Smart Hessen
Intelligent garbage cans, free Wi-Fi hotspots and contactless payment in council offices: digital technologies are used in a range of different ways in major cities in Germany. This was among the findings of the Smart City Index. Municipalities in Hessen and Baden-Württemberg performed particularly well on average.
For Hessen, this can also be seen in the top positions taken by Darmstadt (10) and Frankfurt am Main (12). All 81 German cities with at least 100,000 residents were assessed for the index carried out by the Bitkom digital association. The report also examines regional, demographic and other influencing factors in the digitization of large German cities.
The study considered the five categories of administration, IT and communication, energy and environment, mobility and society. “The Smart City Index measures digitization in all major German cities. As the first study on this scale, it identifies pioneers, latecomers and hidden champions”, said Bitkom President Achim Berg.
Darmstadt in southern Hessen achieved second place in energy and the environment and Frankfurt took third place in the society section. In IT and communication infrastructure, Wiesbaden, the state capital of Hessen, came fourth.
The excellent rankings show that Hessen sees digital development as an important focal area and key opportunity. The Digital Hessen strategy was developed with the guiding principles of “Intelligent. Networked. For everyone”. It aims to use the potential of digitization to improve the quality of life and economic development of the federal state. At the same time, there is an opportunity to sustainably decouple resource consumption and economic development.
“Smart villages, cities and regions can help to improve people’s lives and conserve resources. The Hessen government provides robust support to local authorities. With the Smart Region office, we are creating a point of contact and want to ensure that successful approaches are also transferred to other Hessen regions so that everyone in Hessen can benefit from smart solutions in the future”, said Hessen’s Digital Minister, Professor Kristina Sinemus. “And with the Civento software, we are providing local authorities with a data platform that streamlines administrative processes and makes them more efficient.”