The IPSC 2026 was organized by the RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau, the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), and the Fraunhofer Institute for Experimental Software Engineering IESE in cooperation with the Smart City Science Network. The conference is fundamentally conceived as an interdisciplinary platform that brings together planning, technical, and social science perspectives to develop sustainable solutions for cities, counties, and regions.

The program addressed key issues shaping the future of local development: demographic change, artificial intelligence in the smart city, governance, engagement and participation, smart city infrastructure, data platforms, and digital twins, as well as the implementation and transfer of solutions into practice. A total of 55 submissions were received, with 52 presentations included in the program; approximately 120 people attended. Keynote speeches were delivered by Julia Simonson from the German Center for Aging Research and Jens Kandt from University College London.

The conference thus also serves as a testament to the strength of research and technology transfer in the Kaiserslautern region. With DFKI, RPTU, and Fraunhofer IESE, three key players have come together here to combine technological excellence, interdisciplinary research, and application-oriented development—thereby providing important impetus for shaping livable, resilient, and sustainable cities and regions.

As part of IPSC 2026, the closing conference of the project “Ageing Smart – Designing Spaces Intelligently,” funded by the Carl Zeiss Foundation, was also held. The aim of the project was to support cities and municipalities with data-driven planning solutions that enable older people to live independently and actively for as long as possible. The project results were presented at the conference and discussed with representatives from academia, government, business, and politics.

Martin Memmel, Director of the SmartCity Living Lab, German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence:
“Especially in cities and regions, we are facing a paradoxical situation: never before have we had access to so much data, so many tools, and so many technological possibilities, and yet at the same time, the need for guidance, prioritization, and collective action is growing. What matters, therefore, is not merely whether digitalization and AI become more powerful, but whether they strengthen our individual and collective capacity to act. This is precisely why we need interdisciplinary platforms like the IPSC, where research, administration, and politics bring together different perspectives and develop viable solutions for practical application.”

Annette Spellerberg, Professor of Urban and Regional Sociology, RPTU:
“As part of the ‘Ageing Smart’ research project, we collaborated with seven model municipalities and saw how data can be transformed into valuable planning tools using AI and mathematical methods. For this to succeed, we need data in sufficient quantity and quality, as well as a multi-perspective view of the aggregated information—that is, expertise from the fields of urban sociology, spatial planning, geography, economics, mathematics, visualization, software development, and artificial intelligence (AI). And that is precisely the goal we are pursuing with the IPSC: complex challenges require interdisciplinary solutions.”

Matthias Berg, Department Head of Smart City Design, Fraunhofer IESE:
“As the response to the IPSC shows, the relevance of the smart city topic remains undiminished. At the same time, a shift has become apparent over the past few years: System landscapes have become more complex—the issues municipalities are grappling with are becoming increasingly specific. What matters most are robust solutions and data infrastructures that are interoperable, scalable, and sustainable in the long term. In addition, the focus is shifting toward the sustainable impact of smart city initiatives. These current developments were also reflected in the IPSC program.”