Smart Cities enhanced by the Data Act

In today's podcast, we delve into the remarkable journey of Daniel
Stölzle and the Mainzer Stadtwerke, a utilities company in Mainz,
Germany, as they embarked on a transformative digital adventure.
They established a "public data factory" in collaboration with
DKSR, a startup offering an open-source data platform designed
exclusively for municipalities. This and other ventures were fueled
by Mainz's new tax revenues from the Covid vaccine producer,
BioNTech, which were partly reinvested into digital projects.
Despite lacking expert knowledge, Stölzl's fearless approach drove
the project forward, underlining the belief that "the smart in
smart city always has to be the people." The initiative began with
a focus on air quality to meet EU regulations, emphasizing that
data quality is a critical success factor. It evolved from manually
collecting data at nine locations across Mainz every 14 days to
becoming a sophisticated data-driven operation. This effort was
certified by TÜV after a small but significant test convinced the
city that its utility company should expand its services to include
data. A notable achievement is a mobility project that identified a
60% misuse of parking slots reserved for electric vehicles, thanks
to over 100 charging points equipped with additional sensors.
Stölzle successfully persuaded his CEO to invest in data collection
without a predefined business case, highlighting the importance of
starting with a detailed analysis of potential gains for each
stakeholder, achieving small successes, and fostering trusted
environments for data sharing between city organizations. This
story exemplifies overcoming challenges in data sharing due to
trust issues and legal restrictions, setting a precedent for how
utilities can innovate beyond traditional services