Skip to main content
© CityLAB Berlin
03.07.2023

KIEZBOX 2.0 – AN AUTONOMOUS INFO STRUCTURE IN THE EVENT OF CRISIS

How can Berlin provide its residents with local information in the event of a large-scale power outage? Kiezbox 2.0 aims to strengthen Berlin’s resilience should a catastrophe arise. The pilot project is being developed and implemented as part of the Going Digital Together: Berlin (“Gemeinsam Digital: Berlin”) strategy.

By July 2025, the project team aims to have developed solar or battery-powered hotspots as small, energy-independent prototypes, which will then be connected via a decentralised mesh network. The basic concept behind Kiezbox 2.0 is to create an autonomous communication structure to be able to connect to regional emergency services and keep the population up to date in the event of a power outage.

The pilot project was officially launched on 16 May with a kick-off workshop organised by CityLAB Berlin within the framework of the Going Digital Together: Berlin strategy. The workshop also marked the Kiezbox 2.0 project’s entering the exploration phase, during which the team compared the project’s fundamental objectives to user needs to make sure measures are geared towards specific application scenarios and less necessary functionalities are omitted.

Kick-off workshop: Process and results

The workshop first focused on reviewing the technical feasibility of Kiezbox 2.0, before introducing use cases and discussing the application thereof with the associated partners. In a next step, participants defined a list of use cases that could be implemented in test operations.

The kick-off workshop revealed one interesting finding: all project members had previously slightly underestimated the importance of the Kiezboxes’ “standard operation”. While crisis mode aims to provide an autonomous means of communication between emergency services as the operators of  critical infrastructure and people looking for help, standard operation serves very different purposes: to conduct further measurements, which can be passed on to the city, administration and state-owned enterprises for evaluation and as decision-making aids on the one hand; and to provide information on the Kiezboxes to residents and help them familiarise themselves with the boxes in preparation for an emergency on the other.

No trivial task; accordingly, the entire consortium had many questions. The workshop helped gain clarity on the focus of the next project phase; findings from the kick-off workshop will be used to define possible use cases in the time to come.

Partners and supporters of Kiezbox 2.0

Current and associated partners of the Kiezbox 2.0 pilot project include TSB, the Berlin fire brigade (German only), the Freie Universität Berlin (FU Berlin) as well as the HTW Berlin University of Applied Sciences (HTW Berlin). Other associated partnerships are currently being discussed.

As part of the Going Digital Together: Berlin strategy, Berlin is implementing a total of five pilot projects funded by the Federal Ministry for Housing, Urban Development and Building (BMWSB). Besides Kiezbox 2.0, these are: SMART SPACE Hardenbergplatz; Data and Smart City Governance; Smart Water; and Smart Participation/ Community Budgeting. The BMWSB funding programme Smart Cities Model Projects currently has 73 pilot projects throughout Germany, each with several individual measures. Berlin was selected for funding in September 2020..

Going Digital Together: Berlin is a fusion of the Berlin Digital Strategy and the Smart City Strategy. Like all projects developed and implemented as part of Going Digital Together: Berlin, Kiezbox 2.0 is supported by CityLAB Berlin, which organises workshops and provides methodological aid. This neutral external perspective aims to help give measures a solid foundation.

 

TeilenShare
27.06.2025

City Challenge Berlin 2025 – Digital solutions for a modern administration

Berlin aims to increase its efficiency to become a city even more worth living in. In order to drive the digital transformation in Berlin’s administration, the Berlin Senate Chancellery has initiated the first City Challenge this year. The application period for phase 1 ends 27 July 2025.

Read more

25.06.2025

Zero Waste Award – bis 9. September bewerben!

Gesucht werden gute Ideen und überzeugende Lösungen zur Abfallvermeidung in Wohnquartieren. Mit dem Zero Waste Award möchten die Berliner Zero-Waste-Agentur und die BSR einen Fundus an guten Beispielen schaffen.

Read more

19.06.2025

Geschäftsanbahnungsreise nach Kolumbien zum Thema Smart City

Die Geschäftsanbahnungsreise nach Kolumbien zum Thema Smart City wird von der AHK Kolumbien in Zusammenarbeit mit SBS systems for business solutions durchgeführt. Es sind noch Plätze frei. Anmeldeschluss ist der 30.06.2025!

Read more

13.06.2025

„Mittendrin Berlin!“: die Nominierten stehen fest

Sechs Kiez-Initiativen sind im Rahmen des Wettbewerbs „Mittendrin Berlin! Projekte in Berliner Zentren 2025/26“ für die „Konkretisierungsphase“ nominiert worden.

Read more

23.05.2025

Wissen mehren mit "Gemeinsam Digital: Berlin"

"Gemeinsam Digital: Berlin" umfasst nicht nur die Umsetzung von smarten Pilotmaßnahmen, sondern generiert Wissen, welches wiederum anderen Projekten und Maßnahmen zur Verfügung steht.

Read more

06.05.2025

Data Governance Wegweiser: Orientierung für datengetriebene Kommunen

Daten allein machen noch keine Smart City – doch mit den richtigen Werkzeugen können Kommunen ihr digitales Potenzial entfalten. Als Projekt der Smart City Strategie "Gemeinsam Digital: Berlin" bietet der Data-Governance-Wegweiser erstmals eine praxisnahe Anleitung.

Read more