Bitkom: When cities build a digital twin | “Smart City Index 2025 Study Report”

Whether artificial intelligence, smart grids or even the digital twin of the energy grid: most major German cities rely on digital technologies for energy and heat planning. Three quarters (76%) already have such solutions in use, 12% are in the process of introducing them and 1% are in a test phase. A further 7 percent are planning to use digital energy and heating technologies, while only 4 percent are not planning to do so. This is just one result of the study report on the Smart City Index 2025, which was published today and contains previously unpublished detailed results of the digital ranking of 83 German cities with a population of 100,000 or more by the digital association Bitkom. “Energy supply is a key future issue for every city that directly affects all citizens. Digital technologies not only offer those responsible efficient control options, but are now also a practically indispensable planning tool,” says Sven Wagner, smart city expert at Bitkom. “Bitkom’s Smart City Index can and should also be an inspiration for launching new local digitalization projects.”

The study report also provides numerous other insights into the progress of digitalization in major German cities. For example, 45% are already using AI chatbots to answer citizens’ inquiries as accurately as possible around the clock. And 84 percent enable mobile payment in the citizens’ office, compared to just 54 percent two years ago. The full “Smart City Index 2025 Study Report” is available to download free of charge from today: www.bitkom.org/Bitkom/Publikationen/Studienbericht-Smart-City-Index-2025

More than 13,500 data points for 83 cities

A total of 13,529 data points were collected, reviewed and qualified for the Smart City Index, which is 245 more than in the previous year. All 83 cities with a population of more than 100,000 were analyzed and evaluated in five areas: administration, IT and communication, energy and environment, mobility, society and education. The five areas are broken down into 37 indicators, which in turn consist of a total of 163 parameters (1 more than in 2024) – from online citizen services, sharing offers in urban transport and environmental sensors to broadband availability and digital training for teachers and administrative staff. The municipalities were actively involved in the data collection. The cities were able to provide data on digitalization, each with sources. This year, for the first time, all cities made use of this option, resulting in a response rate of 100% (previous year: 99%). The data was then checked and validated by a team of experts from Bitkom Research. The Smart City Index is supported by Visa, PwC Germany and Bentley Systems. The ranking is also available as an interactive online map at www.smart-city-index.de. 

This translation was generated automatically. 

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Further links

👉 Press release for download (German)

👉 To the landing page of the study (German)

👉 Ranking as an interactive online map (German)