A project by the fire and rescue service and the civil engineering department: On a route from fire station 1 on Lievelingsweg via Heinrich-Böll-Ring and Berliner Platz to Bertha-von-Suttner-Platz, the fire department's fire-fighting unit is now accelerated by green traffic lights. Although fire engines generally have right of way during operations, they must enter the respective intersection at an appropriate speed at red traffic lights. Thanks to the targeted and intelligent green lights, congested junctions or traffic jams are cleared shortly before the emergency vehicles arrive, allowing them to continue their journey at approximately the same speed.

bonnorange AöR is launching an eye-catching campaign to encourage people to use their own cups or reusable cup systems for takeaway coffee. Strong motifs with real Bonn residents are intended to motivate citizens to avoid waste, conserve resources and thus contribute to keeping the city clean. After all, everyone can do their bit to protect the environment.

To make the switch from disposable to reusable cups as easy as possible, the campaign website  www.bonn-geht-den-mehrweg.de (opens in a new tab) shows all participating catering establishments in a clear map view. Customers can also see who is supporting the campaign by means of stickers on the restaurants. This makes it quick and easy for everyone to see where they can have their own cup filled, who offers a reusable cup and where free drinking water is also available. The latter should also help to reduce the number of single-use deposit bottles for drinking water.

On March 9, 2021, the Federal Network Agency awarded 450connect GmbH, to which BonnNetz also belongs via the 450 MHz Utilities Alliance, the contract for the use of the 450 MHz radio frequency. This paves the way for a particularly fail-safe and nationwide mobile network for the energy and water industries and other critical infrastructures. In future, the use of the 450 MHz frequency will contribute to the success of the energy and transport transition, but also help to monitor the effects of climate change on drinking water supplies. It is needed for the increasingly decentralized and digitally controlled power supply from renewable energies, but also for grid control, as today many decentralized generators such as wind power or photovoltaic systems have a significant impact on the power grid and can cause unstable grid conditions. The security of supply for citizens will therefore be further increased by the use of 450 MHz technology. In the event of a crisis, such as a blackout, the radio frequency can be used for voice and data communication and thus significantly protects the so-called critical infrastructure, which is vital in times of crisis.

With BONNsmart, Bonn is the first city in Germany to introduce a new billing system for contactless and mobile check-in and check-out on buses and trains operated by SWB Bus und Bahn. The city is thus following the example of major cities such as London and New York, where this modern ticketing system has already proven its worth. A total of 230 SWB buses and 99 streetcars will be equipped with the necessary technology for the project, which was announced back in March, in order to ensure that passengers arrive at their destination relaxed and always at the best fare. The new system significantly simplifies payment: to pay for a journey, passengers now hold their contactless debit or credit card in front of a verification device when boarding and alighting. The payment process is just as easy with a smartphone or smartwatch, where the card details are stored.

In this way, passengers anonymously transmit the start and end of a journey. The data is processed using the "FareGo Suite" background system from Scheidt & Bachmann. The best-price principle is then used to determine the cheapest fare based on the 24-hour tariff. This is calculated after the journey using the passenger's card. The project will initially be launched on the routes SB 60 Airport - Bonn city center and line 66 ICE train station Bonn/Siegburg - Bonn and will be rolled out across Bonn after a test phase. The NRW Ministry of Transport has supported the project with a grant of 500,000 euros.

The broadband expansion projects to supply Bonn with fiber optic technology include the city's successful participation in two funding procedures, the so-called "area application" and another special call for funding in commercial areas, schools and hospitals. Both programs have different funding characteristics, but are aimed at the same goal of providing private households, companies and public institutions with future-proof data lines. Last but not least, this is also a basic infrastructural requirement in order to be able to operate "next generation access" in the form of 5G.

In 2020, fiber optic coverage will be at 7 percent. With the two subsidized expansion projects, 1,254 addresses will be added in the minimum case, and ideally far more address points if all properties between the address points are connected at the same time.

In addition to the subsidized expansion, it is important to create incentives for the telecommunications companies involved in the market to expand on their own initiative. On the one hand, the global players naturally play a decisive role, but smaller local providers and local utilities are also predestined to carry out infrastructure development work. From the administration's point of view, such a competitive situation represents a very good starting point.

