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Empowerment of Citizens to become Smart Citizens.

New concepts, actions and plans for transforming cities into Smart Cities (or smarter cities) are emerging around the world. Smart cities are not only about digitizing facilities, introducing e-government and open government, but also about taking citizens with them in this transformation. A part of the population will become smart citizens and may be more interested in their environment, their city. In this transformation, the opportunities for participation play a significant role. During this transformation process, data is generated which is collected and processed by sensors in, e.g., lanterns, traffic lights and all types of sensors. Individual devices are connected to the internet and operate intelligently: Networked devices form the Internet of Things, and citizens can participate. However, many of these devices are proprietary, or there has been no attention paid to making the data available to the city and then, in a further step, to turning it into open data available to all citizens. This contribution describes a way to become a smart citizen and his or her opportunities to actively participate in the development and especially scientific investigation of his or her city. They become able to research on their own or accompanied by researchers: Citizen science.