For Potsdam, 'smart' means exchanging ideas both within the city and with other municipalities in order to learn from each other. Many challenges also affect neighbouring municipalities in the Berlin/Brandenburg metropolitan region. The Smart City Potsdam working group (AG Smart City Potsdam) is thinking of digital solutions in a connected way for the region and is contributing to unlocking regional potentials.
A Smart Region Manager has been appointed within the AG Smart City to work closely with regional partners towards the goal of becoming a Smart Region. Through a Letter of Intent (LOI) process, successful partners have been recruited.
These include:
- District of Havelland
- District of Potsdam-Mittelmark
- District of Teltow-Fläming
- City of Ludwigsfelde (RWK)
- City of Luckenwalde (RWK)
- City of Bad Belzig (MPSC)
- DigitalAgentur Brandenburg
This has formed a core group, which will grow organically step by step and incorporate new partners.
Through workshops and working meetings, we have successfully moved from abstract ideas to concrete projects, defining and starting the implementation of two sub-projects.
Regio.hub: Regional LoRaWAN and Innovation Mobile for Potsdam and the region
Water is an important resource that can either be in excess or in shortage in times of climate change. Monitoring and managing it is one of the challenges of our time. To conduct regional data collection on water, we have launched the sub-project 'LoRaWAN for sustainable regional water management'.
The Potsdam municipal utilities are supporting us in implementing the LoRaWAN and Urban Data Platform (UDP) sub-measures. Together, the created infrastructure and services will be scaled to the region. Specifically, the goal is to acquire Smart City Potsdam technology and deploy it outside of Potsdam, while also covering operational and maintenance costs for the technology until the end of 2026. The regional water data collected will be centrally collated and made accessible on the Urban Data Platform of the state capital Potsdam (LHP). This will enable future measures in the field of environmental and climate protection.
Digitalisation and urban and regional development are complex topics that are not immediately tangible for most of society. Not everyone has access to them, and we aim to address this issue with the Innovation Mobile.
With the mobile, we bring experts and prototypes that can be touched and tested on-site, making innovation tangible. Through discussions and participatory formats, we will highlight the connections to people's everyday lives and current societal challenges.
We also offer formats to strengthen digital skills and social participation in a target group-appropriate manner. We aim to be close to people's everyday spaces.
The 'Smart City finds the city' approach is being expanded to include the region, particularly the rural areas. Accordingly, other municipalities are invited to make use of the mobile! The mobile will be deployed for specific events, such as festivals, weekly markets or regular visits to towns.
The first testing formats will take place in 2025.
Contact AG Smart City: AG-Smart-City@rathaus.potsdam.de