In summary, broadband supply not only means fiber optic supply, but fiber optic supply is the basis for other lighthouse projects such as Education in the Digital World (BIDW) and Digital City. Overall, this will ensure Bonn's future viability as a science, business and UN location on its way to becoming the "Smartest City in NRW".

Why fiber optics at all?

With fiber optic lines, you can surf as fast as the speed of light.

Glass fiber is an optical waveguide, which means it is used for optical data transmission. A single fiber consists of a core that is encased in a glass sheath.

In this core, light signals are reflected at speeds of up to 200,000 km/s until the data reaches its destination. In theory, you could send information from the earth to the moon in 1.9 seconds.

The advantage over electrical transmission is that data waves can run parallel to each other through the fiber and therefore a much larger amount of data can be transmitted. Transmission rates in the gigabit to terrabit range are possible. Other advantages include low-cost production, less space required compared to copper cables and insensitivity to electrical interference.

With Bonn-Crowd, Stadtwerke Bonn is helping to implement projects close to its heart. Stadtwerke Bonn has launched Bonn-Crowd, a new online platform to support Bonn residents with charitable projects. Anyone can join in and post campaigns or promote them themselves. This allows them to be implemented quickly and unbureaucratically.

The social, cultural or societal purpose is the only condition for participation.

 www.bonn-crowd.de (opens in a new tab)

With the founding of the "Cyber Security Cluster Bonn e.V." in October 2018, Bonn has expanded its importance as a location for security. The association brings together all security institutions operating in the region under one roof.

With the "Bonn in 3D" web application, the City of Bonn is now making a three-dimensional visualization of the city available to the public as a virtual 3D model.

Noise and exhaust pollution in cities is to be reduced with the help of electromobility. This includes the gradual development of a charging infrastructure for electric cars, as well as the rental of e-scooters and electric scooters offered by SWB Bus und Bahn.

Handyparking was realized via Smartparking.de in Bonn. Smartparking is an institution whose web platform enables all potential providers to participate in cell phone parking. On managed municipal street parking spaces, the parking ticket machines were provided with stickers indicating where cell phone parking is possible. Drivers can easily and conveniently buy their digital parking ticket at these parking spaces using their smartphone. They can use the mobile application to flexibly shorten or extend their parking time.

Digitalization without cyber security - it doesn't work. Security breaches, hacker attacks and the spying on confidential data: Digital security is an important factor for the success of any company and protects the advantages and benefits of digitalization. In order to support companies in improving their cyber security, the state of NRW gave the go-ahead for the establishment of the DIGITAL.SICHER.NRW competence center in March 2021.

The non-profit organization CYBERSEC-NRW gGmbH, jointly founded by the Cyber Security Cluster Bonn e.V. and eurobits e.V. Bochum, won the tender issued by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Innovation, Digitalization and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (MWIDE): With around three million euros for three years, two offices will be established in Bonn and Bochum, which will offer information and networking services as well as practical transfer services of cyber security knowledge to the economy, especially for small and medium-sized companies.

The competence center will provide extensive offers and measures on the subject of IT and cyber security. These include

• Information on prevention & first point of contact for cyber issues,
• Assistance in determining requirements for basic IT protection,
• Specialist events throughout North Rhine-Westphalia,
• target group-oriented preparation of cyber security topics,
• Establishment of a network for those responsible for cyber security.

In the Smart City project, Stadtwerke Bonn is cooperating with the city administration and Bonn/Rhine-Sieg University of Applied Sciences to set up and permanently operate a high-performance LoRaWAN radio network in Bonn. The pilot project serves to gather experience in LoRaWAN network construction and the available sensor technology and to identify new business areas. Stadtwerke Bonn is responsible for the construction, installation and future operation of the LoRaWAN.

In times of high fuel prices and increasing traffic volumes in Bonn and the region, innovative mobility options are needed. This is why the goFLUX ride-sharing app will expand the public transport services offered by SWB Bus und Bahn in future.

Unlock your bike via smartphone, hop on the saddle and off you go on one of the many rental bikes in Bonn. This has been possible for Bonn residents, commuters, tourists and travelers since 2018. Together with its international partner Nextbike,  SWB Bus und Bahn (opens in a new tab) offers a comprehensive bike rental system in the Bonn city area. You can find more information about this and other mobility services  here here.

