Homburg shines with co-pioneer award: HOMie project inspires young people!

Homburg shines with co-pioneer award: HOMie project inspires young people!

The city of Homburg celebrated a great success at the Co-Pioneer Prize 2025: In the “Social Cohesion” category, the city landed in sensational second place with its innovative “HOMie” project. The project aims to offer young people between the ages of 13 and 25 an open meeting place in the middle of the city center, and has thus won the hearts of several young people from Homburg. That's what he reports Weekly Mirror.

Homburg's mayor Manfred Rippel accepted the certificate at the last city council meeting and emphasized the importance of such initiatives for the community. “Openness and trust are fundamental for positive urban development,” said Rippel.

The path to success

Homburg was one of seven winners of the 2025 Co-Pioneer Prize. At the event, which took place during the “Digital State” congress in Berlin, the joint project “Stadtlabor2go” from Mönchengladbach and Wiesbaden, which took first place, was also honored. Homburg is at the forefront with its creative approach to transforming an empty shop into a meeting place for young people. The project was funded as part of the “Future Concept for Trade in Saarland 2030” funding program and was realized in collaboration with the Cologne Institute for Retail Research. Official mirror highlights that this is an excellent opportunity to actively involve young people in urban design.

The HOMie project not only encourages young people to design their own rooms, but also to develop their own formats and opening times. During the week the room serves as a learning center, while on the weekend it functions as an event venue - a real plus for the younger generation!

The price with meaning

The Co-Pioneer Prize was awarded for the first time on March 18, 2025 to promote successful examples of reuse in administrative digitization. The patronage was taken over by Dr. André Göbel, President of the Federal IT Cooperation (FITKO), which was founded together with the Re:Form alliance. Over 40 projects were judged and three main categories provided a clear structure for the awards ceremony. In addition to the category for social cohesion, there was also one for the digitalization of administration and relief from bureaucracy. In this context, the DStGB that the reuse of existing solutions is of central importance for future administrative innovations.

The success of Homburg's HOMie project not only shows what potential lies in the participation of young people, but also how important such initiatives are for lively and sustainable urban development. With such a positive response to the city center, Homburg will continue to serve as a role model for other communities.