German municipalities demand permanent Smart City infrastructure and funding

German municipalities are facing a critical turning point in digitalization as federal funding programs for Smart City pilot projects expire. Six major organizations, including Bitkom and the German Association of Cities (Deutscher Städtetag), have issued a joint position paper calling for permanent financing, mandatory technical standards, and streamlined procurement processes to transition from isolated pilot projects to reliable, large-scale digital infrastructure.

In North Rhine-Westphalia, the city of Dortmund is undergoing a significant IT transformation, planning to replace its legacy HCL Notes email system with the Delos-Cloud by the end of 2027. This move is part of a broader effort to modernize administrative structures. However, a survey of municipalities in the region highlights a growing tension regarding digital sovereignty: while 92 percent of administrations rely on external software or cloud providers, 82 percent view this dependency critically.