Germany’s Digital Association Bitkom launches a competition in cooperation with the German Association of Towns and Municipalities

Berlin—Global law firm Dentons is advising Bitkom, Germany's digital association, on its Digital City competition, which it is launching together with the German Association of Towns and Municipalities (DStGB). The winning city will be provided with the latest digital technology in the fields of mobility, energy, health and education at the beginning of 2018. The competition aims to create a model city with international reach.

So far, the participating companies have promised investments in excess of €10 million for the realization of the project. According to a study carried out by Bitkom, citizens are very interested in digital applications for their cities. For example, they are in favor of intelligent traffic control in overcrowded areas, the expansion of telecommunications infrastructure and digital citizen services, a central registration portal for kindergartens and schools, as well as digital education by way of tablets, whiteboards and WLAN in all classrooms.

Bitkom, founded in Berlin in October 1999, is a trade association of the German information and telecommunications industry.  It represents more than 2,400 digital companies employing more than 700,000 employees and with a combined turnover of more than €190 million.

Along with Bitkom and the German Association of Towns and Municipalities, the following companies are involved in the project: Deutsche Telekom, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, SAP, Software AG, Vodafone, Autodesk, DJI, DocMorris, DPD Dynamic Parcel Distribution, eluminocity, eBay, Kathrein, Little Bird, m.Doc, PTV Group, Samsung, Speed4Trade, vitaphone.

The Dentons team led by Dr. Jörg Karenfort is advising Bitkom on all questions of competition, antitrust and procurement law.

Advisor Bitkom:
Dentons (Berlin): Dr. Jörg Karenfort (Partner, Competition/Antitrust), Dr. Maria Brakalova (Counsel, Public Procurement), Dr. Tobias Schneider (Counsel, Public Procurement), Dr. René Grafunder (Counsel, Competition/Antitrust) and Laura Appell (Associate, Competition/Antitrust and Regulation)