07/11/2026
The City of Fort Worth and Fort Worth Sister Cities International spent last week in Heidelberg and our sister city of Trier, Germany as part of the European Union Cities Gateway Program . Our cohort is part of the Digitization & Urban Innovation Thematic Cluster. Fort Worth joined , # Edmonton, , , , and and exchanged information about how the cities are using artificial intelligence, data-driven decision making, digital twins, and smart city administration to solve common municipal challenges.
City of Fort Worth Assistant City Manager Valerie Washington and Fort Worth Sister Cities International Director of Exchanges and Outreach, Beth Weibel, represented the City of Fort Worth in this cohort.
The program began with the group meeting in Heidelberg for two days, sharing presentations about current challenges and brainstormed about how Artificial Intelligence is being used to identify and manage them. The second part of the week was spent in our sister city of Trier, where the city demonstrated how they are utilizing the AI tools to solve common problems. Green space initiatives, healthcare, emergency management, and public transportation were on the agenda for our program in Trier. We returned with multiple ideas for future collaborations with our new friends in the cities gateway cluster.
Thankfully, this is a four-year program, so we have the time to further develop, manage, and carry out special projects. Stay tuned for more details as these projects come to fruition.
