Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the key topics of the future and will significantly change the way we live and work in the long term. AI also offers great opportunities for cities and municipal companies to improve and speed up services and processes for citizens and companies. Whether in urban and transport planning, public infrastructure, (IT) security, data analysis or day-to-day administrative work, there is potential for innovative and reliable AI applications everywhere. AI is already being used, for example, in flood prevention, traffic and environmental management, automated damage detection for road infrastructure, drone control to support the fire department and deployment planning for the municipal public order service.
The city of Gelsenkirchen is now breaking new ground in development and is funding the establishment of an application center with around five million euros to research and develop precisely such IT solutions.
"Artificial intelligence has long since ceased to be an abstract concept, and it is not just popular applications such as ChatGPT that offer concrete benefits, which we also want to make usable for municipal administrations," explains city councillor Simon Nowack.
And Manfred vom Sondern, CIO of the city of Gelsenkirchen, adds: "This is where we want to start with our application center and launch AI-supported smart city projects for practical use in municipalities."
The Westphalian University of Applied Sciences, which won a Europe-wide tender, is acting as the scientific partner. Other renowned partner organizations in the project are Fraunhofer FOKUS, Fraunhofer IAIS, the Herten-based company Prosoz and the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DKFI).
AI use cases - from data governance to mobility control
DFKI will support the identification of AI use cases, contribute its expertise in data management, the use of AI in mobility planning, administrative services and citizen participation and provide scientific support for projects.
"We are delighted that the city has chosen Westfälische Hochschule as a strategic partner for the application center. We will contribute our entire scientific expertise and experience to the project and develop practical solutions for municipal fields of application," says Prof. Dr. Norbert Pohlmann from the Westphalian University of Applied Sciences.
The measure is part of the pilot project "Gelsenkirchen: The Networked City", which is being funded by the Federal Ministry of Housing, Urban Development and Building (BMWSB) with around 11.5 million euros until the end of 2025 as part of the "Smart Cities Model Projects" funding program. The funding programme aims to support municipalities with digitalization and digital urban development. The Gelsenkirchen model project comprises seven measures and runs under the motto "Together. Intelligent. Networked."