FAQ Smart City

What is a Smart City?

A “Smart City” connects new technologies and modern information and communication techniques from the energy, mobility, urban planning, local government and communications sectors with a view to improving the quality of life for residents. This also benefits urban sustainability, since smart systems result in coordinated traffic flows, for example, and lighting is only used as required. The concept of a Smart City also includes the digitalization of public administration. Services which previously required attendance in person can now be dealt with online.

Why is it good to be a Smart City?

On the one hand, to make life more enjoyable for the local people. On the other hand, digital services can help resolve many of the future challenges we face. According to a study conducted by the United Nations, for example, the planet will be home to almost ten billion people by 2050, with two thirds of them living in megacities. This will give rise to many problems, including lack of space, air pollution, traffic jams, and shortages in the supply of water and electricity. For this reason, infrastructures of the future will have to be both digital and smart.

What is Heidelberg’s approach to the digital future?

Heidelberg’s approach is built on three pillars:

1. Providing a digital infrastructure

The city has to ensure that every street is supplied with electricty, gas and water. This is the duty of local authorities to provide essential services. In future, this will also have to include the provision of digital infrastructure. Analysis of broadband provision has been carried out across the entire city. Heidelberg can already be satisfied with its success rate to date: 88% of households are connected to high-speed internet. Where “white spots” have been identified, City Hall will intervene in place of private operators and from 2019 will construct its own fiber optic network using funding of several million euros provided by the federal and state governments. In instances where legislation ties the hands of cities in terms of expansion, Heidelberg is working to persuade providers to finally establish up-to-date infrastructure.

Mobile data provision is also essential. That’s why the city offers residents, visitors, students, tourists and business travelers a free WiFi network entitled “Heidelberg4you”. Surfing is free at around 190 locations across the city, making it the largest public WiFi network of any Germany city.

2. Creating a digital ecosystem

The city provides knowledge relating to digitalization and facilitates contact between experts. The agency Digital-Agentur Heidelberg GmbH was set up in June 2017. This agency promotes projects in partnership with business, science and local government. One specific example of this is Digital Hub kurpfalz@bw . This hub is a regional point of contact for digitalization and a place for partners to exchange ideas and provide mutual stimulus. The Digital Hub receives EUR 1 million in funding from the state. In turn, the city has integrated the hub into Heidelberg Innovation Park on the former US barracks site. The Park gives innovative companies the space they need to expand and develop.

3. Developing individual digital applications

The city is developing many digital applications of its own on the road to becoming a municipality of the future. For example:

The citizens’ portal provides local people with online access to all the key service information they require for their individual lives. A digital assistant is on hand to help, if required, e.g. with filling out application forms. In future it will also be possible to apply for ID cards around the clock. All this makes life easier for our staff, who are relieved of many routine tasks. The time saved can now be used for more support-intensive processes.
Digital Pilots will in future be employed in all our offices as contacts and multipliers, working collectively to further the digitalization of Heidelberg. We think this multidisciplinary approach is the only way to meet this challenge.
“Digitalization of transportation systems”: We are expanding the digitalization of transportation systems. The Federal Government is providing almost EUR 1 million in funding. The money will be used to expand the digital traffic counting system, for example, as well as to improve traffic management.
“Route planning for people with restricted mobility”: This project will complement existing digital services. In future, people with disabilities, as well as parents with pushchairs and tourists with suitcases, will be able to use smartphones to view the most appropriate route for their needs to get from A to B.
Smart winter road maintenance: “WinterSMART” is an example of a smart solution. The system makes use of sensors to identify the danger ice on roads and bridges. This enables winter maintenance staff to work more efficiently, snow clearance and gritting vehicles to be coordinated more effectively, and safety in public spaces to be improved significantly.
Digitalization of schools: Two thirds of Heidelberg’s schools are already connected to the fiber optic network. 70% of all classrooms and teaching rooms are networked. The city aims to raise this figure to 100% for both by 2020 – with investments expected to total EUR 6.5 million.

Why is Heidelberg investing?

The goal is not to implement whatever is technically feasible. Instead, the key factor is to identify what is of genuine practical use to local people and how to deal responsibly with the requirements to ensure a secure data infrastructure and effective personal data protection. As a municipality, Heidelberg sees itself as a role model in this process. Digitalization is not an end in itself. Rather it is a means to an end. It supports all aspects of living and working, from schools to transportation, from waste management to energy management and climate protection.

What are Heidelberg’s goals?

Heidelberg took a deliberate decision at an early stage to approach the process of digitalization in a transparent and participatory manner. The city sees itself as a model municipality in this regard. And it is pursuing a clear set of objectives: To provide improved services to local people using digital technologies. It aims to continue improving quality of life and provide optimum development opportunities for science and business.

Where is Heidelberg now on the road towards the Smart City?

Some digital services are already quite old by today’s standards: The city app “Mein Heidelberg” [My Heidelberg] was successfully launched six years ago. And for the last three years, local people have been using #HolDenOberbürgermeister [Get the Mayor] to decide which project in the city merits a visit from the Lord Mayor. The project attracted a great deal of attention worldwide and was an award-winner in the competition “Excellent Places in the Land of Ideas”. Many new projects are in planning or already up and running. In addition, the city is to set up the new Office for Digital Affairs and Information Processing on January 1, 2019.

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