The city of Hamburg is taking determined steps to advance the testing and comprehensive introduction of AI technologies to empower citizens and the administration effectively and efficiently. Despite the slow adoption of AI in public administration and city services, Hamburg is committed to overcoming these challenges.  

To facilitate the transition into the AI era and support innovative projects, the city has established the InnotecHH Fund under the leadership of the Senate Chancellery. This unique fund in German public administration aims to provide the necessary AI expertise and technical resources to prioritize, develop, and successfully implement impactful AI pilot projects. This initiative reflects Hamburg’s proactive approach to integrating advanced technology into its urban and administrative framework, setting a precedent for other cities and regions.

Since the end of 2022, Merantix Momentum has supported the InnotecHH Fund in bringing AI expertise and experience to the Senate Chancellery and accelerating the adoption of AI in municipal processes. This includes developing a structured AI innovation process covering holistic processes and consulting services from idea generation through evaluation, prioritization, piloting, and testing to implementing AI-powered use cases.

The implementation strategy encompassed several dimensions:

1. AI innovation process of the InnotecHH Fund: This multi-stage process begins by assisting with idea generation and advances through a thorough evaluation and prioritization phase. It considers technical, economic, organizational, ethical, and regulatory factors, culminating in the technical implementation, operation, and ongoing monitoring of both developed and acquired AI solutions. This streamlined approach ensures a comprehensive oversight from concept to execution.

2. Strategic implementation and scaling advisory: Training, advising, and developing blueprints to transition from individual, department-specific AI pilot projects to state-wide scalable AI products across various municipal sectors, spreading solutions and leveraging scale efficiencies.
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3. AI governance: Development and implementation of an innovative AI governance process in collaboration with city administration departments and leaders, adhering to the new AI regulation (AI Act), ethical guidelines, and all existing regulations.

The implementation of the new system has streamlined the process, reducing the detailed evaluation, selection, and funding commitment of use cases to three months. In the first operational year of the InnoTecHH Fund (2023), over 120 AI use cases from all eleven city agencies were evaluated, with 19 now in development and 8 being scaled city-wide.

Hamburg is leveraging a wide range of AI technological innovations, including chatbots, large language models (LLMs), computer vision, predictive systems, and anomaly detection. In partnership with Merantix Momentum, the city has successfully deployed several strategic and operational AI projects:

1. LLMoinThis LLM tool, similar to ChatGPT but optimized for public administration with a focus on data protection, security, and user-friendliness, aims to improve the efficiency and quality of administrative processes. Through strategic and technical support in developing LLMoin, and employing innovative methods, Merantix Momentum has helped Hamburg advance this product, setting a new standard for AI integration in public administration.
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2. AI-based chatbot for housing benefits: Designed to assist citizens with the housing benefit application process, which has become more complex due to legislative changes. This chatbot helps reduce incomplete submissions and tackles the increased processing workload, effectively handling language barriers and improving user experience.
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3. Chatbot for the Urban Data Platform: The UDP provides a range of geospatial data and information publicly. A prototype AI-based chatbot can access and analyze these datasets, helping users - including citizens, businesses, and agencies - easily find answers to their geospatial queries without needing technical expertise.