Brigitte Zypries counts on Smart Cities

Brigitte Zypries visits [ui!] - the urban institute® in Darmstadt on 25.07.2016 in her role as State Secretary in the Ministry of Economic Affairs - today she is the Federal Minister of Economics

During her company visit at [ui!] - the urban institute® Brigitte Zypries, German MP and Ministry for Economic Affairs, informed herself on new mobility concepts for Smart Cities. The focus was the award-winning open-data-platform for traffic data of the city of Darmstadt, a pioneer in the digitisation of the mobility sector in Germany. The provision of data for citizens as well as for companies and the automotive industry is the basis for new digital services for traffic liquefaction and creates the conditions for the ecological driving through driver assistance systems.

In June 2016 Brigitte Zypries honoured on behalf of the German Ministry of Economic Affairs leaders and projects that design the digital transformation significantly with the "Digital Leader Price". As Darmstadt's MP for the national parlimanent, Brigitte Zypries was especially pleased to hand out the price to a city from her constituency.
Today’s visit was the occasion, to inform herself about new Smart City solutions and try some out. Since many years, Brigitte Zypries is an active IT politician. From the beginning, she accompanied and promoted the IT-Cluster in the region.


At first, Brigitte Zypries got an insight into the traffic information app of the city of Darmstadt which she awarded earlier that year (https://darmstadt.ui-traffic.de). The provided information visualise the current traffic situation in Darmstadt and offer projections for an improved traffic flow, better air quality and reduced level of nitrogen dioxide in Darmstadt.

In a further step additional data from the city’s light signal data is collected and processed in real time via the platform developed by [ui!]. The platfom [ui!] UrbanPulse will make the data available for so-called " connected cars" in the near futute.

During a drive through Darmstadt Brigitte Zypries and Prof. Dr. Lutz Heuser, CEO of [ui!], tested the innovative service. A tablet in the vehicle displayed the upcoming traffic light with a corresponding "green phases prediction ". Using this information, the engine control will be able to identify and adjust to the "right" speed for a personal green wave.

Thus, emerges the concept of an cruise control for ecologic driving through the city, which leads to substantial reduction of exhaust emissions and fuel. For the first time, this system was successfully implemented on a test track in Darmstadt and tested by the automotive industry.

"To make Germany the leader for Smart City applications, we need, quite after the Schumpeter's principle, innovative companies and innovative politicians. When our inventions find users, innovation happens. The public demand can be a decisive impulse," says Prof. Dr. Lutz Heuser, CEO of [ui!] - the urban institute.





"To make Germany the leader for Smart City applications, we need, quite after the Schumpeter's principle, innovative companies and innovative politicians. When our inventions find users, innovation happens. The public demand can be a decisive impulse," says Prof. Dr. Lutz Heuser, CEO of [ui!] - the urban institute.




At the end of her visit, Ministry of Economic Affairs Brigitte Zypries stated: "Automated and networked driving offer new opportunities as a building block of modern mobility concepts in urban development and for the importance of the business location Germany new opportunities. I am pleased that ui! with its application-oriented solutions performs valuable pioneer's work. Innovative forms of mobility open up new perspectives on our type of mobility."



Brigitte Zypries chatted very interested with the [ui!] employees Christian Müller and Oliver Rolle and stayed for a photograph.

Press-Release:

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