On the initiative of the Council, the federal city has joined the "Cities for Digital Rights" network. The aim of the alliance is to assert and protect online rights that people have offline. Founded in 2018 by the three cities of Amsterdam, Barcelona and New York City, the alliance now includes almost 50 cities worldwide. Three German cities (Berlin, Munich and Leipzig) are also members. Bonn is the fourth German city and the first city from North Rhine-Westphalia to join the alliance.

The alliance is committed to five principles:

1. Universal and equal access to the Internet and the development of digital skills;
2. Privacy, data protection and security;
3. transparency, accountability and non-discrimination of data, content and algorithms
4. participatory democracy, diversity and inclusion; and
5. open and ethical standards for digital services.

Further information can be found at  https://citiesfordigitalrights.org/city/bonn (opens in a new tab)

Based on the previous, almost 30-year-old system (which comprised six parking garages with ten dynamic and 15 static displays), the new parking guidance system guides car traffic specifically to parking garages. 30 dynamic locations and a further 24 static signs now show the way. The City of Bonn's civil engineering department began expanding the new digital parking guidance system in August 2020. It has a modular structure and new guidance functions. The new parking guidance system is an additional project to improve air quality, as car traffic is guided in a targeted manner when searching for a parking space. It is also a digital building block on Bonn's further path to becoming a smart city.

The new parking guidance system includes Beethoven-Parkhaus, Friedensplatzgarage, Marktgarage, Münsterplatzgarage, Stadthausgarage, the new Rabinstraße parking garage, Uni-Garage, DB-Parkhaus, WCCB parking garage, Brückenforum and Rathaus Beuel. The following could be added: Stiftsgarage, Oxfordgarage, parking lot at the Beethovenhalle and Zurich-Parkhaus. The parking guidance system costs around 3.57 million euros. It is being funded with 1.72 million euros from the federal government's "Digitalization of Municipal Transport Systems" programme, which was launched as part of the "Clean Air" immediate action programme. The funding is only possible because the measure is also included in the city's "Sustainable Mobility Master Plan".

Under the title "Smart City Partner City", the City of Bonn and Ströer want to work together in future to test innovative and nature-based solutions to promote biodiversity and deal with climate change. The first cooperation project is a green bus shelter at the Bad Godesberg Bahnhof/Löbestraße stop.

The partnership ties in with the Smart City process. However, this is not an end in itself, but an instrument for sustainable urban development that focuses on people's needs." Bonn's sustainability strategy and the resolutions on the climate emergency and climate neutrality by 2035 are representative of these development perspectives for a liveable Smart City Bonn. The first joint project selected was the greening of the bus shelter at the Bad Godesberg train station stop. The passenger shelter was equipped with a drainage foam mat made from recycled material and a substrate layer of pumice stone and planted with twelve different sedum species. The different species bloom at different times of the year so that the green roof can provide food for insects until late in the fall. The planted bus shelter in Bad Godesberg consists of five fields, each of which can hold around 60 liters of water, 50 to 70 percent of which can be added to the natural water cycle through evaporation. Together with Stadtwerke, Ströer has spent the past few months investigating which of the 420 passenger shelters in the Bonn city area are suitable for planting. The main focus here is on the structural conditions. 19 existing stops meet the criteria for subsequent greening. Ströer is financing the greening of the first bus shelter as a pilot project. The city, public utilities, passengers and Ströer can now gain experience with the product. Further implementations will then be examined.

Disposable cups flying around, empty chip bags and all kinds of street food packaging are constantly on the increase in cities. The first priority here is to ensure that the flood of disposable packaging is stemmed. This is one of the reasons why Bonnorange has launched the "Reusable instead of disposable" campaign.

However, in order to get a better handle on the packaging waste flying around in the short term, bonnorange is testing intelligent street waste garbage cans. The bin itself is powered by solar energy and a gel battery. Inside is a standardized 120-litre waste garbage can that can be emptied by any waste collection vehicle. The mostly bulky packaging waste, such as pizza boxes, is compacted by a solar-powered device in the bin so that it can hold up to seven times the amount of waste. When the bin is full and needs to be emptied, the dispatcher is informed via a web portal, who then arranges for the bin to be emptied as part of an existing emptying tour.

Ten of these waste bins have been installed in the city center.

The "Digital City" team at the Office for Economic Development worked together with the Citizen Participation Unit and 20 children and young people from Bonn's Nordstadt district to build particulate matter sensors.