Digitising the Big City Opportunities for Economic Growth, Communication and Public Services Hamburg seizes the opportunities technological progress offers to improve the city s quality of life and economic attractiveness. Many government agencies are already in the process of improving their services and making them more accessible through the use of new digital technologies. Many firms and initiatives are developing their own digital public service offerings. The objective of the Senate of Hamburg is to exploit technical innovations to advance the development of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (FHH) as a digital city. It strives to create the conditions for a climate of innovation that promotes the development of modern digital applications and improves the networking between the firms and institutions involved. Through its actions the Senate aspires to initiate, enable and support innovations. To achieve that suitable structures and processes must be developed, access provided, and the interests of citizens considered. Digitisation will become increasingly important in all spheres of society. The Digital City Strategy comprises more than the e-government and IT strategies currently in place, which focus on increasing the efficiency of the administration as well as on the interface to specific customer groups of the administration. Value creation processes in both the economy and citizens everyday life become ever more digitised, and it is the City s duty to shape this development and use it to improve the quality of life and strengthen the economic power of the city. The City will therefore make the opportunities digitisation brings with it an issue in all the suitable initiatives and projects it supports. To ensure the citizens support and trust needed to successfully implement such projects, the Senate will make sure that appropriate participatory processes, IT security, and data protection are in place as required. Areas in which the digitisation of the city has already started: Digital infrastructure: Hamburg s citizens will have adequate access to broadband network offerings which will be provided by private enterprises. The Senate will create the framework conditions to enable the provision of such services. Wireless networks in public spaces throughout the city will make fast-speed internet access available to citizens, tourists and businessmen alike. Digital communication: The Senate will make available digital information about the Senate s and the Administration s actions, whereby digital communication paths such as the Hamburg Transparency Portal will be used more intensively to inform citizens fast and comprehensively. The digitisation of the city can be accomplished only with the support of the citizens, which means that suitable options for participation must be provided for when it comes to developing strategies and implementing projects. Digital public services: Digitisation can substantially contribute to the modernisation of public infrastructures and public transport. Intelligent educational networks and digital services will im- 1
prove and expand access to education for all citizens. That applies to general and vocational schools, community and evening schools as well as universities. Through intelligent control systems the digital era furthermore offers huge potential for energy saving and helps avoid greenhouse gas emissions. In the coming years innovation processes such as the further development of the Internet of Things or the automation of knowledge work will offer further and additional potential for modernisation. Due to the technological know-how digitisation projects require they can only be implemented together with private partners. Besides Dataport, the FHH s public IT services provider, these include major IT and technology companies such as Cisco, that is a party to the Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2014, or Microsoft under the NextCities Initiative as well as small start-ups in the IT industry. Such partnerships guarantee optimum technological standards and enable their further development. In addition the City will exploit and expand its international networks and co-operations to benefit from the experiences made by comparable cities and regions and strive to put Hamburg as a digital city on the international stage. With the support of these partners the City also hopes to secure funds, in particular at the European level. Projects Hamburg is already on the way to becoming a digital city. Administrative services are more easily accessible and increasingly provided in a more user-friendly way. Municipal facilities are introducing digital service offerings. The range of possible projects or projects already under way is wide. Below are some examples of digital-city related measures that are either under way or planned: Digital administration: Hamburg sees itself as a modern administration and has invested a great deal of time and effort to maintain its level of service, which is very high when compared to other German administrations. On the one hand, the aim is to ensure efficient administrative processes so as to be able to provide customers all services in a fast, secure and cost-efficient manner. In this context the administration is currently being restructured whereby IT procedures, which have been used as tools to support administrative work, are being replaced by complex, interconnected procedures that more or less structure the production process (epers/kopers). Digitisation thus no longer is a concern of experts alone, but has become a core element of administrative management. On the other hand, the online service portfolio will be expanded. Hamburg s Ministry of Finance is supporting the digitisation of the government agencies and departments in Hamburg. One of the main prerequisites is to provide a future-oriented, uniform online access platform for both citizens and businesses to be able to process and settle as many administrative activities via the internet as possible. A wide range of services is already available online. More online services will be added and new mobile offerings will be created. Within the administrative structure, the Ministry of Finance is pursuing a strategy that relies on central infrastructure components to move 2
