New Delhi: Germany offered its expertise in city planning and technological solutions that its firms can provide in energy, water, waste treatment and traffic sectors for the Centre’s Smart City Mission.

“Germany brings to the table not only decades of expertise and experience in city planning, but also technological solutions that German companies have to offer in the area of energy, water, waste treatment and traffic solutions,” German Ambassador to India Martin Ney said.

He said this while addressing the three-day ‘DWIH Indo-German Conference on CityScapes’ which started from September 29.

The conference aims to bring together scientists in the fields of energy, environment, cyber security and smart cities from India and Germany to discuss the global challenges of sustainable urbanisation.

“Cities are much more than the hardware of roads, houses and infrastructure. Cities are home for people with all their dreams and aspirations. Their development and design must be made with their best interests at heart,” Ney said.

Germany is partnering with three Indian cities — Bhubaneshwar, Kochi and Coimbatore — that would be developed as smart cities.

Inaugurated in October 2012, DWIH is a consortium of 15 German organisations comprising funding institutions, research centres and universities.