Digital events - »Morgenstadt – City of the Future«

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The Fraunhofer "Morgenstadt Initiative" strives to think ahead, develop and test innovations for the city of tomorrow. In the digital event series, members and interested parties were given an insight into current developments, ongoing projects and the latest findings. Representatives from cities and industry had the opportunity to get to know the Morgenstadt network better. The event series was divided into different thematic workshops and keynote speeches, which could be attended independently of each other. 

Within the digital event series, current issues regarding the future planning of cities were discussed. The presentations and workshops primarily addressed topics related to the digitalisation of municipalities, such as approaches to municipal data sovereignty or data-based approaches in urban data management, as well as current municipal challenges and "good practice" solutions within the sustainable and resilient planning and transformation of urban systems. In addition, various funding opportunities at national and European level (Horizon 2020) were presented and discussed with the participants. 

With the digital event series "Morgenstadt - City of the Future", our experts offered the members of the Morgenstadt initiative and all interested parties a platform for exchange and networking on the latest findings, ongoing projects and funding programmes.

 

FINAL REPORT

Events in the digital series

Impulse lectures

News from the Morgenstadt

At the kick-off event of the digital event series, Fraunhofer IAO experts gave first insights into the results of the Morgenstadt survey on the "Impact of the Corona Pandemic on the Development of Municipalities and Districts in Germany". Interested participants were also given an overview of upcoming events and further insights into the latest developments of the Morgenstadt network.

Horizon Europe and National Funding Programmes

The scientists of the Morgenstadt Initiative invited to discuss the "Horizon Europe" funding programme within this event.  The experts of the Morgenstadt network presented a new application idea for the cluster "Climate, Energy and Mobility" and aimed to initiate an exchange about new project ideas and cooperation possibilities. In addition, national funding programmes were discussed and opportunities for cooperation were identified (in German). 

Urban Development Initiative Eindhoven – Brainport Region

The Urban Development Initiative in Brainport Eindhoven develops disruptive and integrated innovations within the fields of urban development and building. The emergence of the energy-neutral push and the digital revolution in these two sectors will play an important role. UDI for now focusses on three programs: Digital City, Building Industry 4.0 and Energy Transition.

Thematic workshops

Future Public Space

What are the future development perspectives for public spaces? Based on this question, the experts from the Fraunhofer IAO presented a study conducted as part of the innovation partnership "City Centres 2030+|Future Public Space". After the presentation of the study results, the participants had the opportunity to exchange views on the topic and to ask questions and make comments.

Urban Data Partnership

During this workshop, the responsible Morgenstadt experts reported on the current results of the innovation partnership "Urban Data Partnership", which supports Morgenstadt cities in their digital transformation and deals with topics such as data mapping, data quality and data sovereignty. Afterwards, different formats of cooperation and a further development of the project were put up for discussion by the participants. During the workshop, relevant topics and needs for a new edition of the programme were collected and evaluated.

MGI Event Integrated Planning for Resilient Cities

In the morning city "Global Smart Cities Initiative" workshop, we were able to discuss the topic of integrated planning for resilient cities with representatives of the international partner cities Piura, Saltillo and Cochin. Currently, MGI is conducting trials through so-called City Labs on the topic of resilient cities in partner cities in Peru, Mexico and India. Within the workshop, current best practices should be shared with the participants and a general exchange about tested approaches should be stimulated.

Innovation Programme Climate Neutral Cities

Within the Climate Neutral Cities innovation programme, municipalities and science work together to accelerate the implementation of CO2-neutral cities. For this purpose, the first building block in the cooperation of Fraunhofer IAO, ISE and IMW as well as five other partner municipalities in spring 2021 was the project "Urban Transformation Pathways to Climate Neutrality (UTK)". In the IKNS workshop, the experts presented the tools and methodologies of the project, discussed current challenges of municipalities on the way to climate neutrality and discussed cooperation possibilities with the participants.

Workshop Small and Medium-Sized Cities

Since experience has shown that many cities are confronted with similar challenges regarding the transformation of urban spaces and that there is often a lack of structured exchange, the experts of the Fraunhofer IAO offered a platform for the exchange of experiences within this workshop. The participants were presented with current funding programmes that could be exciting for their city and the possibility of consolidating an exchange with like-minded people was kept open.

Data Competence Center for Cities and Regions

The "Data Competence Centre for Cities and Regions (DKSR)" is a new open source offering of the Fraunhofer Morgenstadt Initiative to support cities and regions with infrastructure, technology and know-how for data-based transformation. In the webinar, participants learned why the DKSR is a fundamental innovation in the smart city market and how municipalities can benefit from it. The webinar was followed by an exclusive workshop for members of the Morgenstadt Urban Data Community to jointly develop the community's governance model and to share data models and use cases.