Dortmund, in Germany, kick-started its Smart City initiative back in 2016. While not all the projects under this umbrella have reached their final stages, the city is already reaping the rewards. ‘Allianz Smart City’ (Smart City Alliance), as the administration dubbed it, has focused on creating an ecosystem of public and private collaboration to deliver on digitalisation, sustainable mobility and boosting the local economy.

Now in 2022, the North-Western German city has come out ahead in many regards, with the administration already adopting full electric mobility and fostering a holistic and supportive start-up and SME (Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises) infrastructure, from taking projects from local universities to private investors.

In late 2021, Dortmund was named the European Capital of Innovation, beating out cities that could be considered to have more international clout like Dublin. Furthermore, the EU Commission named it among the first 100 cities to receive support in becoming climate-neutral cities by 2030.