This year, the digital ranking “Smart City Index” evaluated which German cities are ahead in terms of digitization based on five subject areas. The winning city from previous years retained its first place – but only just. Other cities have already increased their level more significantly. Read more about this at TECHBOOK.
What is the Smart City Index?
Since 2019, the digital ranking Smart City Index has published detailed research results on the subject of digitization in German cities. The main focus is on innovations for a simplified everyday life, for example through mobile sharing offers, digital citizen services or smart traffic lights. The sender is the Berlin market research institute Bitkom Research.
Ranking of the state of digitization of cities
Where is the biggest digital development? Which city produces the most important trends, where are citizens given the most support with the help of digitized processes? In order to provide reliable answers, the digital ranking has defined 36 official indicators, which are used to examine around 81 major cities (i.e. cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants) in a total of five subject areas. These are administration, IT and communication, energy and environment, mobility and society.
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The 2022 ranking: Hamburg back in first place
A somewhat surprising first place, at least at first glance. Because Hamburg has been at the top of the Smart City Index ranking for four years now. However, the lead of the Hanseatic city has become smaller. The reason for this is the upward trend in further placements. Munich made it to a good second place this year, only 0.8 points away from Hamburg. Nevertheless, Dresden has probably made the most significant leap forward: not even listed in the top 10 in 2021, Dresden ended up in third place this year.
The 10 most digital cities in Germany at a glance
- Hamburg (86.1 points)
- Munich (85.3 points)
- Dresden (81.6 points)
- Cologne (79.4 points)
- Stuttgart (78.1 points)
- Nuremberg (77.6 points)
- Aachen (77.3 points)
- Bochum (77.0 points)
- Dusseldorf (76.6 points)
- Darmstadt (75.3 points)
“Enormous digital drive in Germany”
Overall, Bitkom President Achim Berg sees a consistently positive development and strong momentum – there is an “enormous digital drive” in Germany, he explains in a press release on the Smart City Index. No city fell behind compared to the previous year. But the speed at which the level is increased varies.
“The tip has become wider,” summarizes the expert. According to this, last year Hamburg, the permanent first place, led four of the five categories examined. This year, on the other hand, a different city received the most points in each individual category. The individual results are in the investigation documentation, which you can read about this link can download, visible for each city.