Post photo: Smart City | © Tumisu on Pixabay
There are 81 in Germany Cities, four of which have more than one million inhabitants. And there is the Smart City Index, which the Digital association Bitkom This year, it is the sixth time that the number has been raised. This year, there are 82 cities, one more than last year, as Hanau has achieved the status of a major city. It is funny that when I was still travelling in the north for work, my Heilbronn license plate was always confused with the Hanau one.
You can think what you want about such indices and especially about such associations, but if you are listed in them yourself, then there is interest, at least some interest - that's why I like to keep such indices for self-promotion (for the publisher).
2022 was the Smart City Index This has already been discussed here in the blog, not because Heilbronn came 53rd out of 81 participants, but because our administration itself came second in the ranking, which almost led to the Heilbronner Stimme publishing a special edition.
Bitkom President Dr. Ralf Wintergerst is now quoted in the 2024 Index as follows: “We are seeing some big leaps forward in individual cities. This shows that every city can become a real smart city. It is also a good sign that the top-ranked cities are not just the very big metropolises."
What is interesting is what Wintergerst means by metropolis, of which Germany is said to have several — he is probably referring to a classification from the 19th century.
Another finding from the index is that cities from Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria and Saxony are particularly good on average, with Freiburg (6th place), Stuttgart (7th) and Ulm (10th) managing to make it into the top ten.
Cities in Baden-Württemberg achieved an average of 74,1 points. In comparison, Munich (1st place) achieved 88,3 points. State capitals and university cities also scored above average.
The really exciting thing about the index, however, is that Heilbronn's administration has lost its second place to Munich, meaning that Heilbronn is no longer among the top ten cities in any subject area.
It is good that at least Freiburg, Heidelberg, Karlsruhe, Stuttgart and Ulm are other Baden-Württemberg cities among the top 10, which, by the way, covers the “smart” (especially in artificial intelligence) in Baden-Württemberg quite well and actually gives the index a bit of seriousness.
As far as my hometown is concerned, I have mixed feelings, because compared to 2022, we have worked our way up from 53rd place to 71,9th place with 38 points and are now between Bielefeld and Wuppertal. However, at least as far as Baden-Württemberg is concerned, we are still a below-average city in terms of education.
By the way, Hanau ranks 81st, ahead of Salzgitter (82nd place), this year's last-place German city.
At least Heilbronn is still the leader in lowland high-tech when it comes to the subject area of “administration”, ranking 14th. In the subject area of “IT and communication” we are ranked 70th, which I can understand myself, in contrast to the subject area of “administration”.
Which convinces me once again that you cannot make a city sustainable with pure Trumpism, parties and celebrations alone!
