Due to the rapid pace of change and the vast range of possibilities, it’s easy to lose track somewhere between Web 1.0 and Web 4.0. Effective communication via social media, combined with traditional channels to reach citizens, is crucial for the success of your projects today. But these aren’t the only channels through which you should communicate. This seminar will clear up the fog of possibilities and introduce you to new alternatives for both internal and external communication.

Learning Content:

• Introduction to Strategic Communication
• Fundamentals of Online Communication
• Collaborative Work with Social Networks
• Engaging Your Own Employees
• Develop a Digital Campaign for Your Digital Project

Both data protection and data security in Smart City projects are recurring reasons for concerns, lack of acceptance, and in the worst case, the failure or abandonment of Smart City projects and ideas. However, these concerns are often unfounded, as both topics are fundamental building blocks of any Smart City.
This seminar provides participants with a solid understanding of these essential areas. We will show you possible paths to project success and how to turn critics into supporters. Coping strategies will help participants successfully implement projects within their own organizations.

Learning Content:

The Requirements of the DSGVO:

• Legal Basics
• Categorization of Affected Data and When Consent from Affected Individuals is Required
• The Right Data Processing Strategy (Privacy Policy, Data Processing Agreement, and Objection Management)
• Handling the Topics in Practice

Not only is the communication infrastructure changing, but so are the data. They are the new raw materials of the 21st century.

The problem is that, due to market dynamics, municipal decision-makers are often unaware of the value of their local data. However, the availability of public and municipal information plays a crucial role. Open data, as an economic and service tool for accessing non-sensitive public data, will be essential in the future. The fields of application are already numerous, and it’s becoming difficult to keep track.

We provide you with an introduction and show you approaches on how to leverage Open Data and your own data for your benefit.

Learning Content:

• Data and Data Management
• Ten Principles of Open Government Data
• The Potential of Open Data
• Focus of Open Data and Data Protection
• Implementation of Open Data (Data Protection Law and Data Ethics)
• Best Practice Examples in Germany and Europe

The Digital Twin forms the foundation for the municipality of the future and makes your urban planning more sustainable. A Digital Twin enables you to precisely capture and categorize your object data—such as carrier infrastructures, control cabinets, traffic light poles, street signs, and more. It also allows you to determine surface characteristics and run simulations (e.g., for stormwater management).
But what do municipalities or public entities need to consider when implementing this technology?
This seminar offers an introduction to the technical basics and aims to answer the following questions with you:
– How does a survey using advanced special cameras and laser scanners work?
– What happens during the capture of your municipality’s surroundings and street space?
– How should you handle professional 3D digital data, and what applications can you benefit from?
– What are the practical use cases for a Digital Twin?
– How can the collected data be integrated into your GIS?
– What does the entire process from planning to final product look like?

Learning Content:

• Applications
• Use of the Collected Data
• use
• Process from Planning to Final Product

The future is digital – and digital skills are the driving force behind it.

As municipalities undergo transformation, public administration faces the challenge of providing user-oriented, efficient, and innovative services. Knowledge must be more strongly networked and shared. In the future, new digital skills will be essential.

In this seminar, we raise your awareness of the necessary skills – and work with you to develop a plan for your portfolio.

Learning Content:

• Fundamentals of Urban Digitalization and Its Impact on Human Resource Development
• Introduction to the World of Work 4.0
• Identifying Required Digital Skills
• Learning and Working in the Digital World
• Dealing with Home Office
• Digital Transformation in Mindsets
• Agile Process and Project Management
• Essential ICT Skills – The Modern Workplace
• TEAMS Communication
• New Applications: Cloud, VPN, Internet of Things, and Services
• Closing Group Exercise:
  Escape Room – Solving Smart City Scenarios Digitally

The development and implementation of Smart City projects require significant personnel capacity and expertise. As a new cross-cutting topic, this expertise is often not yet established within municipal organizational structures. As a result, there is a lack of knowledge in areas such as European procurement procedures and modern process approaches, which can lead to the failure or delay of Smart City initiatives.
This seminar presents participants with strategies for optimizing procurement management to acquire the necessary services and structure internal processes. It also explores how outsourcing can support project work while maintaining sufficient control at the municipal level.

