• How quickly can floodgates be opened or closed in the event of a disaster?
• How can I heat or cool a classroom while improving the air without opening the window?
• How do I know if there are still free spaces in forest parking lots?
• Who will help me on my way through the city or region with information to get to my destination using different forms of mobility?
• How can you visualize all of these scenarios along with all of the data that is generated?

All these questions can now be answered in the permanent exhibition "Smart Living - City of Your Future" in the Wortreich world of knowledge and experience in Bad Hersfeld.

On Saturday, 04.03.23, the Hessian Minister for Digital Strategy and Development Prof. Dr. Kristina Sinemus and the Mayor of Bad Hersfeld Anke Hofmann opened the first element of the SMART REGION Hub. Hofmann also gave a preview of the plans for further elements of the SMART REGION Hub in the wortreich after the welcome:

1. Permanent exhibition:
   The Wortreich world of knowledge and experience in Bad Hersfeld was chosen for the interactive special exhibition "Smart Life - City of Your Future". Exhibits are available on various smart city topics such as parking, traffic, disaster control, energy, street lighting or data platforms, which visitors can use to try out and understand how smart solutions work in a concrete and playful way.
   
   
2. Learning Center:
   In addition to the exhibition, municipal stakeholders (mayors, municipal politicians, administrative staff, ect.,...) have the opportunity to attend a workshop tailored to their field of work in the Smart Region Hub in order to quickly "get started" with the solutions shown and already successful in their own municipality: What do concrete use cases look like that will also help us? Where can I find best practice examples for my topic? How do we establish contacts with other locations and technology providers? What is an agile approach? What formalities or processes (for example, in procurement law) must be observed specifically for the implementation of my problem solution? A direct transfer of know-how from practice to practice.
   
   
3. Infomobile:
   In the future, the Smart Region Hub will not only take place in Bad Hersfeld - we will also be happy to come to you! With our Infomobile, equipped with smaller exhibits based on the permanent exhibition, we visit cities and communities in Hesse to inform citizens and politicians on site about the possibilities of Smart City/Smart Region solutions ready for implementation and to get into conversation together.

The mayor thanked the digital minister for providing the funds for the implementation of the SMART REGION Hub in Bad Hersfeld and emphasized that the city has developed into a model smart city with diverse applications in recent years. Bad Hersfeld can thus boast many implemented and successful smart region solutions, the experience of which it is happy to share with other communities.

The Hessian Ministry for Digital Strategy and Development is supporting this project as part of the promotion of smart communities and regions through the Starke Heimat Hessen program and, according to the digital minister, wants to "give the starting signal for a journey to a smarter region".

Sinemus said in her opening speech that through the SMART REGION Hub "we are not just starting to think - no, we have already thought and are moving into the future of smart regions with successful best practice examples." The Minister emphasized that the exchange of experience between the actors of smart regions and smart cities must take place in order to learn from each other and to implement the successful solutions in their own sphere of action as soon as possible - for a know-how transfer from theory to practice.


Finally, Digital Minister Sinemus explained the Digital Strategy - Digital State of Hesse and emphasized how important it is to involve regions and also citizens in this strategy and to demonstrate the benefits of digitalization in the region.

The minister ended with the words: "Digital Hessen - the future is at home here. Smart Region, that's your future for your state".

With this in mind, everyone involved is looking forward to seeing many mayors, responsible employees of communities and citizens taking advantage of what the SMART REGION Hub has to offer and paying it a visit.

 

After the opening, representatives of the companies that created the exhibition exhibits were on hand to present the functions and ideas of the individual exhibits to the visitors. The digital minister, the mayor, the members of the state parliament and all the guests showed great interest and took plenty of time to try out the individual exhibits and ask questions.

In the afternoon, the exhibition was then opened to the general public and after only a few minutes was already visited by numerous visitors.