An important aspect of the competition was to engage all areas of local government. As a result, numerous proposals were received from a wide variety of participants – ranging from apprentices to mayors – across the three focus areas of citizens, administration and business.

The ideas competition produced many good proposals.

Find things faster

The youngest participant, Tabea Schwellenbach, came up with the concept for a virtual online lost property office. The aim is to enable people to report lost items more quickly and recover their valuables. The trainee works for the municipality of Heeseberg and even presented her idea via a video presentation. She saw the competition primarily as an opportunity and a personal challenge: “This was a good opportunity to show how younger people, too, can get involved in shaping the future of their local community,” says Tabea Schwellenbach.

Faster start-ups

The winner in the business category was Jonas Kitzig from Oldendorf-Himmelpforten, who developed the idea of introducing the ‘virtual company’ as a new form of business. “I had set myself the goal of devising an innovative future scenario designed to stabilise the German economy and combat the slump in start-ups. The coronavirus pandemic probably poses a serious threat to innovation, because people are now focusing more on a secure income rather than setting up a start-up. It was from this line of thinking that the idea for a new type of organisation – the virtual company – emerged,” says Jonas Kitzig.

Building faster

Dr Marco Trips, President of the Lower Saxony Association of Towns and Municipalities, is banking on the innovative strength of his local authorities. (Image source: ©Lower Saxony Association of Towns and Municipalities)

The team led by Daniel Behrens from the town of Springe presented a proposal for a virtual site analysis. Motivated by the lack of automation in the area of commercial site allocation and inspired by strategic computer games, the team developed the idea of a virtual tool for the preliminary placement of the planned construction project on the desired commercial site. Such a solution can automatically take into account the specifications and requirements of local development plans. The idea of digitising a preliminary building application significantly reduces the workload for businesses and the local authority.

“The idea of property acquisition using virtual tours and a range of value-added services from both public authorities and the private sector arose primarily from a personal experience. The younger generation is familiar with digitalisation across all services; unfortunately, however, there is still too little of it coming from the state,” comments Jan Dingeldey. He was also particularly impressed by the format of the competition, as it creates a platform for ongoing dialogue between local authorities. This is hugely important for establishing a digitalised administration with efficient processes. An ideas competition is the ideal medium for this.

Outlook

For many people, a trip to the town hall is often still too time-consuming and too bureaucratic. However, public administration is capable of much more, as these award-winning examples – along with many other ideas submitted – have shown. Digital collaboration at both regional and national levels can therefore certainly be made more attractive, provided everyone is willing to do so – rather than simply having to.