InnoTech funding to boost local government innovations in Hamburg

20 September 2023

Senate Chancellery backing measures for more efficiency, innovation and artificial intelligence

The Senate Chancellery has launched the InnoTech Fund for ideas to make local government procedures more efficient and modern using artificial intelligence, according to a press release Wednesday (September 13, 2023). Hopes are now high that tangible added value will soon be created for employees, residents and companies in Hamburg. Twelve ministries have submitted around 75 ideas, 15 of which have been selected for funding, according to the Office for IT and Digitalisation.

InnoTech to make benefits of AI tangible

"We want to use the 'InnoTech Fund' to make the benefits of AI tangible for local government and gain experience for a long-term strategy. We will stay on top of the developments and can use technological progress to benefit residents immediately," said Christian Pfromm, Chief Digital Officer of the City of Hamburg. The applications could cut the time needed to process enquiries. The allocation of funding hinges on the benefits for the respective local government office, technical feasibility and data protection compliance.

Large Language Model to reduce workload

The InnoTech Fund also lends its support to other projects e.g., to the Ministry of Culture and Media's efforts to use intelligent algorithms for cataloging images. The fund will also be used to test the inter-agency and AI-supported text assistant "LLMoin". This "Large Language Model" (LLM) could cut workloads and repetitive tasks. A pilot project will test the added value of LMMs depending on local government requirements. Inter-agency groups will test functions such as summarising and generating texts and queries.

City relying on innovations and Gov-Tech campus

Entirely new applications could complement existing services, according to the Office for IT and Digitalization. The pilot project should pave the way for the widespread, long-term use of these applications and boost innovation in Hamburg's local government. The City of Hamburg is also focusing on other new technologies and preparing to open a campus for government technology (Gov-Tech) with Dataport. The city and the Artificial Intelligence Center Hamburg (ARIC) are also looking for AI start-ups to co-operate with local government.

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