We are delighted that Tobias Brandt, Chair of Digital Innovation and the Public Sector, will be taking over the management of the Trust sub-project in the research group. With his expertise in smart city projects from the perspective of citizens and his current collaborations with the members of the research group, Mr. Brandt is an ideal fit for the consortium. He takes over the leadership from Dr. Bettina Distel, who will now carry on the topics of the research group in her role as project manager for Smart Cities and Smart Regions at the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning.

The Trust and Law Enforcement sub-projects of the DFG research group "Digital Medium-sized City of the Future" (DMDZ) at the University of Münster were involved in the kick-off of the Service Innovation Lab of the Smart Region Coordination Office of the District of Steinfurt on November 14, 2023. The attendees came from different parts of the administration, which provided a broad pool of knowledge about the processes within the administration. The program was divided into three workshops, two of which were provided by the DMDZ.

Under the title "Making transformation happen! The socio-ecological transformation at municipal level", the 3rd Mittelstadt Conference of the Research Training Group "Mittelstadt als Mitmachstadt" took place in Aachen on October 19th and 20th. Research results and practical projects focusing on actor constellations, methods and processes as well as infrastructures in connection with transformation fields in (small) medium-sized towns were presented in 4 tracks.