At the practice day of the umbrella organization city marketing Austria on April 23, 2025 in the Upper Austrian Enns, everything revolved around the question of how cities and municipalities act in a data -based, communicate and use digitization strategically in order to create sustainable location advantages.
The central learning of the day: Smartness is not a tool set, it is a mindset.
Smart: Simplification through technology
In the opening lecture, Stefan Lettner from the City and Regional Development Agency Cima showed how broadly the term “Smart City” has to be caught. He identified six central fields of action-“Smart Economy”, “Smart People”, “Smart Governance”, “Smart Mobility”, “Smart Environment” and “Smart Living”-with particular attention to the challenges and opportunities in City-Um Cooperations as well as in smaller, rural regions.
“Smartness means creating real added value for administration and city dwellers through digitization,” says Lettner. Concrete examples such as the standardization of several citizens’ cards made it clear how digital solutions can increase the efficiency of municipal offers. At the same time, it was emphasized that there are no overriding requirements in many areas. Each city must currently develop its own, viable path in terms of “smartness”.
From the flood of information to the basis of the decision
In the second themed block, Cima Managing Director Roland Murauer illuminated how tangible findings can be gained from today’s flood of data. He presented a variety of innovative analysis methods, from classic online and POS surveys to social media listening to mobile data tracking and sensor-based frequency measurement. Particularly relevant for cities: the targeted use of data for concrete questions, such as the development of business locations, the evaluation of vacancies or the design of mobility concepts.
The knowledge gained from this flow directly into location -related strategies. A real added value for every city that wants to actively design.
MasterCard Insights: Strategy based on transaction data
Dirk Mühlenweg from Mastercard Germany provided revealing insights into the possibilities of anonymous payment data. With over 3.3 billion cards worldwide and a 90 percent coverage in Austria, the Mastercard data offer an extremely precise picture of the behavior of day visitors: inside, tourist: inside and local consumer: Inside. This gives cities access to information such as: Where do the guests come from? What do you spend what? Which industries benefit?
Particularly exciting: The payment data can be combined with mobile phone, geodata and statistical information, which makes holistic analyzes possible. Ideal for evaluating the effect of events, for the development of tailor -made offers or for location positioning. For cities that want to control data -based, a valuable strategic resource.
City marketing as a strategic key discipline
The practice day in Enns once again underlined that modern city marketing goes far beyond classic image maintenance, but can be a formative factor for urban development. Smartness means actively using the new, technological tools and using them with a new self -image – to create future -proof habitats.