Vitronic – “You have to meet local authorities where they are”

What role does the topic of smart cities play for your company?

Peter Ummenhofer: Vitronic has been active in the smart city sector for a long time. The focus is on smart mobility, particularly traffic monitoring and traffic safety. Currently, more and more connected vehicles are coming onto the market. These vehicles can exchange data with other vehicles or with infrastructure. Technology and digitalization can thus be used to make traffic flow more smoothly and increase the safety of road users.

Tim Bissé: As “The Machine Vision People,” we are the traffic’s eyes and ears – that is, we look at the traffic environment and record what is happening there. Our data is used, among other things, for predictive models to optimize traffic light phasing. These models can now be further enhanced by AI.

What expectations do local authorities typically have of smart city solutions from companies such as Vitronic?

Peter Ummenhofer: A high level of availability is important for transportation systems. We try to meet this requirement not only with high-quality systems, but also with services. Data security and data protection are also important issues for local authorities.

Tim Bissé: You have to meet local authorities where they are. Some local authorities are heavily involved in the smart city concept. Others are completely new to the field. That’s why you have to offer appropriate consulting services or interfaces. And then, of course, there’s the question of what financial resources the local authority has at its disposal. Might it be necessary to set up additional financing through funding projects?

Do local authorities sometimes have exaggerated expectations of your offerings?

Peter Ummenhofer: In some cases, cities or local authorities fail because of their silo mentality. Some smart city initiatives require cooperation across administrative boundaries. Individual authorities are often unable to solve everything that is needed to put a really good solution in place. In traffic management, you have to bring together different responsible parties – and the willingness to think outside one’s own silo varies greatly.

What is going well in your collaboration with local authorities, and where are there still problems?

Peter Ummenhofer: We also operate in the Middle East, where there are major differences compared to Germany. In this country, innovation is delayed by bureaucratic hurdles and lengthy decision-making processes. Cities like Dubai, on the other hand, expect projects to be implemented quickly. Customers there usually expect a finished product, and while pilot projects are welcome, quick results are preferred. We have to master this balancing act between the slower pace of development in Germany and the faster pace in other countries in order to remain internationally competitive.

What role do funding projects play in your field?

Peter Ummenhofer: Funding projects are a double-edged sword. They are a way to promote new product ideas. But funding projects meantime require a lot of administration and documentation. You have to weigh up whether the effort is proportionate to the project.

Tim Bissé: In my experience, there is a gap of about three to five years between a funding project and a product. You have to bridge that gap. The goal of a funding project is to create a marketable solution. This means that a funded research project must be highly targeted.

What problems do you encounter when ­implementing smart city projects?

Peter Ummenhofer: Data protection and financing are the biggest hurdles. Our goal is to use cameras to detect, check and monitor things. This can cause acceptance problems in society.

Tim Bissé: The other issue is financing. Many local authorities cannot afford projects. However, speed monitoring systems, for example, have the advantage that they can contribute to their own financing.

What conditions must be in place on both sides for a smart city project to be ­successful?

Peter Ummenhofer: You have to be open to new ideas. Change also means making mistakes. This requires the openness to accept certain risks. However, the fundamental attitude of German authorities is rather cautious. In addition, there are very complex regulations. If these requirements were simplified and unbundled, the introduction of smart city projects would also be easier. Furthermore, the federal system can slow things down, because you have to talk to different political levels and contacts.

Looking five to ten years into the future, where will Germany be in terms of smart ­cities?

Peter Ummenhofer: German cities will have made progress, but probably not as much as cities in other countries. A pragmatic mindset could help here, as could a willingness to invest money. I would actually like to make a small plea for more innovation and research: fundamentally, we have a good foundation in Germany. We need to keep at it and rethink some things.

Tim Bissé: There will be many more automated processes. Perhaps this will happen more slowly than in other countries. But transformation takes time and patience. If lessons have already been learned, we can start right away with the right solution. Basically, I hope that some doors will open in the next few years and trigger progress. I believe that everyone from local authorities to the federal government has recognized that we need to push ahead with innovation and, with it, the topic of smart traffic.

Vitronic is a leading company in industrial image processing. Since 1984, automated systems for traffic engineering, logistics, automotive, and medical technology – for example, for quality assurance, identification, and process optimization – have been developed in ­Wiesbaden. Vitronic is active in over 80 countries worldwide.