The digital agenda as a roadmap for the company’s own future
In the first Themennetzwerke® webinar, Wirtschaftsbetriebe Duisburg presented its digital agenda
In the municipal sector, digitization is still a thing of the future for many companies. In order to keep pace with technological and societal changes, developing a strategic framework is the first step in a sustainable direction.
The generation of “digital natives” will be the new customer group for waste management companies in a few years’ time. Having grown up in the digital world and being very familiar with the latest technological developments, the “digital natives” will make new demands on the offers and services of waste disposal companies. However, small companies in particular are only able to meet the challenges of digital transformation to a limited extent due to limited financial and human resources. A lack of collective awareness of the relevance of the topic of digitization can become a serious obstacle even for large companies.
The city of Duisburg has set itself the ambitious goal of becoming a “Smart City”. Due to their diverse tasks in the Rhine-Ruhr region, the municipal utilities have a key role to play here. As head of digital innovation and portfolio management at Wirtschaftsbetriebe Duisburg (WBD), Dr. David Hoffmann accompanies new digital products and services from the idea to market maturity. In the webinar, he gave an exciting insight into the development of their digital agenda and the structures, processes and projects derived from it.
WBD.digital – A workshop for digital innovations
In addition to the use of digital infrastructures, the creation of a contemporary corporate and work culture, and the teaching of digital skills among employees, WBD’s digital agenda focuses on the development of innovative products and services that incorporate future customer needs. Added to this is its claim to act as an innovation driver for its own city and the industry and to actively help shape Duisburg as a “Smart City”. In order to be able to serve all of these fields of action, the Wirtschaftsbetriebe have created the innovation workshop WBD.digital, a corporate unit dedicated to the development of digital approaches and creative ideas.
The focus of their project work is the active participation of WBD employees. Starting with the collection of ideas, problems and suggestions for topics, employees can also participate in the projects further down the line by taking part in a short boot camp. “Crowd working” is the name of this form of work in which interdisciplinary teams participate in the development and testing of new ideas. Before the final decision on a project is made, it has to prove itself in practice.
Last year, for example, the commercial enterprises tested soil moisture measurement of young trees via a sensor system to reduce tree loss due to drought stress. Other projects supported by the Innovation Workshop focused on the artificial intelligence-based detection of fill levels and misfills, as well as the determination of rush and waiting times at recycling centers. With regard to digital services, the further development of the customer portal is intended to provide a contemporary service.
Wirtschaftsbetriebe Duisburg will certainly provide some digital impetus for the industry in the future! You can find the dates and topics of the upcoming webinars at https://themennetzwerke.de/webinare/. Take a look!
