Evaluation of the "Smart Cities Model Projects" funding programme

With the "Model Projects Smart Cities" (MPSC) funding programme, the German government is supporting municipalities in strategically shaping digitalisation in terms of integrated, sustainable and public welfare-oriented urban development. The aim is to enable local authorities to explore a wide range of practical solutions in order to drive forward smart city development throughout Germany. The central questions of the Smart Cities pilot projects are:

• What will life be like in the local municipalities of the future?
• How will we organise our lives there?
• And what will digitalisation change?

The Federal Ministry of Housing, Urban Development and Building (BMWSB) has commissioned a consortium under the leadership of the DLR Project Management Agency to set up an accompanying coordination and transfer centre (KTS).

Prognos is a partner in the consortium and will take on the role of "programme-accompanying evaluation" of the funding programme. 

Other partners include the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering (IAO), the Fraunhofer Institute for Experimental Software Engineering (IESE), the German Institute of Urban Affairs (Difu), the Institute for Qualifying Innovation Research and Consulting (IQIB) and Creative Climate Cities (CCC).

Cities and municipalities on the path to a digital future

The aim of the "Smart Cities Model Projects" funding programme is to promote digitalisation in integrated sustainable urban development and to test and implement exemplary and transferable solutions. To this end, the funding programme pursues three overarching objectives:

• the development of improved decision-making bases and intelligent solutions,
• the initiation of learning processes and
• the transfer of solutions and making effective contributions to integrated sustainable urban development.

Against this backdrop, the MPSC funding programme will support 73 pilot projects from all over Germany over the entire duration of the programme, which were selected in a total of three seasons in 2019, 2020 and 2021.

Funding for the pilot projects is usually provided in two phases: Firstly, the strategy phase, in which municipal goals, strategies and measures are developed. The second is the implementation phase, in which these objectives, strategies and measures are realised. Municipalities that already had an integrated smart city strategy at the time of application could also enter the funding project directly in the second phase. The maximum project duration is up to seven years.

The smart city approaches developed in the pilot projects are intended to strengthen the municipal ability to act and make the approaches developed usable in other municipalities through a high degree of scalability and replicability. The exchange of experience, cooperation and knowledge transfer both between the pilot projects and with municipalities not directly funded are therefore key aspects of the funding programme.

A total of around 820 million euros in programme funding is available for the Smart Cities pilot projects.

Our approach

The programme evaluation examines the extent to which the funding programme achieves the intended objectives and effects in an economical manner. In accordance with the requirements of Section 7 of the Federal Budget Code, the evaluation consists of a target achievement, an impact and an efficiency check. It assesses the following questions:

• Funding balance: What and who was funded and to what extent?
• Achievement of objectives: Were the objectives of the funding programme achieved?
• Impact: Is the realisation and implementation of the funding programme suitable and causal for the achievement of the objectives? What effects have occurred as a result of the funding programme?
• Cost-effectiveness: Were the funding and administrative processes cost-effective overall?

The "Smart Cities pilot projects" funding programme is evaluated every six months as part of the ongoing process evaluation as well as ex post at certain points during the funding programme. 

• The ex-post evaluation begins at the end of the strategy and implementation phase of each of the three MPSC phases. In accordance with the requirements of Section 7 of the Federal Budget Code (BHO), the ex-post evaluation makes statements on the achievement of objectives, impact and economic efficiency of the funding programme.
• The process evaluation accompanies the programme, looks at the implementation of projects and measures over time and complements the target achievement and impact monitoring. 
• The mid-term and final evaluations, like the ex-post evaluation, make statements on the achievement of objectives, impact and economic efficiency of the funding programme. In addition, a stronger focus is also placed on the effects of the funding programme on municipalities that are not directly funded. The mid-term evaluation is scheduled for 2025 and the final evaluation for 2030.harnessing

Links and downloads

More information about the model projects (website, german)

More information about the KTS (Website, german)

Ex-post evaluation of the strategy phase of the first and second season

This ex-post evaluation covers the strategy phases of the first and second phases. The ex-post evaluation of the MPSC phases takes place at several points in time, always starting at the end of the strategy and implementation phase of the three phases. It fulfils the requirements of Section 7 of the Federal Budget Code (BHO) and reviews the achievement of objectives, impact and efficiency.

To the Evaluation of the first and second season (PDF, german)

Ex-post evaluation of the strategy phase of the third season

The second ex-post evaluation covers the strategy phase of the third phase. The evaluation of the MPSC phases takes place at several points in time and begins at the end of the strategy and implementation phases. It fulfils the requirements of Section 7 of the Federal Budget Code (BHO) and examines the achievement of objectives, impact and efficiency.

To the Evaluation of the third season (PDF, german)

Ex-post evaluations of the strategy phases: Findings from the MPSC funding programme

This synopsis contains a summary of the findings to date from the ex-post evaluations of the ‘Model Projects Smart Cities’ (MPSC) funding programme. The strategy phases of 61 of the total of 73 Smart Cities pilot projects funded are analysed. The remaining twelve pilot projects entered the implementation phase directly on the basis of an existing strategy.

To the report (PDF, german)

Project team: Sven Altenburg, Shayan Beland, Kai Lennart Brune, Matthias Canzler, Lennart Galdiga, Tim Kaltenthaler, Felicitas Klemp, Dr. Jan-Philipp Kramer, Inga Stumpp

Last update: 11.11.2024