Open urban data platform as key to digital transformation

Prof. Dr. Lutz Heuser, CEO of [ui!] (center, back) is happy about the launch of DKSR GmbH together with the partners and the new CEO Dr. Alanus von Radecki (center, front).

DKSR GmbH, spin-off of the FhG Morgenstadt Initiative, supports cities and regions in data-driven transformation

Together with three partners from the Morgenstadt initiative and communities, [ui!] is developing a platform service as the basis for the city of the future. The joint initiative of Fraunhofer, Deutsche Telekom, [ui!] Urban Software Institute and axxessio resulted in the official launch of an independent company on 26 February 2021:
The DKSR GmbH "Data Competence Centre for Cities and Regions " will accompany communities in their data-based transformation.

To do so, it will provide an open-source platform that guarantees data sovereignty, while ensuring further development and exchange on best practices in the Morgenstadt Urban Data Community. "At Fraunhofer, we work on making knowledge from data usable for communities, citizens and businesses. Often, as in this case, start-ups with established companies are a successful way of transferring this knowledge," says Professor Dr. Wilhelm Bauer, Executive Director of Fraunhofer IAO. Dr. Goodarz Mahbobi, CEO of axxessio and originator of the joint initiative, adds: "Digital transformation and the associated data sovereignty in communities is a challenge that is so complex that it cannot be solved by one company alone. Rather, it requires a symbiosis of various specialist competencies - these are bundled in DKSR."

No Smart City without smart data analysis
Clean air in cities, networked mobility, user-centric administrative services, balancing out fluctuating use of renewable energies or rapid responses to crises - all these features in a sustainable and liveable city will only be possible with digital solutions. However, the individual needs and applications of communities, cities and regions require individual solutions.

It turns out that the more digital services are implemented, the greater the need for an open data platform to aggregate, harmonize and integrate data sets from different systems. In the process, local administrations have to make many decisions regarding technical infrastructure, provider selection, as well as data organization and security.

Setting up a provider ecosystem: neutral, open, secure, and interoperable.
Through DKSR, cities and regions can access standardized solutions and a large ecosystem of quality-assured providers. To do this, DKSR itself does not use the data, nor does it offer its own applications. DKSR works with all providers for digital smart city solutions according to transparent rules. Their applications are then made available to all cities and communities in an open ecosystem.

"Openness is the basis for communal data platforms," emphasizes Professor Dr. Lutz Heuser, CEO of the [ui!] Urban Software Institute GmbH. Full FIWARE compatibility and the use of open standards in accordance with DIN SPEC 91357 ensure that DKSR is compatible and interoperable with all current systems. With an embedded IDS standard, this is the world's first open source data platform that already has fully integrated the technical solution for implementing communal data sovereignty.

Joint further development through exchange of experience
Building on the Fraunhofer Morgenstadt network, the DKSR's "Morgenstadt Urban Data Community" offers a lively exchange of information for the joint further development of solutions and the exchange of data models and applications. This offers the advantages for cities and regions that they can easily adopt data-based applications and models via "plug and play". Events and dedicated communication channels promote direct peer-to-peer exchange.

The joint development effort also ensures a reduction in costs. In addition, the community is involved in addressing queries of the DKSR. "We are convinced that shaping the shared space of the city can also only be achieved together and in dialog. In addition to networks and communities for dialog, open urban data platforms as a basic communal infrastructure will make an important contribution to success," confirms Michael Frank, responsible for Smart City at Deutsche Telekom.

In Dr. Alanus von Radecki, an expert from the Morgenstadt Initiative is taking over the management of the new DKSR. He was a co-founder and longstanding head of the Morgenstadt innovation network and has built up a large network of innovation drivers in communities, research and industry. As Managing Director of DKSR, he now brings the results from numerous innovation and pilot projects into broad application for cities and regions in Germany and throughout Europe.

Further information: https://dksr.city