how far the project has come in the past four years and what a special role the networking of municipalities and business plays.”
Minister Winfried Hermann MdL (Ministry of Transport Baden-Württemberg) and Ministerial Director Stefan Krebs (CIO/CDO of the state of Baden-Württemberg) provided important impetus for the further course of the mobility transition on the topics of digitalisation and digital mobility in Baden-Württemberg. “Digitalisation opens up numerous opportunities to strengthen climate-friendly mobility behaviour and lower-emission transport systems. This applies to road traffic as well as public transport. Public transport can be made much more attractive for passengers by using traffic data. As a state, we have initiated numerous digital mobility projects in recent years. Good cooperation with the local authorities is crucial for success,” said Transport Minister Winfried Hermann.
In addition to the presentation of solutions from innovative companies from Baden-Württemberg, such as Bosch, Mercedes-Benz, Management- and IT-Consulting GmbH and Mobility Solutions GmbH, there was also the opportunity to exchange ideas and establish innovation partnerships between companies and municipal representatives. Because, according to Interior Minister Thomas Strobl, “the digital municipality of the future is teamwork. For it to succeed, municipalities, business and politics must pull together. With InKoMo 4.0, we are promoting the development of new digital mobility services in close partnership between municipalities and the mobility industry, thus bringing digitalisation to the streets. We are investing heavily so that the solutions can be implemented by other cities and municipalities. Since 2020, we have funded five outstanding digital mobility solutions with a total of around 1.7 million euros. With their innovative strength, our cities and municipalities, together with the creative companies in our state, are helping to make Baden-Württemberg the leading digital region in Europe.”
Another highlight of the event was the film premiere of selected projects that were funded as part of InKoMo 4.0. The InKoMo 4.0 project and its associated office were launched as part of the strategy dialog for the automotive industry. The aim of InKoMo 4.0 and the 10th Match Making event was and is to make existing approaches and projects in the mobility industry visible, to bring together concrete solutions with municipal needs and to disseminate these widely.
The event gives companies the opportunity to present themselves and their portfolio and to enter into a dedicated exchange with interested municipal representatives and potential partners.