towards fully electronic processes - be it with regard to internal collaboration and workflow coordination or fully electronic record/file management. The open-government activities are aimed at opening up the administration and increasing the interaction with citizens. To ensure that third parties can use and further develop digital information, Hamburg will continue to expand its Open Data Strategy in the coming years. In this context Hamburg s State Archive already operates the Hamburg Transparency Portal and is currently establishing the Digital Archive Nord in conjunction with other North German federal states. Apart from continuing the current activities, the City plans to provide infrastructures in a manner that allows third parties to create additional value in the sense of a smart city. Intelligent traffic management systems: Its highly compact city structure and excellent transport network make Hamburg an attractive place to introduce the new, mostly digitally-supported distribution concepts and develop and apply traffic concepts and the associated smart technologies. This will not only benefit top-technology-producing local companies, but it will also attract new service providers to Hamburg. We will improve mobility within a limited transport area and make transport routes safer for everyone. Intelligent information and communication technologies will considerably contribute to that. Car sharing, semi- or fully autonomous vehicles and multimodal transport by train, car, bus and bicycle are as much items on the agenda as is the interconnecting of infrastructure, vehicle and cargo in the field of logistics. Hamburg already offers intelligent applications such as adaptive traffic signal control systems, real-time information for passengers, transfer synchronisation systems in buses, and parking guidance & information systems. Currently many IT control and guidance systems are developed in isolation, and they will have to be merged in future. To do so, we in Hamburg will digitise and interlink the public transport facilities management network with the traffic management and control system, parking space management system, and passenger and driver information system (data provided to private cars, trucks, bus, trains and ships). The Hamburg State Agency for Traffic and Transport is developing IT systems for abnormal load vehicles and heavy goods vehicles as well as an IT-supported parking space management system with the overall aim to provide car park occupancy data via interfaces to users who can call up the information on the internet, mobile phones and in their vehicles. An intelligent routing system that uses official and administrative data will take account of temporary construction sites and the installation of temporary traffic signs. In addition, sensor data, which can be made available via web services, are valuable and useful data sources for the digital city. The police in Hamburg operate one of the most modern traffic control centres in Europe, which is continuously improved. Hamburger Hochbahn, which runs the underground trains and some bus lines in Hamburg, and the companies that are part of Hamburg s public transit system (HVV) dispose of ultra-modern guidance and real-time information systems. The recently refurbished Vessel Traffic Service Centre of the Hamburg Port Authority is one of the most modern port control centres in Europe. Electronic systems will also be increasingly employed to operate and maintain Hamburg s infrastructure facilities. Hamburg will use its traffic and transport expertise within the administration and public institutions to prepare for and work towards an ITsupported mobility of the future. We will make sure that networked technological solutions will also be advanced by networked organisational solutions, whereby we place a lot of emphasis on close co-operation with the business and scientific community. 3
smartport: Under the smartport project the Hamburg Port Authority (HPA) promotes intelligent port management to ensure sustainable economic growth and optimum conditions for its customers with as little impact on the environment as possible. The HPA strives to increase the efficiency of the port as an important link in the supply chain through digitisation. smartport logistics is stands for smart traffic and trade flow solutions in the Port of Hamburg, taking account of both economic and ecological aspects. An intermodal Port Traffic Centre will integrate the various modes of transport and make traffic flows on water, rail and road more efficient. The centre will pool and process all traffic information collected in the Port of Hamburg and distribute it to users. Transport users and decision makers will then be able to read the information about traffic conditions in the port in real time, enabling them to choose the fastest and most favourable mode of transport to get their goods to the final destination. Establishing intelligent infrastructure (roads, railway tracks and waterways as well as bridges and locks) is imperative to ensure smooth and efficient traffic and trade flows in the Port of Hamburg. Intelligent information technologies such as sensors and embedded systems are used in combination with digital enablers such as e.g. Bluetooth, hotspots or wireless internet, cloud computing, mobile end devices, the Internet of Things and Big Data. Having the relevant information available where and when required will ensure optimum trade flows. To achieve that, all parties in the port must provide as much cargo information as possible. Already existing IT platforms must be interconnected to create added value from the information provided and give logistics services providers, hauliers and agents the opportunity to choose the most efficient mode of transport for their goods. Hamburg Open Online University: The Hamburg Open Online University will make it possible to exploit the manifold options digital technologies offer in the field of university