Vision - what is our long-term goal?

The city of Bonn wants to provide answers to the central challenges of the "city of tomorrow" in order to remain a liveable and attractive city for everyone and to continue to develop. In short, it is becoming a smart city. Smart, among other things, to improve the way we live together, e.g. to find more efficient mobility and intelligent solutions for climate change. This also includes realigning administrative action. The aim is to establish ecological, socially sustainable and participatory urban development using digital technologies and applications. The aim is to create a smart city with everyone and for everyone.

Motivation - why is it important to pursue this goal?

Many overarching social upheavals - integration, globalization, digitalization, demographic change and the need for sustainability - ensure a continuous need for action. As a growing city, Bonn is experiencing a considerable strain on its existing infrastructure. A very specific example illustrates the interdependencies: the organization of existing mobility is reaching its limits. This is why intelligent traffic management solutions and needs-based mobility services are required. The aim is to support the mobility transition through digital options and to help promote the modal split in Bonn from cars to walking, cycling and public transport as well as sharing services. This in turn has a direct positive effect by improving the climate. These chains of effects and causal relationships must be understood holistically and addressed across all departments.

Strategy - what levers do we need to move, what course do we need to set?

The main lever on the way to becoming a smart city is the more intensive use of digital technology in almost all areas of life. However, this should not be seen as an end in itself, but solely as a means to

use urban resources (energy, budgets, manpower) in a more efficient, environmentally friendly and socially inclusive way and
create a basis for future improvements to urban life: The city should provide the platform to showcase new ideas that everyone can access.
We all gain from the creativity and innovative power of our entire urban community. This is active citizen participation. Citizens, organizations and companies can help shape the future quality of life in Bonn.

Initial situation - on what basis are we building?

In Bitkom's current Smart City Ranking 2020, Bonn is in a respectable 13th place (out of 81) compared to all major German cities, albeit coming from 7th place in 2019. This means that despite Bonn's excellent results, other major cities are making faster progress in terms of innovation speed and development momentum.

Here is an excerpt of projects that have been successfully implemented:

- Connection of almost all Bonn schools to the fiber optic network
- Provision of the citizen terminal to give citizens without their own computers access to online services
- First contactless public transport ticket system in Germany launched by municipal utilities
- Early warning systems for floods and heavy rainfall implemented in the south of Bonn for early intervention by protection and rescue forces
- Introduction of the "ZURES" planning tool to optimize urban planning while taking climate adaptation strategies into account
- Establishment of the Bonneum as a networked learning center for teachers and students.

Bonn can and should therefore continue to gain momentum as a smart city. It is important to take advantage of opportunities for additional funding from the federal government and/or the EU.

Implementation - how do we make concrete progress now?

This Smart City paper describes the procedure and structure as well as initial prioritization proposals. The structure of the Smart City Strategy has two elementary pillars:

"Digital City" with a focus on transforming the city into a Smart City with initially four fields of action is intended to deliver the following results, for example:

- Connectivity for all (fiber/5G/WLAN/schools/LoRaWAN) with a gigabit strategy for Bonn
- Urban data platform (as a data warehouse to accelerate smart city innovations)
- Digitalization of administration develops tailor-made approaches for the needs of urban society (feedback rounds and digitalization promoters)
- Create participation and public relations work with the launch of the first "think tank" involving a broad digitization jury with the aim of a "project roadmap" Smart City Bonn

"Digital administration" with a focus on transforming the city administration into digital service offerings with the following exemplary work packages and programs

- Central service portal Bonn (municipal services available 24/7)
- Digitization of workflows in the administration (incoming mail and introduction of eFiles)
- Employee app/portal solution/collaborative working, M365
- Operation of the urban data platform/digital twins/building
- Information modeling

Smart City projects are also subject to a climate impact assessment in accordance with the Council resolution Climate Neutral City Administration 2035. The Smart City strategy paper with its concepts for the "Digital City" and "Digital Administration" results in a list of measures that takes into account the implementation packages and requirements of all departments that are needed for the digital transformation of the administration and urban society. It is expressly stated that all of the measures presented are based on the needs already reported by the departments and cannot be implemented without additional budget funds. The Digital City and Digital Administration strategy papers are available here:  https://smartcity.bonn.de/smart-city-strategie/index.php (opens in a new tab)