Smart city meets smart region - shaping innovation in rural areas together

How can digital transformation succeed beyond the big cities? What solutions make regions sustainable, liveable and fit for the future? At the 15th Smart City / Smart Region network meeting on October 22, 2025, representatives from local authorities, business and science met in Haynrode in Eichsfeld to discuss precisely these questions - and to learn from each other.

The location of the meeting already showed what the meeting was about: in Haynrode, a visible example of how rural areas can gain new impetus through technology, participation and commitment is being built around the Stone House, which is currently being completely renovated and converted to make it barrier-free.

LoRaWAN as the backbone of municipal digitalization

Jan Bose (Alpha-Omega Technology GmbH & Co KG) kicked things off with an introduction to the LoRaWAN network for municipal data communication. The wireless technology makes it possible to transmit measured values such as electricity, water or temperature data even where traditional mobile networks are weak - energy-efficiently, securely and cost-effectively. This opens up completely new fields of application: from environmental monitoring and parking lot sensors to intelligent infrastructure planning.

Smart mobility in rural areas

Andreas Heiroth (Eichsfeldwerke GmbH) showed how digitalization can rethink mobility using the example of the RufBus in Eichsfeld. The service can be booked via app or by phone and takes people to their destination flexibly and according to their needs - an important building block for making mobility in rural regions climate-friendly and citizen-oriented.

Rethinking energy - transformation in Eichsfeld

Thomas Knoche then presented the ECO2WEL project, which actively involves local authorities in the transformation and decarbonization of regional industry. Energy demand planning, energy cooperatives and local responsibility - these are all key elements in jointly creating a carbon-neutral future with a better quality of life, mobility and jobs in Eichsfeld.

Smart City in practice - experiences, mistakes and new starts

The concluding panel "Thuringian smart cities put to the test - mistakes, dead ends, new starts" with Dorothea Prell, overall project manager of the Smart City Jena project, and Christoph Reimann, Smart City Mühlhausen, was particularly lively: entitled "Thuringian smart cities put to the test - mistakes, dead ends, new starts", it was all about practical experiences. Both emphasized how important it is to regularly review digital strategies, learn from failures and boldly break new ground. After all, smart cities are not just about technology - above all, they are about attitude, collaboration and the courage to develop further.

In other words, the focus here was not on success alone, but on honest reflection: what worked - and what didn't?

Dorothea Prell reported openly from practical experience in Jena: "In the smart city context, there are actually no completely superfluous experiences - but there are certainly projects that have shown us how important it is to get everyone involved at an early stage."

In Jena, individual projects were initially implemented too quickly - before it was clear what exactly was needed and who the future users would be. A cross-team workshop later helped to close this gap. The lesson learned: quick results are important, but a proper needs analysis saves time and coordination in the long term.

The dynamics of Smart City were also a topic: "We learned that innovation is not a fixed goal, but a moving target. Instead of making everything permanent, we need to think about flexibility and adaptability from the outset. This doesn't necessarily save time - but frustration."

In long-term programs such as Smart City, framework conditions are constantly changing - partners, technologies, political priorities. For Prell, this is not a failure, but part of the innovation process: "Some issues mature, others are resolved.

Room for exchange and new ideas

During the subsequent open discussion round and the final get-together, discussions continued, contacts were made and new collaborations were initiated. The relaxed atmosphere once again showed that we in Thuringia are thinking about smart cities and smart regions together - networked, practical and with a focus on people.