24 ideas for the digital state: The call for speakers for SCCON 2025 has been finalised

Almost 400 applications, hundreds of best practices, and the 24 most interesting and innovative will be presented live on the SCCON stage: the Call for Speakers for the Smart Country Convention 2025 was a great success. Ministries, municipalities, startups, science, and administration submitted their best ideas for digital transformation in the public sector. The selected contributions are as diverse as they are inspiring – they range from technical innovations and agile management to participatory urban development.

What unites them? A clear goal: to make the public sector smarter and more sustainable and to put citizens at the center of attention.

Digital situation report on civil protection

The cross-federal and cross-state situation report from the joint civil protection competence center shows where resources are scarce or where civil protection measures are needed. Automated interfaces and geodata platforms form the basis for better civil protection in real time.

- Tue, September 30, 2025, 11:15 a.m. – 11:30 a.m., ATRIUM Stage

The digital trade tax assessment

It has been live since 2024: the digital trade tax assessment from the Hessian Ministry of Finance. It enables the process of trade tax collection for companies and administration without media discontinuity via the electronic tax return (ELSTER). A best practice for the implementation of the Online Access Act (OZG), which was awarded first place in the 2023 eGovernment competition.

- Tue, September 30, 2025, 11:30 a.m. – 11:45 a.m., ATRIUM Stage

Human-centric government – digitization with a focus on people

Digital administration only works if it is people-oriented. The research project by the FIM Research Institute for Information Management and the University of Bayreuth shows how process screenings, digital mail, and human-centered design can strengthen democracy and efficiency.

- Tue, September 30, 2025, 11:45 a.m. – 12 p.m., ATRIUM Stage

Master plan for the smart city

Stuttgart ranks 7th in the Smart City Index 2024. To make the city even smarter and more sustainable, a Smart City Master Plan is currently being developed in collaboration with citizens, associations, and employees. The result: a clear vision, areas of action, and flagship projects with a roadmap, KPIs, and digital monitoring—from which other cities and regions can learn.

- Tue, September 30, 2025, 2:00–2:15 p.m., FORUM Stage

Digital and open participation

The KielRegion's MokWi platform links participation tools such as surveys, calendars, chat, and DIPAS integration on an open map. This creates a scalable, public welfare-oriented infrastructure for genuine co-creation in the Kiel region and shows how modern citizen participation can succeed in the smart region.

- Tue, September 30, 2025, 2:15–2:30 p.m., FORUM Stage

Norms & standards for a world in motion

People are usually looking for simple solutions and standards – but these are often not available for complex issues and problems. In their project, Stadtwerke Lübeck presents the significance of norms and standards for municipalities in Germany. What role do they play in a global context and how can standardization succeed within the Smart Cities model projects?

- Tue, September 30, 2025, 2:30 p.m. – 2:45 p.m., FORUM Stage

Resilient administration in crises

What to do when technology fails? The city of Essen considers cybersecurity not only an IT issue, but also a matter of organizational survival: with robust processes, clear roles, and analog emergency capabilities. Municipalities need more than technical solutions – they need strategies to survive an emergency.

- Tue, September 30, 2025, 3:00–3:15 p.m., ATRIUM Stage

Digital infrastructure from municipalities for municipalities

The Urban Stack of the city of Gütersloh is more than a technical solution – it stands for digital sovereignty and genuine cooperation. As an open cloud infrastructure developed and operated by municipalities, it enables scalable, secure, and sustainable IT structures – and shows that smart cities work even better when they cooperate.

- Tue, September 30, 2025, 3:15–3:30 p.m., ATRIUM Stage

OKRs for administration

Teamwork makes the dream work – even in administration? BayKommun AöR relies on OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) to achieve cross-team goals in 3-month cycles. The agile framework brings focus, transparency, and motivation. The result: more agile work, better collaboration, and greater personal responsibility. BayKommun shows how administration can manage itself in a modern and effective way.

- Tue, September 30, 2025, 3:30–3:45 p.m., ATRUM Stage

Estonia – Thinking democracy digitally

Estonia is considered the most digital society in the world. The country shows how digital structures strengthen democratic participation and resilience: from e-voting and digital identities to cybersecurity and transparent processes. They make the country a role model for Europe and present best practices that could also accelerate digitization in Germany.

- Wed, October 1, 2025, 10:15 a.m. – 10:30 a.m., ATRIUM Stage

Register modernization – parental allowance goes digital

Applying for parental allowance often involves a lot of paperwork. A pilot project by the Federal Ministry of Finance shows how data exchange between authorities can be automated, secure, and user-friendly – even across administrative levels. A step toward proactive administration.

- Wed, October 1, 2025, 11:30 a.m. – 11:45 a.m., ATRIUM Stage

Cultural change in administration

Three cities in North Rhine-Westphalia, together with the German Association of Cities, show how digital transformation can also succeed organizationally – with lessons learned, resistance, successes, and the question: What does it take to bring about real change? This is because the use of AI, agile project work, and the consolidation of smart city solutions often still encounter traditional hierarchies and well-established processes in local government today.

