Overview

The Smart City Academy is a free, practice-oriented continuing education programme for municipal staff across Germany, developed as part of the Coordination and Transfer Office for the Model Projects Smart Cities (KTS) under the Federal Ministry for Housing, Urban Development and Building (BMWSB). The Academy offers modular, virtual training formats on the planning, governance and implementation of smart city solutions — covering digital transformation strategy, smart technologies, innovation methods, impact measurement and legal frameworks.

RSUP contributed to the Academy through curriculum development in collaboration with a small expert group, drawing on experience as Professor at the Einstein Center Digital Future and TU Berlin. Contributions include the foundational lecture series Fundamentals of Digitalisation, the elective module Toolkit for the Successful Planning and Implementation of Smart City Projects: Foresight, Scrum & Col, and the co-development of the module From Pilot Project to Game-Changer: Scaling Smart City Solutions Effectively.

Approach

Curriculum development combined academic rigour with applied practice. The modular structure is calibrated to different levels of prior knowledge and interest, enabling municipal practitioners to build competencies directly applicable to their daily work. Modules address core questions such as which digital solutions are relevant for a given municipality, how smart technologies can be deployed sustainably and economically, and how new working methods and governance models can support implementation. All formats are designed as virtual offerings to maximise accessibility across Germany's municipalities.

Outcomes

The Smart City Academy provides a scalable, institutionally embedded knowledge transfer infrastructure for Germany's smart city ecosystem. By equipping municipal staff with practical competencies at no cost, it strengthens the implementation capacity of the 73 model municipalities and the broader national network of over 11,000 municipalities. The curriculum contributes directly to the long-term goal of enabling sustainable, inclusive and data-driven urban transformation across Germany.

Client

Federal Ministry for Housing, Urban Development and Building (BMWSB), Germany (via KTS / Smart City Dialog)

Partner

KWB (project partially delivered during tenure)

DLR PT

Fraunhofer IESE

Timeline

2024 – ongoing