Smart City Karlsruhe

A “smart city” is a city that uses digital technologies and data to improve the quality of life of its citizens, increase resource efficiency and promote sustainable development. This includes intelligent mobility concepts, digital citizen services, sustainable energy use and transparent administration.
The glossary of the Smart Country Convention of the industry association Bitkom provides a comprehensive overview of the key terms relating to the topic.

Already pretty “smart”. The fact that the fan-shaped city is one of the most digital cities in Germany is shown by its 3rd place behind Hamburg and Cologne in the Smart City Award 2021 of Bitkom e.V. In 2020, Karlsruhe won the title of “most digital administration”. In 2023, Karlsruhe is once again among the top 10 smartest cities in Germany and is delighted to have once again been named the “most digital administration” and city with the “smartest mobility” in Baden-Württemberg.

Karlsruhe is also the only German city to be part of the G20 Global Smart Cities Alliance of the World Economic Forum (WEF). The Alliance aims to shape a more ethical and responsible future. Karlsruhe, along with 35 other “pioneering cities”, aims to establish a global initiative to promote the ethical use and development of digital technologies and strategies. As part of the G20 Smart City Alliance, the Governance & Economy Award was awarded at the 2021 World Smart City Awards at the Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona.

The Smart City Karlsruhe addresses future topics and challenges jointly by establishing a specific new structure and defining individual focus topics.

Karlsruhe has experienced fluctuations in smart city rankings in recent years. After coming third in the 2021 Smart City Index, the city fell back to 14th place in 2022. In 2023, however, Karlsruhe was able to climb back into the top 10. There are many reasons for these fluctuations: Dynamic developments in other cities: Many cities are investing more in their digitalization and implementing innovative projects, which leads to a shift in the rankings.
Different evaluation criteria: The weighting and selection of evaluation criteria can change annually, which influences the rankings.
Project durations: The implementation of new digital projects takes time. Delays can have a negative impact on the ranking. Despite these fluctuations, Karlsruhe remains one of the leading smart cities in Germany and is continuously working to expand and improve its digital offerings.

Karlsruhe is implementing numerous smart projects in various areas:

• Smart mobility
• Digital administration
• Smart energy supply
• Smart living
• Smart infrastructure

The development of a smart city poses various challenges of both a technical and social nature:

• High data protection and security requirements
  Municipal administrations work with sensitive citizen data, such as personal information, tax data or social welfare applications. The legal requirements for data protection (e.g. GDPR) are very high, which significantly slows down the development and implementation of digital solutions. Security gaps could have serious consequences, which is why comprehensive security concepts are necessary.
• Heterogeneous IT landscape
  Many local authorities have a historically evolved IT infrastructure with different systems and software solutions. These old systems must first be modernized or completely replaced in order to be compatible with new digital platforms. This system integration is technically challenging and often requires customized solutions.
• Lack of human and financial resources
  Many municipalities have limited financial resources and personnel to drive digitalization forward. There is often a lack of IT experts who can expertly manage such projects. At the same time, many cities and municipalities are under financial pressure, which means that investments in digitalization are often postponed.
• Complex administrative processes
  Administrative processes are often complicated as they are tied to legal requirements and bureaucratic structures. In order to digitize these processes, they must first be analyzed, standardized and in some cases redesigned. This restructuring takes time and can cause resistance within the organization.
• Federal structures in Germany
  Germany’s federal structure means that the federal, state and local governments have different responsibilities and approaches to digitalization. While the federal government often specifies general strategies or funding programs, the federal states and municipalities have to implement these individually, which leads to delays.
• Lack of standardization
  There are still no uniform standards for digital administrative processes, which makes interoperability between different authorities difficult. Each local authority often works with its own solutions, resulting in isolated solutions that are difficult to network.
• Acceptance problems and cultural change
  The digitalization of public administration requires a fundamental cultural change. Employees in the administration must be prepared to adapt to new ways of working and technologies. This does not always meet with approval, especially if habits are deeply rooted or there is a fear of job loss.
• Time-consuming procurement processes
  Public tenders and award procedures for new technologies are often lengthy and bureaucratic. These processes are necessary to ensure transparency and fairness, but delay the introduction of digital solutions.
• High demands on accessibility
  Digital administrative services must be accessible to all citizens – regardless of age, disability or technical know-how. The implementation of such barrier-free solutions is technically and organizationally complex.

• KA feedback: Suggestions and feedback can be submitted via the online platform.
• Participation formats: Regular workshops, hackathons and dialog events offer the opportunity to get involved.
• Pilot projects: Karlsruhe invites citizens to test and evaluate new technologies. One example of this is the Karlsruhe.app.