Munich's KVR wins ABH Award for digitalisation

Munich's district administration department, the Kreisverwaltungsreferat (KVR), has won the ABH Award in the digitalisation category. People surveyed for the award particularly welcomed the introduction of online applications in Munich and the continuing development of the department's online portal.

The award identifies leading authorities in Germany and Austria and highlights especially successful examples of good practice in skilled immigration. It aims to encourage exchange and knowledge transfer between public administration, businesses and international skilled workers, and to help build a positive culture of welcome. It is presented by the ICUnet.Group and Professor Dr Janina Klein, Assistant Professor for Organizational Change at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. The citation said the award 'recognises above all the willingness to continuously develop existing processes and adapt them to practical needs'.

The research behind the award surveyed people with direct, practical experience of dealing with immigration authorities. These were mainly global mobility and relocation consultants, HR managers, international skilled workers, expats and former expats. The aim was to include different perspectives and build as practical a picture as possible.

KVR representatives, including Sarah Goldberg and Tobias Kapfelsberger, received the award at Allianz during a joint exchange with experts from BMW, the Schwarz Group, Henkel, RWE, Volkswagen, OMV, Siemens, Evonik and Sanofi.

Dr Hanna Sammüller, head of the KVR, said: 'The award is a great reward for all the effort we have put into digitalising our services. Many thanks to all the staff who contributed to it. The fact that our work is seen and valued by business and academia encourages us to carry out many more digitalisation measures, large and small, in the coming months and years. However, to cope with the volume of applications for public services, we depend on our customers making even greater use of the online services.'

Dr Laura Dornheim, the city's head of IT, said the award confirmed the city's commitment to making important services simple and accessible, especially for people new to Munich. She said it recognised her team's work in developing and introducing innovative solutions and was an incentive to keep improving the city's digital services and to strengthen Munich as an open, modern and inclusive city.