education - for the universities themselves, society and ultimately for the City of Hamburg: For the universities the primary aspect is to increase the quality of studying and teaching by offering problem-oriented digital teaching and learning opportunities for interactive use in addition to traditional classroom teaching. However digital offerings will also gain in importance in postschool non-university training as well as during the transition phase of students at universities to take account of a growing heterogeneity of potential and actual students. The digitisation of university education is a chance to make available university study programmes to external target groups, which opens up new individual educational and career opportunities as well as a chance for universities to attract new target groups in the field of vocational further training. A successful digitisation strategy across the various universities in Hamburg will enhance Hamburg s reputation as a science and business location in a very special way and provide a fresh opportunity to establish new diverse networks not only within the city, but also with other national and international science and business metropolises. The key conceptual elements of the Hamburg Open Online University include a self-developed and self-operated platform shared by all of Hamburg s universities, the development of freely accessible teaching and learning materials (OER - open educational resources content) for a wide range of didactic scenarios as well as the establishment of qualification programme structures (digital qualification) at the universities. Initial implementation steps are planned for as early as 4
the beginning of 2015. Intelligent educational networks: Intelligent educational networks will improve and expand access to educational offerings of general schools. The implementation of future-oriented, intelligent IT infrastructure (intelligent educational networks, education cloud) as well as the digital availability of teaching offerings and learning materials will be promoted. Students and teaching personnel will be able to access digital content stored in the education cloud via the network. In 2014 the first steps towards the implementation of intelligent educational networks were taken under the project taking off into the next generation. At six pilot schools wireless internet was installed to enable students and teachers to access educational resources freely available on the internet during lessons. The pilot project explicitly provides for students to use their own digital end devices and includes the relevant training of the teachers as required. It will be assessed after completion. Furthermore, the transparency and understanding of the offerings available within Hamburg as a digital city can be increased by creating massive open online courses (MOOCs) in collaboration with universities and the IT industry that deal with topics such as smart city, introduction into programming languages and introduction into the development of apps for a range of target groups, e.g. youths and adults. Smart geo data: One of Hamburg s digitisation strategies provides for the provision of digital data to enable informed decision-making and support processes as well as to obtain and disseminate information. Almost all of the data relate to a specific area, i.e. the insights gained from or decisions based on the data refer to a specific area of the city. When it comes to digitising the city, this must be taken account of by using modern and smart technologies. A digitisation strategy will only create added value if area-specific data also match in the digital world. In other words to become a smart city, smart geo data must be available for all aspects of metropolitan life. On the road towards becoming a digital city Hamburg relies on the geo-expertise of the Hamburg State Agency for Geo-Information and Surveying, which will be incorporated into digital processes and e-government applications. The smart geo data provided by the state agency substantially support digital chart-based participation processes, the Melde Michel (online inquiry management system), online urban and landscape planning or 3D-modelling. Smart energy: To ensure the success of the energy transition, intelligent control systems and networks combined with digital infrastructures are a must to manage the generation, distribution and consumption of electricity and heat. This presents Hamburg with technical, economic and societal challenges. How the city copes with them in the coming years will have an impact on its economic performance. An improved, sustainable ecological resource management system includes the development of new technical infrastructures and technologies (virtual power plants, storage units). A demand control management system must be established and volatile, renewable energies must be integrated into supply and distribution grids, which will place higher demand on the operating reserve of grids (to be managed digitally) and must be accounted for in a smart city scenario. Smart energy is a joint project of Hamburg s business community, grid operators, energy generators and specialist government agencies. The Senate will continue to support this strategy in conjunction with the neighbouring federal states. 5
