IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

The Smart City Expo World Congress will take place in Barcelona on 15-17 November, and several Luxembourg representatives will be present. Here are some of their visions of smarter urban design.

In its Smart City Strategy Index (SCSI) 2019, global consulting firm Roland Berger analysed 153 cities worldwide, ranking Vienna as number one. The Austrian capital scored a total 74 points out of 100. London took second place (73 points), while third place (72 points) went to St. Albert, Canada, which has a population comparable to that of Luxembourg City.

So sollen längerfristig sämtliche Verwaltungswebsites so programmiert sein, dass es für sehbehinderte Menschen oder solche mit Bewegungseinschränkungen leichter wird, durch die Internetseiten zu navigieren und die Inhalte auch tatsächlich zu nutzen. Die Seiten sind so gestaltet, dass sie sich ohne Maus bedienen lassen und die Inhalte via Sprachsynthese korrekt vorgelesen werden können. Die Websites sollen in Zukunft diesbezüglich den internationalen Standards des Web-Konsortiums W3C entsprechen. Im Rahmen der staatlichen Website www.sport.public.lu wurden die neuen Richtlinien zum ersten Mal umgesetzt.

Marc Hansen (DP), minister delegate for digitalisation had already announced the creation of a GovTech Lab back in September during ICT Spring 2020. The project was officially launched on Thursday.

A joint intiative of the ministry of digitalisation and its technological arm, the Government IT centre, the new lab is supposed to “combine GovTech and open innovation to accelerate the development and improvement of digital public services,” the government said in a statement.

Prime Minister Xavier Bettel in June this year first presented “Digital Lëtzebuerg”, which aims to keep Luxembourg attractive for existing ICT companies while also attracting new businesses, making the Grand Duchy an innovative hub in the sector.

The Act on the reform of the health system that was adopted in December 2010 provides for the establishment of shared health records based on an electronic platform (eHealth Platform) and the creation of a national agency for shared information in the field of health (eHealth Agency). The first results presented at the event will serve as a basis for the services provided for in the aforementioned Act.

This interactive directory lists over 600 competent State and municipal bodies for the various administrative procedures, including:

• full contact details (address, phone number, email, etc.);
• opening hours;
• the opportunity to contact organisations directly from the app;
• the use of geo-location with route suggestions in order to travel to a selected administration;
• a reference to the mobile version of the 'de Guichet' portal;
• a direct link to the news section of 'de Guichet'.

Initially launched on 10 February 2011 by the Cadastre and Topography Administration of the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg, the geoportal provides access to the general public mapping window, free access to various thematic mapping windows and an eshop for online ordering of geodata and related products.

Users of this service are able to request cadastral extracts with a few clicks and in a simplified manner. Based on the information provided, the intelligence service of the administration of the cadastre and topography draw up the documents matching the criteria. The payment of this service may also be made online using a link sent to the user’s personal email address. The requested documents are sent by post once payment has been received.

The portal has been completely revamped and modernised to meet the needs and expectations of its target audiences. It features navigation, ergonomics and a complete design overhaul to facilitate its use, as well as new innovative features which will gradually improve all of the State's official websites.

The updated portal offers enhanced new features. The most visible improvements involve graphics. The home page has been redesigned, putting a particular focus on the latest and more relevant news for users.

WMA, the government authority responsible for water protection and management, provides hourly updates on the water levels of the Sûre, Moselle and Meuse rivers on its website. When warranted, flood risk analysis, forecasting and flood control measures are made available on the portal. Furthermore, WMA disseminates flood risk and flood hazard scenarios via the national geoportal, and provides a map of flood zones.

The maritime companies established in Luxembourg have to deal with such formalities on a recurrent basis. A pilot project has already made it possible for a select few to go through the relevant formalities online, assisted by online service wizards (assistants de service, in French) in the business section of 'de Guichet' - (www.guichet.lu), Luxembourg's eGovernment portal - and by the CAM's electronic data processing interface.

On 'de Guichet', the maritime companies have a 'business space' which is secured by a LuxTrust S.A. certificate, and where they can save their applications, submit them to the CAM and follow up their status.

This is a first for a Luxembourgish government website, and it is part of a State Internet presence strategy that takes into account the fact that the Grand Duchy is among the world leaders in terms of mobile phone penetration (over 140 %).

The search service of the Patent Register or 'Patent Status Base' is provided by the Intellectual Property Office ('Office de la propriété intellectuelle' - OPI, in French). It places information relating to bibliographic patent data at the public's disposal.

Das Dienstleistungsangebot der öffentlichen Verwaltungen in Luxemburg hält sich immer noch in Grenzen. Das untermauert die rezenten Bestandsaufnahme der EU-Kommission, die Staatssekretär Jos Schaack am Montag kommentierte. Unter 18 europäischen Staaten rangiert das Großherzogtum bei der Internet-Offerte des Staates auf dem letzten Platz. Und das trotz erheblicher Fortschritte im vergangenen Jahr. Einigen sich die Planer beim Staat zusammen mit Akteuren aus der Privatwirtschaft auf ein sicheres System für maximalen Datenschutz, dürfte das konkrete Verbesserungen im Interesse der Bürger mit sich bringen.

Mit der vierten Ausgabe des E-Governement-Benchmarking-Berichts vom Oktober 2003 nimmt das Consulting-Unternehmen Cap Gemini Ernst & Young (CGEY) seit Oktober 2001 im Auftrag der EU-Kommission zweimal jährlich das Online-Verwaltungsangebot der 15 EU-Mitgliedsstaaten, sowie Islands, Norwegens und der Schweiz unter die Lupe. Seit vergangenem Jahr werden nur noch alle zwölf Monate 20 ausgewählte staatliche Dienstleistungsbereiche in dem jeweiligen Land ausschließlich anhand ihrer bestehenden Websites bewertet.

Die "Administration de l'enregistrement et des domaines" (AED), die für indirekte Steuern zuständig ist, hat am Freitag ihre Internet -Seite offiziell vorgestellt. Die 1841 gegründete Verwaltung - die erste, die nach der Unabhängigkeit des Großherzogtums eingerichtet wurde - will mit ihrem Webauftritt nicht nur den Kontakt zum Bürger pflegen, sondern bietet auch erste Beispiele interaktiver E-Government-Anwendungen.

As part Nexus2050, organised at Luxexpo, presentations and a roundtable discussion were held on the theme of the Smart City on Thursday. It was an opportunity to discover cutting-edge projects on this theme.

Today, the Smart City mainly involves the development of digital twins. These digital twins can be fed with a wealth of information to manage and anticipate certain elements, such as traffic or water levels. This is possible thanks to the relay of connected objects and sensors, but also thanks to a whole range of different sources of information that can enrich the analyses (such as meteorological data in the case of water levels).