Smart City & Utilities
Empowering Sustainable Urban Systems in an Age of Digital Transformation
In an increasingly urbanized and interconnected world, cities face mounting challenges—from resource scarcity and environmental pressures to growing demands for efficient infrastructure and citizen-centric services. While advances in information and communication technologies (ICT) enable new forms of urban innovation, they also introduce significant complexity in governance, coordination, and system integration.
At our chair, we investigate Smart Cities as large-scale socio-technical systems at the intersection of technology, organization, and society. Our research focuses on how digital infrastructures, data ecosystems, and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and blockchain can be designed and governed to enable sustainable, resilient, and efficient urban environments. We place particular emphasis on organizational structures, governance models, and architectural principles that support collaboration across diverse stakeholders and ensure that technological innovation translates into real societal value.
Research Projects
SCALE – Smart City Alliance for Learning, Exchange, and Development
Scale is a research and transfer initiative that brings together cities, researchers, and practitioners to advance the next generation of smart city benchmarking and learning.
We aim to understand how cities create impact under different local conditions. Through collaborative study design, peer exchange, and evidence-based analysis, participating cities contribute to and benefit from a shared knowledge base on smart city transformation.
By combining scientific rigor with practical experience, SCALE helps municipalities identify strengths, understand challenges, learn from comparable cities, and build the capabilities needed to shape sustainable and effective smart city development.
Smart City Foundations
As cities navigate the dual pressures of rapid urbanization and the need for sustainable development, the transition to a 'Smart City' has become a strategic imperative. However, becoming 'smart' is not merely a technological task—it is a complex organizational and governance challenge.
Our research project investigates the intersection of digital transformation, organizational design, and architecture principles within the context of medium-sized European cities. By exploring how cities can foster transdisciplinary collaboration and establish robust governance frameworks, we aim to provide actionable insights that help city leaders successfully align their technological infrastructure with long-term strategic visions.
Data Ecosystems
To stay innovative in a fast-paced market, organizations are increasingly joining Data Ecosystems to share, produce, and exchange data. However, participating in these networks remains challenging due to barriers like complex governance, technical limitations, and concerns over data trust.
Our research identifies the key factors that drive participation and success in Data Ecosystems. We analyze the interplay between data quality, governance mechanisms, and disruptive technologies to provide organizations with a clear framework for overcoming barriers and unlocking the full performance potential of collaborative data sharing.
Artificial Intelligence & Blockchain
Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain represent two of the most transformative technologies of our time. While AI is increasingly integrated into consumer products and organizational decision-making, Blockchain is rapidly evolving beyond its origins in cryptocurrency to offer new solutions for decentralized infrastructure.
Our research investigates the convergence of these two technologies. We explore the multifaceted relationship between AI and Blockchain—examining how they can be used to support each other, overcome their respective technical challenges, and provide synergistic value when deployed side-by-side to solve complex organizational and societal problems.
