Smart Government Academy Bodensee
Under the keyword “Smart City”, of which “Smart Government” is a partial aspect, innovative concepts that use modern technologies aim at a holistic networking of physical, digital, public and private habitats in order to create a high quality of life for the population with minimal resource consumption. In addition to the emergence of new technologies that put pressure on change on public administration, there are also external challenges arising from political changes. This includes, for example, the mandate to advance the digital transformation of the administration, which has been verified by all European Member States in the form of the “Tallinn Declaration of eGovernment”. Similar supportive legal bases are also driving countries’ efforts towards digital transformation: In Germany, this includes the implementation of the Online Access Act (OZG), on the basis of which a total of 575 administrative services must be digitised by 2022. Taking into account the high importance of digitalisation, the Federal Ministry for Digitalisation and Business Location was re-created in Austria at the beginning of 2018. At the state level, the Vorarlberg State Parliament decided on the Digital Agenda Vorarlberg, which in the coming months and years sets priorities in the digital transformation. Digitalisation initiatives are also being launched in Switzerland at the federal level, which are reflected, among other things, in the Federal Council’s resolutions on the “Digital Switzerland” strategy with the corresponding “Digital Switzerland Action Plan”. This results in work initiatives at cantonal level such as the IT reform package in the canton of St.Gallen or at the level of municipalities such as the St.Gallen test field in the city of St.Gallen. In this context, nine cities and municipalities and 4 universities around Lake Constance have come together in this project to provide a platform for the systematic exchange of knowledge and experience on Smart Government and its topics with the “Smart Government Akademie Bodensee”. Each of the nine project partner cities and communities participates with at least one project in the field of “Smart Government”. The aim is to create a differentiated project portfolio that reflects the diverse initiatives in the Lake Constance region. During the entire project period, the course of each project in our portfolio is accompanied, scientifically reflected and documented by four research institutes from the Lake Constance region from conception to implementation. The aim is to give both the projectors and the general public a compact overview, among other things in the form of practical reports on the experiences in the individual Smart Government projects. In joint workshops and conferences, the results are presented and discussed with all project partners. The entire Lake Constance region thus takes up a forward-looking topic together and establishes itself as a pool of knowledge on the topic of “Smart Government”. Innovative approaches also allow participating cities and municipalities to attract innovative applicants in the long run and offer progressive solutions for Lake Constance as an economic region for their location.