At the beginning of this year, the EU project Smarter Together entered a new phase. After three years of developing and implementing smart city solutions, the focus is now on learning from previous experiences.
The focus is on questions like these:
- Are the solutions accepted by citizens?
- What works and what doesn’t?
- What should we pay attention to in the future?
Using the collected data, the project team aims to systematically monitor and analyze the social, economic, and ecological impacts. The goal is to apply the tested solutions in other districts in Munich and across Europe in the future. Knowledge exchange with the European partner cities has been a central component of the project since its inception. Smarter Together and is now gaining even more importance, according to a press release.
Smarter Together aims to involve citizens in the process
Clemens Baumgärtner, Minister for Labor and Economic Affairs, says:
"Cooperation and exchange are crucial prerequisites for successful cooperation, both within our own city and at the European level. Becoming smarter together through Smarter Together means that we involve citizens and take them along on the path to becoming a smart city. It also means that we learn from the experiences of our project partners and share our experiences with them."
The goal of the EU project is to find answers to future questions of urban development with the help of the latest technologies and intelligent use of data. This should improve the quality of life and sustainability in Europe's cities in the long term.
The project's core areas are IT technologies, mobility, energy, and citizen participation. In 2015, the EU Commission selected Munich, along with Lyon and Vienna, to develop and test such smart city solutions by 2021. The Munich project area is Neuaubing-Westkreuz/Freiham.
