Digital Strategy Borchen-Etteln

Digital Strategy Borchen-Etteln
Digital Strategy Borchen-Etteln
Team Organizations	Municipality of Borchen District of Borchen-Etteln
Point of Contact	Ulrich Ahle
Participating Municipalities	Borchen-Etteln
Sectors	Data
Initiative
Status	Implemented
Last Updated	December 22, 2024

Summary

To further increase the quality of life for all people in Borchen-Etteln and to develop the economic, social and ecological potential. In doing so, we take into account the interests of all age groups

Vision

The digital transformation is fundamentally and rapidly changing the way we live and work. We are actively shaping the change and thus opening up optimal future opportunities for our home village of Borchen-Etteln.

Borchen-Etteln has the best prerequisites for transferring Smart City concepts from the city to the village level.

We have proven that we can transfer a voluntary commitment supported by the broad population from traditional to digital projects. We will use this momentum to develop Borchen-Etteln into the digital lighthouse village in Germany. We will actively pass on the experiences and solutions to the other districts and comparable municipalities

Introduction

At the same time, the primary school was threatened with closure because the minimum number of pupils was temporarily no longer reached. The Etteln-aktiv association was founded to campaign for the preservation of the primary school. The association successfully lobbied for the preservation of the school site through the municipal administration, the district government and the state government in Düsseldorf. Today, the primary school is secured as part of the Kirchborchen-Etteln primary school, and the association is one of the pillars of social development in the village.

When the opportunity arose in 2013 through the German Child and Youth Welfare Services to receive funding for process support, this was the starting signal for a strategy process based on broad citizen participation. The core statement at the start in 2013: „Etteln is challenged to change this situation and to secure our common future in a liveable village!“

The so-called „Anschwung Initiative“ (start up initiative) began with a village workshop in which the strengths and weaknesses of the village were worked out. The weaknesses were worked on over the next few months in the three working groups „Building and Housing“, „Education“ and „Marketing/ Digital“. Subsequently, the primary school location was secured, the vacancy rate was reduced or the bus connection was reduced from a 60-minute to a 30-minute interval. Within the framework of the „Marketing/Digital“ group, a new village logo, an image brochure presenting the strengths of the village, an image film and the new website www.etteln.de were created. The new slogan for the village was created with the participation of all citizens: 15,000 bread bags were printed with a call for suggestions. „Etteln ... there‘s more in it“ was the result.

Subsequently, the integrated community development concept (IKEK) for the entire municipality of Borchen was developed in 2017. The village of Etteln was able to build on the results of the start up initiative and develop a number of project ideas, some of which included digital technologies. As part of the future forum „Digitalisation in the countryside“, the funding commitment through the EU LEADER programme for the acquisition of an village e-car and the realisation of a village app was announced at the end of 2018. Another focus of the event was the question of how digital solutions can enable older people to live longer in their own homes.

In February 2020, the village e-car ettCAR was handed over to its intended purpose at the first annual kick-off event with a seven-seater Nissan. It is connected to the internet, can be booked and opened via an app and is available to citizens free of charge. In this form, the vehicle is unique in the district of Paderborn and beyond. 160 registered drivers, 800 bookings and 45,000