The association Smart Regio Basel , which is driving forward the Smart City development of the Basel region, aims to identify the relevant digitization trends in various industries. Based on this information, consulting and solution services in the Smart City context are to be made available to the industries so that they can fully exploit their potential.

Digital trends in retail, hotel/gastronomy, construction (building and civil engineering) and extension/craft are to be identified, analysed and described as well consolidated in an industry comparison. The defined digital trends will be evaluated by desk and field research to assess the significance and implementation of digitalization in the respective industries. The results are concluded with an illustration as well as a comparison between desk and field research for the evaluation of the potentials of each industry in terms of digital transformation.

Leveraging the research, the authors conclude that the main digital trends in the retail and hotel/gastronomy industries are customer-focused and thus pursue Customer/user Experience, whereas the construction industry is infrastructure-driven and thereby perceives Cloud Computing and Big Data trends as more relevant to their operations. Additionally, a relatively significant number of companies in the extension and craft industry remain in the early stages of digital development owing to their limited resources and fear of risk. The bigger enterprises generally demonstrated a strong commitment to the progress of digital transformation. For SMEs, it is essential to embrace change with confidence and to observe the market closely. Taking a step in the right direction is a vital decision. For this reason, supporting SMEs and encouraging them to digitalize their businesses plays a central role here, as the main obstacles are the fear of risks and lack of know-how that confronts these companies. In this context, Smart Regio Basel is required to assist as a digital coach for the introduction and guidance of the implementation of digitalization in companies through operative know-how.