Heidelberg in the final round of digital city competition
The German cities of Heidelberg, Darmstadt, Kaiserslautern, Paderborn and Wolfsburg are all in the final round of the digital city competition organised by the German Association of Cities and Towns (DStGB) and BITKOM.
The winning city will be announced at the National Digital Summit in June 2017. The first applications are scheduled for operation in 2018. The project partners from the digital industry will equip the winning city with the latest digital infrastructures and solutions to address challenges such as traffic congestion, pollution, energy savings or bottlenecks in healthcare.
'Our goal is an establishment of a digital model city, which can serve as a model for other local authorities in Germany and abroad' says BITKOM CEO Bernhard Rohleder.
Simon Payne, former Director of the Environment at Cambridge City Council, now running his own business, Lambsquay Consulting, has been advising the Mayor of Heidelberg on smart city solutions. Speaking at our Future Cities Forum, IET, London in March, he described how important it is to preserve the character of local communities while adopting smart technology innovation. Read more about his work at www.lambsquayofcambridge.com