The town of Hagenow is getting smart! Since October, aconium GmbH has been supporting the medium-sized center in the Ludwigslust-Parchim district in developing a digital agenda. Henrik Nürnberger, aconium project manager at the Schwerin site, reported on the importance of municipal digitalisation strategies and initial experiences from the project at the “NØRD” – the state-wide digital congress in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
To date, most local authorities do not have a digitalisation strategy. This is confirmed by current figures from the joint municipal office for administrative management (Kommunale Gemeinschaftsstelle für Verwaltungsmanagement, KGSt) and the Public IT Competence Centre (Kompetenzzentrum Öffentliche IT, ÖFIT). Unsurprisingly, small municipalities in rural areas in particular rarely take a proactive approach to digital change – whether due to a lack of resources or the seemingly endless challenges associated with this future topic.
Little paper – lots of specifics!
At the “Smart City Pitch” in Wismar this week as part of “NØRD”, the first state-wide digitisation congress in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, aconium project manager Henrik Nürnberger emphasised that a strategy does not have to be a hundred-page paper: “It is crucial that municipalities first identify concrete measures and projects that can be implemented with few resources – such as the creation of online forms for simple administrative services and a citizen-friendly presentation of municipal services online.”
Defining small digital projects is therefore also the aim of the Digital Agenda strategy process in the town of Hagenow, which has been supported by the aconium regional office for Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania since October. The project and communication management of aconium GmbH includes the entire event management, the participation moderation and the editorial support of the agenda.
On the way to the digital city
“Municipalities are in a good position when mayors declare digitalisation to be a top priority. However, it is important that the administration involves a broad alliance of local players when it comes to digitalisation,” explains Henrik Nürnberger, using the example of the town of Hagenow. At the end of October, a kick-off meeting was held in Hagenow between various players from the municipal administration, city representatives, local entrepreneurs and representatives from municipal institutions, surrounding offices and the district. “Some of the approaches and ideas already collected here will be discussed and prioritised in the further strategy process and the most promising projects will be poured into a concrete time-measure plan by the beginning of 2020,” is the declared goal.
Other municipalities in West Mecklenburg are also picking up the pace when it comes to digitalisation, as the inspiring exchange at the “Smart City Pitch” at the NØRD showed: Mayor Lars Prahler presented digital projects from his town of Grevesmühlen and Julian Legert, Economic Development Manager of Wismar, gave an outlook on the planned innovation center in the Hanseatic city. The “Smart City Pitch” at the digital congress provided a good opportunity to explore promising ideas and possible synergies for Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. More information about the NØRD.