Learning Content:

• Procuring Essential Services through Optimized Procurement Management
• Process Structuring
• Outsourcing Project Work

Work within organizations is constantly evolving, as organizations themselves must continuously adapt. Smart City initiatives introduce a completely new dimension of cross-cutting topics that will fundamentally transform the organizational structures of public administration.
Change management can be understood as a craft focused on designing tailored transformation processes in the context of Smart City developments.
In this eight-hour expert seminar, participants will explore the necessity of change management, identify critical success factors, and address how to deal with resistance within their own organizations.

Learning Content:

• Change Management – What It Really Means
• Barriers and Resistance
• Success Factor: People – Effective Leadership in Times of Change
• Success Factor: Vision – Setting Motivating Goals
• Success Factor: Communication – Preventing and Overcoming Resistance
• Success Factor: Participation – Involving Those Affected
• Success Factor: Qualification – Targeted Staff Development

The expert seminar “Data Instead of Guessing” provides in-depth insights into how data-driven processes can be established in both the private sector and public administration. The seminar focuses on the use of data for decision-making and the prerequisites that need to be created to enable this. Organizational, technical, and social aspects must all be taken into account.
From building a data culture to implementing data-based decisions, the seminar presents and discusses successful strategies and best practices.
It is aimed at executives and employees in municipal authorities who are interested in improving data literacy and data management within their organizations.

Learning Content:

• Data Culture
• Efficient Data Management
• Data-Based Decision-Making

The future of Smart Cities belongs to intelligent carrier infrastructures—such as modern lighting systems, smart urban furniture, or guidance systems. These infrastructures serve as the eyes, ears, and sensory networks of every pedestrian zone. They are key assets for all data management systems within city administrations, collecting crucial data for controlling and managing public spaces.
This seminar aims to provide a foundational understanding of the digital transformation of public infrastructure. It explores how the renewal and enhancement of infrastructures can be designed, which technologies are used, and how they can be effectively integrated into existing systems.
What innovations are being applied? What does meaningful connectivity between infrastructures look like for a digital future—and what are the benefits and drawbacks?
Our experts not only answer these questions but also provide blueprints from national and international projects.

Learning Content:

• Renewal and Enhancement of Infrastructures
• Technologies
• Integration into Existing Infrastructure
• Innovations
• Meaningful Networking of Infrastructures
• Best Practice Examples

Smart City projects are often financed or initiated through funding programs—and funding is indeed the right tool in this context. It serves both as an initial spark for innovation and as a mechanism that requires municipalities to implement Smart City projects strategically.
Additional key benefits include improved public image and the opportunity to broaden perspectives beyond local boundaries.
However, involvement in funding programs also brings strict regulations regarding the procurement of services and the use of funds. These requirements directly affect project timelines and coordination between administrative stakeholders and funding agencies. This complexity is often overlooked or underestimated in project planning.
There are numerous legal pitfalls related to public funding that must be considered.
This seminar provides participants with an overview of the obligations that come with funded projects. It also offers practical guidance and valuable tips from real-world funding experience.

Learning Content:

• The Application Process
• The Disbursement Process
• Use of Funds
• Die Nachprüfung der Mittelverwendung
• Procurement Law Implications for the Acquisition of Services
• State Aid Regulations

Data forms the foundation for many applications—ranging from artificial intelligence and autonomous driving to sustainable climate management. However, this requires a powerful IoT infrastructure capable of collecting data in public spaces and combining it across platforms.
As early as 2017, market researchers at Gartner predicted that by 2020, 20 billion IoT devices would be connected online. Since then, the adoption of IoT technology has met—and, due to the pandemic, even exceeded—these expectations. The number of companies and cities investing in the Internet of Things continues to grow rapidly as technology advances.
Today, the challenge is no longer the technology itself, but rather the value creation derived from vast amounts of data. To get the most out of their IoT investments, all stakeholders must align several key factors within their strategies.
What does the data lifecycle look like, and how does the value chain of data-driven services function?
What governance frameworks and technological requirements are needed to generate data-based value?
This seminar provides insights into concrete use cases and comprehensive blueprints from both national and international projects.

Learning Content:

• Data Lifecycle
• Value Chain
• Framework Conditions
• Technological Requirements
• Concrete Use-Cases
• Best Practice Examples