"Smart city is not just a technical topic; it depends above all on people," emphasizes Dietmar Bethke in an interview with Helen Bielawa. The topic has so many points of contact with various disciplines that it needs people who "go the last mile" to work together across silo boundaries to digitize their own city.

Bethke is head of the Smart City and New Technologies business units at ComNet Gesellschaft für Kommunikation & Netzwerke, which operates the project office of the Open Innovation Lab (OIL) on behalf of the city of Gelsenkirchen, of which he is also project manager.

The OIL is a real laboratory for smart city solutions. Infrastructures and technologies are tested there that will later be rolled out in the city. The project is funded by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Innovation and Energy of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia as part of the Emscher-Lippe digital model region. The funding period ends today, June 30. However, the city wants to continue the project.

Why is Arena Park Gelsenkirchen a suitable site for such a real lab? What are the lessons learned from previous projects? And what are the biggest challenges? These are the questions addressed in the new Vordenker episode.

This episode marks a short summer break for the Vordenker podcast. The next episode will be released on August 4.