« Smart City » is a current topic that is becoming increasingly important in our modern society.
Pilsen, the Czech sister city of Regensburg, is very active in this area and has already achieved a lot, a digital event was held in April to present the Smart City concept by City Councilor Vlastimil Gola and Mr. Tomáš Cholinský, Director of the Information Technology Administration at City of Pilsen (SITMP).
The goals of SITMP are to make life easier, to develop talent and to inspire companies. To do this, they rely on comprehensive technical education, they’re building up a network and would like to inspire more and more young people from Pilsen for technology and motivate them to study technology in Pilsen.
In 2016, a robotics center was established in Pilsen to stimulate children’s interest in modern technologies in their free time. These are primarily after-school clubs for children, where, for example, they build their own small drones and learn to control them, print components on a 3D printer, and much more. Another important task of the Robotics Center is to support urban kindergarten and elementary school teachers in bringing modern interactive teaching technologies to schools and using them in the classroom. In the future, robotics should be introduced into the classroom either as a compulsory subject or as a supplement and to enrich the regular subjects.
SITMP also works with other organizations, start-ups, secondary schools and universities in the region of Pilsen. Events such as Hackathons, startup weekends or smart festivals are organized.
SITPM is also committed to increasing city security and cybersecurity. Smart technologies are used for this in urban areas and for the simulation of crisis situations. For example, drones support the rescue service and crisis management in Pilsen.
The digital presentation of the City of Pilsen brought together over 30 attendants.
Mayor Gertrud Maltz-Schwarzfischer was very impressed by the Smart City concept of the city of Pilsen: “I think I speak for everyone when I say that we learned a lot today and received very valuable insights! I am sure that this is just the beginning of another enriching exchange in the field of smart cities between our cities! “
It was very important for Mrs. Maltz-Schwarzfischer that not only Regensburg actors can benefit from this exchange of experiences, but also other cities that are dealing with the field of action “Smart City”.
From the Regensburg twin cities, the City of Budavár with Deputy Mayor Ferenc Gelencsér and the City of Clermont-Ferrand with Ms. Hélène Lucchesi, coordinator for international relations, took part in the conference. Member cities of the International Network of Michelin cities, initiated by the City of Clermont-Ferrand, were also represented.
The City of Regensburg is already active in the context of ‘Smart City’ in many ways and, for example, as a selected municipality in a model project of the Free State of Bavaria, is developing an ‘Integrated Digital Development Concept’ for the innovation quarter of the „Prinz-Leopold-Kaserne“ in the east of the city, which is exemplary for the future district development in Regensburg and other cities.
In addition, many innovative or smart projects and solutions are already under development, in trial operation or even in use in Regensburg, for example the electric bus “Emil”, which runs on the old town line, the two Shuttle buses “Emilia” driving autonomously through the industrial park for the last mile or the app “Barrier-free through Regensburg”, which, among other things, projects the guidebook’s pictograms onto the building facades using ‘Augmented Reality’.
Now it is important to jointly shape the advancing digital change in a constantly growing city by means of a strategically well thought-out digital ecosystem and a holistic ‘Smart City Strategy’ and thus make the city sustainable for the future.
Based on a framework strategy already decided by the City Council of Regensburg in 2020 with the first guidelines for a ‘Smart City Regensburg’ and in line with the current urban development plan 2040, the City of Regensburg has set itself ambitious goals to become more and more “smart”.
Therefore, the City of Regensburg took part in the tender of the Federal Ministry of the Interior “Model projects Smart Cities: Urban development and digitization” with a total of 12 impulse projects from the areas of mobility, energy, inclusion, district planning and creative industries in March. The model project offers the City of Regensburg the opportunity to advance digital modernization within the city administration and across all levels of urban development with additional funding.
The ‘Smart City’ process will be set up very comprehensively and the strategy will be developed jointly with the involvement of a broader public. The City of Regensburg is proud to have, as of this year, a Smart City Coordinator, Ms. Franziska Meier, in order to promote this topic sustainably, interdisciplinary and together for and with the people.
The exchange of experiences with other municipalities is an important element, which is why the technical exchange with the Regensburg partner cities in this area should continue after this first Smart City meeting.
For more information:
Smart City Strategy of the City of Pilsen
Information Technology Administration of the City of Pilsen (SITMP) (information only available in Czech)
Robotics Center (information only available in Czech)
