Quo vadis, digitalization? The digital association Bitkom asks German cities this question every year and then creates a ranking. These are the results for 2024.
It is often said that nothing remains untouched by the digital revolution. But it is often apparent that development in Germany is progressing at a snail's pace. In order to create a basis for comparison within Germany, the digital association Bitkom annually surveys the degree of digitization of German cities in the Smart City Index. Five categories are examined: administration, IT and communication, energy and environment, mobility and society and education. Here are this year's results.
Munich maintains its position as a digital pioneer on German soil and is expanding its lead in the Smart City Index 2024. The digital association Bitkom draws this conclusion from the current evaluation. Hamburg and Cologne also consistently hold their own in the top three. In the overall ranking of major German cities, there are movements, especially beyond the top places: Bochum has moved up from eleventh to fourth place, while Aachen has fallen from fifth to eleventh place. New in the top 10 are Freiburg im Breisgau (six) and Lübeck (eight).
Extreme variation in individual category top positions
With 88.3 out of 100 possible points, Munich continues to lead all other cities in the IT and communication category. Hamburg was also able to improve, but the gap to Munich increased to 86.2 points despite an increase. With 83.2 points, Cologne not only secured third place in the overall ranking, but also first place in the digital administration category for the first time.
But there are also leaders in the lower places: Düsseldorf, in 17th place in the overall ranking, leads the society and education category for the first time, while Ingolstadt (23rd place) surprisingly takes first place in the energy and environment category. Berlin, in 28th place in the overall ranking, achieved a new record in the mobility category with the maximum number of points of 100. Despite weaker overall rankings, these cities show that they can also be pioneers of digitalization in some areas.
Promoters and relegators: movement in the overall ranking
Reutlingen was able to make up the most ground in the overall ranking, moving up 27 places to 51st place. Potsdam is also showing significant progress: the Brandenburg state capital climbed 21 places to 27th place, making it one of the biggest winners of the year. Würzburg and Ingolstadt were also able to improve significantly, gaining 19 places each. Saarbrücken also made a significant leap forward, improving by 17 places to 49th place.
On the other hand, there are also clear losers in the ranking. Siegen fell the most, with a loss of 18 places to 68th place. Offenbach am Main and Mannheim also lose significantly: Offenbach slips 16 places to 72nd place, Mannheim loses 15 places and is now in 30th place. Erlangen also loses 15 places and is now in 66th place. Remscheid, which is in 80th place is also one of the cities that has fallen significantly behind and is now only just ahead of Salzgitter, which is at the bottom.
For this year's Smart City Index, over 13,000 data points from 82 German cities were collected and evaluated. The data comes from the five categories and was provided by the municipalities. With a response rate of 99 percent, almost all German cities took part in the survey.
From (fski/spot)
