German
Smart City Project Jena
How does the project define "Smart City"?
Smart City is an ongoing process that aims to make urban coexistence sustainable and efficient. Digital solutions are used to improve the quality of life of citizens. The focus is on people, who are closely involved in the development of these solutions. The focus is on digital strategies and on making the city and its residents fit for the future.
What are the framework conditions of the project?
- Duration: 7 years
- Period: September 2020 to August 2027
- Phases:
- Phase A - Strategy phase from September 2020 to March 2023
- Phase B - Implementation phase from September 2022 to August 2027
- Funding and funding rate: 17.45 million euros with a 90% funding rate
How was the Smart City Strategy created?
The considerations for structuring and planning the Smart City project did not begin with the funding provider's approval, but rather with the idea of applying for the second phase of the "Model Projects Smart Cities" (MPSC) in 2020. The motto of this competition was "Common good and network city/city network". The brainstorming process up to the completion of the Smart City strategy can be divided into 7 work phases.
- Analysis of the initial situation, development of challenges and establishment of working groups
- Discussion of the funding guidelines, the Smart City Charter, the city's key objectives and the ISEK 2030+
- Creation of a vision
- Development of the goals of the overall project and derivation of the fields of action
- Creation of objectives and measures for the fields of action
- Citizen participation
- Incorporating the comments from the public participation and finalizing the strategy
Here you can find the complete Smart City Strategy:
Vision of the Jena Smart City project
The Smart City Strategy builds on the key strengths of Jena that have made our city successful since the 19th century:
- a KNOWLEDGE-based, agile economy,
- a strong SCIENTIFIC landscape, which is stronger today than ever,
- a liberal and strong civil society with outstanding intellectuals and cultural institutions and close cooperation between business, science, local politics and civil society.
Jena remains true to its tradition of freedom: a smart city does not mean selling out data, citizens' rights and democratic participation at the same time. The city lives by the principles of cooperation, open access and the commons, which are also reflected in our city's vision for the future: "Jena digitizes, learns and shares. We create and use KNOWLEDGE for a fair, sustainable and innovative city."
"Jena digitizes, learns and shares. We create and use KNOWLEDGE for a fair, sustainable and innovative city."
Goals of the Jena Smart City project
- Enabling participation, digital sovereignty and citizen involvement
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As a city association (the municipal administration and municipal companies), we are actively shaping the digital transformation of the city in cooperation with Jena's citizens. To this end, we are creating the necessary conditions for urban society (citizens, administration, science, business and all other stakeholders) to ensure and strengthen digital self-determination. This includes barrier-free access to all publicly available data, digital services and digital devices. Participation is therefore a central component. We create participation through digitalization, for example by offering a wide range of opportunities for participation, but we also enable participation in digitalization by expanding existing analogue offerings, e.g. digital skills acquisition. Urban society can contribute to the design and content of the digital space, just as it can use it.
- Promoting digital skills, professionalization and knowledge transfer
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Jena as a center of knowledge and business needs digital skills for citizens and professionals. The spectrum of skills acquisition is broad. It ranges from basic skills to professionalization. That is why we offer needs-based, lifelong educational opportunities and exchange platforms for urban society, administration, science and business and enable professionalization for skilled workers. In addition, we are creating an ecosystem of knowledge transfer and networking. In this way, we want to facilitate communication, new experiences and insights as well as economic activity. It should also be possible to "meet up" with others in the digital urban space, become active together and form virtual communities.
- Strengthening innovation and digital offerings
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We want to make Jena a pioneering location for digitalization and innovation. To this end, we are creating the necessary spaces for experimentation and promoting the associated culture of innovation. We support digitalization and innovation projects as well as an active start-up culture in Jena in order to involve urban society in shaping the city. In order to increase the city administration's digital offering and make it more available, we need to optimize and digitalize internal work processes using innovative technologies. To this end, we support the development of hybrid and digital service formats for the administration, municipal enterprises, educational institutions and municipal companies.
- Ensuring secure information and data management
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For us, urban data and information are a common good and should serve the common good. Everyone has the right to access and use urban data within the framework of the existing rules on data protection and data security. We therefore want to make data and information from the urban network available to everyone in a transparent manner. Secure infrastructure, compliance with data protection and IT security guarantee the positive use of data. In addition to making the data available, it is to be processed for the urban community via an urban data platform using suitable evaluation tools. Transparency is already a top priority in Jena and will be further expanded in the area of security in the near future. In all areas of the city, the utmost attention is paid to data protection in accordance with current German standards. This ensures that personal data is handled sensitively.
- Developing Jena as a sustainable and climate-friendly place to live and work
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Our aim is to use digital technologies and expertise to make an important contribution to overcoming current challenges and their effects in the urban space. In addition to climate change and its consequences, these include in particular the ageing of society, the shortage of skilled workers and increasing competition for the use of urban space. All of these factors have an impact on the quality of life in Jena. We want to use smart solutions to improve the quality of life and living for citizens and increase Jena's attractiveness as a place to work.
In summary, the Jena Smart City project is setting up efficient and secure data management as part of the digital transformation, making digital services available to urban society, promoting the acquisition and expansion of digital skills, supporting the start-up and innovation culture, networking all stakeholders in urban society and strengthening the development towards a future-proof, sustainable and climate-friendly city with a high quality of life.
What happens in the implementation phase?
The Smart City Strategy will be submitted to the funding body for review with the city council resolution. Individual projects that have already been approved in the application can already begin implementation. As soon as we have received approval for the strategy and measures, the implementation phase can begin.
Exchange and knowledge transfer are constant companions in the project, as are public relations work and citizen participation. During the implementation phase, we also want to maintain the working groups that were formed during the strategy phase. During this phase, the strategy will also be repeatedly put to the test, revised and optimized in the appropriate places through citizen participation. Monitoring and evaluation play a central role in this process.
Here you can find all the action plans: