Moving away from flying taxis towards administrative services that work as seamlessly for everyone as online banking – this is how Laura Dornheim, IT officer and Munich’s Chief Digital Officer (CDO), describes the shift in the Bavarian capital’s digitalisation strategy. “For us, it’s a shift from grand promises to technology that makes everyday life work and requires as little thought as possible,” said Dornheim during the panel discussion “The Smart City of Tomorrow: What Are We Actually Working Towards?”.

Rather than focusing on flagship projects, the aim is to expand across the board and bridge the gaps that still exist across the city. “At a time when we have to be extremely careful with our finances, there is less scope for experimentation, and we must focus much more on ensuring that there is direct added value for everyone through a modern, efficient administration,” explained Dornheim. For example, by enabling citizens to change their registered address, enrol their child in a nursery or apply for a resident’s parking permit via their smartphone, 24 hours a day.

Printing only with justification

One way to bridge the gaps between these ‘beacons’ is to ‘outlaw’ paper in Munich. “Anyone who still prints things out must provide evidence of a state or federal legal requirement that mandates it; otherwise, digital working is the standard,” said the Munich-based expert. This means there is no need to first assess which processes could be made paperless.

Nationwide, however, Munich – which has been right at the forefront of the Bitkom Smart City Index for years – is set to remain a beacon. “We need a structure that supports the transfer of tools and knowledge. So that we can move from being beacons to becoming a shining nation,” said Dornheim. This also includes digital sovereignty in a wide variety of crisis scenarios, in order to safeguard local authorities’ ability to act.

Security in the event of a crisis

For Sascha Götz, Smart City Programme Manager for the City of Bamberg, ‘smart’ means, first and foremost, being prepared for crises. ‘Of course, it’s about digital projects, urban development, open source, scalability and sovereignty, but what’s crucial is applying these lessons to the next challenge: the resilience of local authorities.’

Applying the lessons learnt and infrastructure from smart city projects to crisis response capability – that is what is truly smart. “Local authorities play a vital role in the event of a crisis,” said Götz. Bamberg, for example, is therefore attempting to consolidate and make available data from critical infrastructure such as municipal utilities and hospitals, as well as from the local administration, in preparation for an emergency. So that the beacons keep flashing, even when the power is out.