Data is the new treasure for cities

Data is the essence of digital innovation. Its public availability is beneficial for residents, public and private sectors and academia. But it's crucial also for government and administration, which have a key role to play in the development of open data.

As part of this discussion, in 2021, the German Federal Government adopted the second Open Data Act, which expands the obligations of public authorities to make their data available to the general public. The Government sees open data as a key driver behind innovation in Germany and the foundation of a living democracy and a modern society.

The MAtchUP city of Dresden welcomed this proposal and adopted an open data strategy. Thanks to Dresden Open Data Portal citizens have access to multiple data on environment, education, traffic and transport, economy, health, and lots more. It is also possible to find out information about laws, politics, geography and public administration. More data is also provided by public info systems such as the city's thematic map, sensors in schools and other dashboards.

Data gave a real breakthrough: in Dresden residents can find the closest defibrillator, check who's managing their waste, and even which trees are present in the city.

Additionally, the city hosts hackathons for its administrative and development personnel. They jointly determine how to deliver data, what to do with it going forward, and how to enhance the services.

As part of the MAtchUP project, the Saxon Capital is installing several ICT solutions that are completely integrated at the urban level on an open standards platform. Urban platforms are a logical architecture put into practice that combines data flows between municipal systems, makes use of digital technologies sensors, the cloud, mobile apps, and social media.

It is a huge task for the city to provide transparent data, but the open exchange of information between cities and residents can only be advantageous for all parties and speed up the urban digital revolution.

Check out the video to see what Dresden is doing and how open data can improve cities.

Provided by iCube Programme