Martin Berger takes over department management at the Civitas Connect association

The association Civitas Connect e. V., active since 2020 as a platform for cooperation between municipal utilities and local authorities, continues to grow - and so do its structures. Since September 3, there has been a departmental structure with management functions for the largest project department. Martin Berger, sub-project manager in field of action 1 "Digital infrastructure and data policy" in the Jena Smart City project, was elected as the new head of department.

From municipal utility network to local authority platform

Civitas Connect was founded five years ago, initially as an association of various municipal utilities. Since then, more and more municipalities have become members - currently nine and counting. The city of Jena has also been a member since 2023. The aim of the association is to develop a joint open source platform for municipal utilities and local authorities on which projects can be planned, mapped and knowledge exchanged.

The platform project is the association's largest undertaking and therefore requires an independent department with a clear structure. In addition to the management, there is now also a deputy and a secretary. The association's office is based in Münster and meetings are mainly held online.

Major project with nationwide significance

Civitas Connect has been working with experts to set up the platform since 2022. This was based on various examples - a step that paved the way for the MPSC community (Model Projects Smart Cities). The federal government is providing 90 percent of the funding for the MPSC project, while the members are contributing 10 percent themselves. This is in pursuit of a central goal: an open source solution that benefits all municipalities and municipal utilities. The first version should be available in the first quarter of 2026.

"Strengthen networking and broaden the community"

"It is important to me that we network even better and further expand cooperation within the association," says Martin Berger. "We also want to interlink club and MPSC events more closely to create a shared platform world."

Another goal is to acquire new members: "The more municipalities and municipal utilities get involved, the greater the benefits for everyone - professionally, organizationally and financially."

Berger recently presented his new area of responsibility and the current status of the open data project at the Smart Country Convention in Berlin, which ends today, October 2, 2025.