For smart cities and regions worth living in, digitalisation offers the opportunity to tackle major municipal challenges such as climate protection, mobility and the heating transition. At the 4th Congress of Model Projects Smart Cities (MPSC) held on 23 and 24 April 2024 in Leipzig, approaches for smart cities and regions became visible from which all municipalities in Germany can benefit.

Around 230 participants from local authorities, politics, urban development and research came together in Leipzig for the Congress. It became clear that networks such as the Smart Cities model project community are the basis for smart solutions that create added value for all cities and regions in Germany.

It is a clear factor of success if the municipal authorities support the goal of smart development of a municipality and recognise this added value. This certainly applies to Burkhard Jung, Mayor of Leipzig, who set the mood for the participants with inspiring welcome words: “Data is the foundation of the digital city. This data should serve people in order to improve the quality of life in the city. Urban data is used sensibly when it creates added value for the administration itself and for citizens, science and business!”

In addition to the presentation of the Leipzig Energy Map, the City of Leipzig’s Energy Transition Dashboard was also presented at the MPCS Congress. This was developed as open source software so that it can be replicated and used by other municipalities. The dashboard displays the existing electricity-producing plants, such as PV, wind power, CHP and biomass plants. The necessary data is obtained from the German market master data register.

The MPSC Congress provided the digital energy tools with a platform that further increased their reach and awareness. This not only publicly confirms the city’s intention to establish digital solutions for the energy transition and the implementation of climate protection measures, but also emphasises to other municipalities the willingness to share existing solutions and collaborate on joint projects.