The Governing Mayor of Berlin, Michael Müller, has set up a Smart City Strategy Advisory Board and named its members – including ECDF Professor Jochen Rabe. The advisory board, each of which consists of four representatives from the city's science, business and administration sectors, will accompany and provide impetus for the strategy development supported by the Federal Ministry of the Interior in the Smart City Call. This is an important first step towards involving the urban community in the future development of digital infrastructure and exemplary pilot projects.
"With the support of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, we will be able to launch important future projects in the coming years and make Berlin a more liveable place in a smart way. I would like to thank everyone who has contributed their time and knowledge to accompany the process and look forward to working with them," says Michael Müller, Governing Mayor of Berlin.
Jochen Rabe is excited about the work on the advisory board and points to the large pool of knowledge at the Einstein Center Digital Future (ECDF) that is relevant to the Smart City. "Our interdisciplinary approach is exactly what is urgently needed for sustainable integrated urban development. I am therefore very pleased to be part of the Smart City's strategy advisory board and at the same time to have the ECDF and my many great colleagues as a unique source of inspiration and expertise to make Berlin even smarter," he says.
Dr. Frank Nägele, State Secretary for Administration and Infrastructure Modernization: "Climate neutrality by 2050, modern administrative structures, less traffic with a growing population: Berlin faces many challenges that we can better master with a modern, digital infrastructure. The process of change requires the participation of everyone. I am pleased that we now have a strategy advisory board that brings in a wide range of perspectives and whose knowledge and experience we can draw on in the future.
Nicolas Zimmer, Chairman of the Board of the Technology Foundation Berlin: "At CityLAB, we have benefited greatly in recent months from an advisory board that has accompanied our work in a very knowledgeable and constructive manner. Our projects have benefited from the suggestions and have been greatly supported in their communication. I am pleased that the members of this advisory board, together with other representatives* of the city society, have been appointed to the new SmartCity Strategy Advisory Board".
With the establishment of the strategy advisory board, the first formal step from the model project application, with which Berlin was successful in the context of a Smart City Call to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, has been implemented. The funding commitment was made on 08.09.2020. The state of Berlin will provide around 6 million euros over the next seven years to get Berlin on the road to Smart City. In addition, it will receive funding from the Federal Ministry of the Interior in the amount of around 11 million euros for this period.
The new advisory board is made up of members:
Dr. Anna Becker (vhw - Federal Association for Housing and Urban Development)
Geraldine de Bastion (Connective/re:publica)
Ulrike Huemer (Director of the City Council of Linz)
Melanie Humann (Dresden University of Technology)
Jutta Lautenschlager (Govmen GmbH)
Lena-Sophie Müller (Initiative D 21)
Walter Palmetshofer (Open Knowledge Foundation)
Professor Jochen Rabe (Einstein Center Digital Future)
Christian Rickerts (State Secretary in the Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Businesses)
Professor Sven Ripsas (Berlin School of Economics and Law)
Sabine Smentek (State Secretary in the Senate Department of the Interior and Sport)
Oliver Schruoffenegger (district councilor in Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf)
Thomas Stellmach (tspa)
Sebastian Stietzel (Berlin Chamber of Industry and Commerce)
Professor Olga Willner (Berlin University of Applied Sciences)
Gerry Woop (State Secretary in the Senate Department for Culture and Europe)