E-culture: Hamburg will create structures and initiate structural changes to help cultural institutions present culture digitally. One example is the event database which Hamburg Tourismus GmbH has developed and implemented with the aim to improve the visibility of and booking options for cultural offerings in the metropolitan region of Hamburg. In order to provide digital access to cultural offerings, overarching technical infrastructure in the form of an e-culture cloud to store and call up digital content will be developed and made available to all of Hamburg s publicly and privately funded cultural institutions. The digitisation projects under way in Hamburg s museums have already resulted in a long list of digitised cultural products that can be made accessible fast and cost-efficiently via central cloud computing. Other pilot projects will generate additional digital content and encourage the development of new offerings. Digital access to cultural content will open up new possibilities of bringing cultural offerings into schools, universities, social facilities and the tourism industry. At the same time there is the chance that Hamburg s creative industry uses the new cultural content to develop new business models. Apart from the abovementioned projects a wide range of projects has been initiated by different government agencies and municipal associations. Hamburg aspires to offer an environment where technological solutions can be tested in practice new so as to improve the service quality and urban life in a manner that is socially and environmentally sound. The activities under the Smart City and Digital City Projects will be placed in an international context under the Horizon 2020 Programme of the European Union. The funding provided by the EU for this kind of activities in the recently started funding period is not insubstantial: the programme provides for grants for smart-city co-operation projects of up to 120% per project (the total grants available Europe-wide amount to 108 million euros) from 2016-2018. Processes and Process Monitoring The digitisation of a big city is a task that involves the city as a whole. It forms part of the responsibilities of the respective specialist authority. All of the FHH s agencies are called upon to integrate digital technology developments and take account of the resulting changes in the economy and society in their respective area of responsibility. Hamburg s economic clusters and in particular start-ups must be involved in the process. Several government agencies and public institutions have already come up with approaches in their respective areas of action. The specialist authorities will be accountable for these and future projects. They are in charge of developing partial strategies regarding the use of digital technologies in their area of responsibility, whereby they must consider IT security issues, adequate consultation processes, data protection and the informational self-determination of the citizens. Besides the individual project responsibility of specialist authorities, a central co-ordination body will be established that is in charge of strategic planning, co-ordination, monitoring and external presentation across government agencies. The Hamburg State Secretary Council will take on the duties of a monitoring and steering group to oversee the digitisation strategy of the Senate. The Hamburg State 6
Chancellery is the Digital City Strategy s face and contact body for strategic partners and the public. Over the years to 2017 a Digital City Co-ordination Office within the Hamburg Senate Chancellery will be established that will co-ordinate the many diverse projects and processes, including those that go beyond the responsibilities of the Administration. Establishment of a Digital City Science Lab In a co-operation between HafenCity Universität Hamburg (HCU) and an international university or research institution renowned in that field, such as e.g. the Media Lab of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a Digital City Science Lab will be set up, with initial funding of 1.19 million euros to be paid until the end of 2018. The Digital City Science Lab will pursue three goals with regard to interdisciplinary urban research and digital city issues: (1) Basic research: The following research fields in interdisciplinary urban research and smart city/ digital city that are of common interest have been identified, which the co-operation will be built on: Methods of the digital city (e.g. city simulations, visualisation of urban development processes, mobile mapping systems, indoor positioning) Technical innovations in civil engineering and urban development (e.g. resource-efficient technologies, façade concepts, electro-mobility, urban mobility) The challenges urban societies face and the design of urban living environments (e.g. products and services of the smart city or eco-city, modelling of cultural and social phenomena, sharing economy, experimental approaches to housing and the design of (city) quarters and green/open spaces, participation, governance, data protection) (2) Applied research: The applied research projects managed in collaboration with the city s realisation partners, in particular the respective specialist authorities in charge, will deal with different urban development issues. The Hamburg urban area with its highly diverse quarters is ideally suited to apply in practice the methods and instruments developed in basic research. The applied research activities of the Digital City Science Lab, which are geared towards accompanying research and the implementation of viable developments, can be focused on different quarters depending on the research interest. This may be current city development sites such as HafenCity, projects such as Upstream on the Elbe and Bille or New Centre Altona and Leap across the Elbe or established quarters. Potential partners to and/or commissioners of applied research projects will be companies as well as government agencies or associations of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg. Businesses and administrations have already expressed their interest, among them several reputable, nationally and internationally active companies. (3) Think-tank consulting: The Digital City Science Lab will expand its own expertise at regular intervals by engaging internationally renowned external scientists. This exchange of knowledge and the collaboration between the parties involved in the basic research projects and applied re- 7
search projects will create a scientific knowledge base - a think tank - in Hamburg, which the City can consult on strategic issues concerning the development of a digital city. The Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg and the Digital City Science Lab can share information in various ways, e.g. in workshops attended by city and lab representatives. The consultation results will be provided to the specialist authorities in a suitable manner. 8