In today's podcast, we delve into the remarkable journey of Daniel Stölzle and the Mainzer Stadtwerke, a utilities company in Mainz, Germany, as they embarked on a transformative digital adventure. They established a "public data factory" in collaboration with DKSR, a startup offering an open-source data platform designed exclusively for municipalities.
This and other ventures were fueled by Mainz's new tax revenues from the Covid vaccine producer, BioNTech, which were partly reinvested into digital projects. Despite lacking expert knowledge, Stölzl's fearless approach drove the project forward, underlining the belief that "the smart in smart city always has to be the people."
The initiative began with a focus on air quality to meet EU regulations, emphasizing that data quality is a critical success factor. It evolved from manually collecting data at nine locations across Mainz every 14 days to becoming a sophisticated data-driven operation. This effort was certified by TÜV after a small but significant test convinced the city that its utility company should expand its services to include data.
A notable achievement is a mobility project that identified a 60% misuse of parking slots reserved for electric vehicles,
thanks to over 100 charging points equipped with additional sensors.
Stölzle successfully persuaded his CEO to invest
in data collection without a predefined business case, highlighting the importance of starting with a detailed analysis of potential gains for each stakeholder, achieving small successes, and fostering trusted environments for data sharing between city organizations. This story exemplifies overcoming
challenges in data sharing due to trust issues and legal restrictions, setting a precedent for how utilities can innovate beyond traditional services
