Smart Cities & Regions

Municipalities must become smart! aconium GmbH accompanies them on this path from the very beginning. We take a strategic, multidisciplinary and flexible approach to this. We rely on the networking of our many experts from a wide range of specialist areas to provide municipalities with holistic support in their development towards smart cities. Over the course of many successful projects, we have been able to build up expertise in strategy development, project management, municipal data use, participation, communication and knowledge transfer, which we incorporate into our development concepts.

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Municipal data use is a key prerequisite for achieving added value for public and private stakeholders in the context of smart cities and regions.

Municipalities of all sizes benefit from a functional data infrastructure. However, smart, data-based solutions are becoming increasingly relevant for rural areas in particular – for example, when demand-based and agile planning of public transport frequencies is required due to sparse population or when utilities optimize their route planning depending on the fill level of waste garbage cans, thus saving scarce time and personnel resources.

As a neutral partner, we support local authorities step by step – from an initial assessment to the implementation and long-term integration of their solutions into administrative practice. In doing so, we contribute many years of expertise in consulting and development as well as a comprehensive network of partners.

“TwinBy” is the lighthouse project of the data-driven municipality

With the TwinBy project, the Bavarian State Ministry for Digital Affairs is supporting 18 municipal funding projects in the development of individual digital twins based on specific use cases. The 18 funding projects are spread across all Bavarian regions and consist of four joint projects and 14 individual projects.

The aim of the project is to support Bavarian municipalities in setting up individual digital twins based on specific use cases and to promote their further development by providing expertise within the municipalities

We help you to gain an overview of your status quo and possible development potential, make decisions about the direction to take and consistently integrate innovative solutions into your administrative work. Together, we will work out how you can integrate municipal data usage into your municipal planning in order to achieve your long-term digitalization goals more efficiently.

One of the core competencies of aconium GmbH is the creation of strategies for digitalization and the development of smart cities/regions. The strategies offer the opportunity to create a common understanding in a participatory process and to initiate a resilient, multidisciplinary network for the digital transformation. They serve as an orientation framework for the future-oriented digital development of a region or municipality.

When developing a digitalization strategy, we focus on four dimensions that are closely interlinked and should be understood in relation to each other:

• Intelligent infrastructures,
• Intelligent services,
• Intelligent user groups,
• Intelligent use of data.

In an integrated process, we work together with the municipalities to draw up recommendations for action and guidelines.

aconium GmbH has many years of experience in project management. Our services include the creation and maintenance of time, task and work plans, the continuous monitoring of project progress, communication with the client and other stakeholders involved in the project, the organization of project meetings such as regular jour fixes and working group meetings and their documentation as well as the moderation between different stakeholders and, if necessary, conflict management.

Smart regions thrive on participation and co-design. We therefore always pursue an integrated approach that focuses on transparency and sees the involvement and education of all relevant stakeholders as an important building block. This includes various participation formats with the aim of involving all stakeholders in the project process. The aim is to obtain different perspectives, requirements and interests in various formats.

In order to reach as many population groups as possible, the following requirements should be met:

• Designing user-friendly solutions,
• Strengthening digital skills,
• Establishment of feedback options for tools and platforms.

Even in a smart region, digital participation tools should not completely replace analog methods. Rather, it is important to use different formats that complement each other and incorporate digital platforms and media in a supportive way. With the help of our partners, we will find the right approach for you to round off your project in the best possible way.

Creating digital skills and increasing society’s acceptance of digitalization are key pillars of a smart region. This can be achieved through targeted knowledge transfer and communication. To this end, we draw on a range of knowledge and skills that support municipalities in establishing smart region know-how and strengthening communication. To this end, we create a communication plan tailored to your project with effective publicity measures such as marketing campaigns and events. Our training concepts and e-learning offer you an ideal basis for the dissemination of Smart Region-relevant topics and for the creation of digital skills in your region. You are welcome to take a look at our e-learning offers here.