- Wed, October 1, 2025, 11:45 a.m. – 12 p.m., ATRIUM Stage

Organizing and sharing data sensibly

A good data strategy requires clear roles, processes, and tools. The Berlin Senate Chancellery project shows how internal and open data requirements can be considered together – and what incentives and rules are needed for sharing data between administration and business. The experts demonstrate how a sustainable and connectable data culture can be created within the administration – between internal control and open provision.

- Wed, October 1, 2025, 3:00–3:15 p.m., FORUM Stage

Resilience management for municipalities

The FreiburgRESIST project of the city of Freiburg im Breisgau is creating an IT-supported, cross-organizational system that brings together security actors, event organizers, and administration in crisis preparedness – data-driven and user-centered. The system supports everything from event or deployment planning to implementation and evaluation, making processes more efficient and thus residential and event locations safer.

- Wed, October 1, 2025, 3:15–3:30 p.m., FORUM Stage

AI model for real-time microclimate

A real-time climate model with 500 measuring points, AI simulations, and 5x5-meter resolution: Mannheim embarked on its journey to becoming a smart city several years ago and is demonstrating how urban planning can become climate-resilient, data-driven, and forward-looking – in dealing with the challenges of climate change and in the interests of creating a livable city.

- Wed, October 1, 2025, 3:30–3:45 p.m., FORUM Stage

Simplicity instead of complexity

Prof. Dr. Jürgen Kegelmann from Kehl University advocates genuine simplification instead of new bureaucracy. Debureaucratization is currently on everyone's lips – but its implementation often leads to even more complex processes. His simplicity approach shows how cities can become more agile through clear structures, digitalization, and AI – in a very practical way and in the spirit of Leonardo da Vinci: “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

- Thu, October 2, 2025, 11:30 a.m. – 11:45 a.m., ARENA Stage

Making smart cities measurable

The Urban Digitainability Lab at the Technical University of Munich is developing methods that cities can use to analyze the impact of their digital projects on sustainability goals – locally adapted and scientifically sound. Together with partner municipalities, practical tools are being developed for the strategic management of digital transformation in cities and regions.

- Thu, October 2, 2025, 11:45 a.m. – 12 p.m., ARENA Stage

AI for municipal practice

32 partners, 9 use cases: URBAN.KI from the Westphalian University of Applied Sciences brings artificial intelligence into municipal reality. From climate protection to urban planning to maintenance management, joint AI solutions are being developed – scalable, transferable, and with real added value for sustainable municipal management.

- Thu, October 2, 2025, 12:00–12:15 p.m., ARENA Stage

Digital twins for rural areas

The districts of Herford and Rhein-Kreis Neuss in North Rhine-Westphalia show how existing networks and geoinformation systems can be expanded into digital twins. These technical infrastructures are an essential basis for Smart City and Smart Region strategies.

- Thu, October 2, 2025, 12:45 p.m. – 1 p.m., FORUM Stage

From lighthouse to basic architecture

The Munich Digital Twin is taking the next step: from concept to agile showcase project with sustainable infrastructure. Instead of selective lighthouse projects, Munich is now focusing on a central IT program, integrated solutions, and a clear focus on the continuation of smart city measures.

- Thu, October 2, 2025, 1:00–1:15 p.m., FORUM Stage

BaKIM – Tree data from the air

Using drone images and deep neural networks, the BaKIM project in Bamberg identifies individual trees, species, vitality, and height of trees in urban parks or forests. This creates the data basis for climate-adapted forestry and urban planning.

- Thu, October 2, 2025, 1:15–1:30 p.m., FORUM Stage

Accelerating participation processes with AI

Accelerate planning and approval processes while ensuring adequate participation. Evaluate comments more quickly while maintaining an overview – this can be achieved with artificial intelligence, as demonstrated by the AI Lab of the German Federal Environment Agency. In the final repository search process, AI models help to evaluate comments more quickly. The use case shows when AI is worthwhile, what data is needed, and what a good balance between efficiency and participation means.

- Thu, October 2, 2025, 1:30 p.m. – 1:45 p.m., ARENA Stage

Municipal cloud strategy for Bavaria

Munich, Augsburg, and Nuremberg are calling for a central cloud register from the federal government. Their joint approach focuses on standardization, municipal perspectives, and the integration of existing specialized procedures – a blueprint for high-performance administrative IT. Together, the three cities are inviting administrative officials and innovators to develop pilot projects – for a high-performance administration with a future.

- Thu, October 2, 2025, 1:45 – 2:00 p.m., ARENA Stage

Urban development with VR and Vision Dome

In Ludwigsfelde, urban planning becomes an experience: with barcamps, audio walks, and VR workshops, citizens develop their vision for the Future Park. The 1:400 model and the walk-in Vision Dome show how human and interactive participation can be.

- Thu, October 2, 2025, 2:00–2:15 p.m., ARENA Stage

Best practices show how much innovative spirit there is in local governments, public authorities, ministries, and the digital economy. From September 30 to October 2, experts will be on stage at the Atrium, Forum, and Arena Stage of the Smart Country Convention, providing deeper insight into their diverse projects and solutions.

The complete program overview is available here at the website.