The collective term smart city describes ideas and concepts for urban spaces that make cities more efficient and thus more climate-friendly and livable through the use of digital technologies.

There is currently no generally accepted definition of a smart city. The central concern in a smart city is to increase the efficiency, effectiveness and resilience of the overall system. This is necessary because more and more people will move into urban areas in the coming decades. Already, more than 50 percent of the world's people live and work in cities. Against this background, cities play an important role in challenges such as climate change as well as demographic change. It is a matter of providing the right resources at the right time within the city. Energy and water supply, mobility and communication technologies are becoming increasingly interconnected in order to meet people's needs precisely. The focus of the smart city is on people and the environment.

In Aachen, there are more and more pilot projects that are already making the "Smart City" a reality. Sensors that monitor water quality in the Westpark pond; a mobility dashboard that guides you past traffic jams to the next available parking space; or the life-saving use of unmanned aerial vehicles during rescue operations: These are all examples of smart city applications from Aachen.

The smart.aachen platform

In late summer 2021, the Thinktank Smart City set out with the smart.aachen initiative to make the many existing solutions for the Smart City Aachen digitally visible: for citizens, innovators from science and industry, and interested parties from other municipalities and regions. Through the smart.aachen platform, we also facilitate exchange and networking for new solution ideas that generate tangible added value for people and the environment through the use of digital technologies. We see ourselves as a driving force in the field of smart city and offer different groups of people the services that are right for them