Berlin The aging of German society is not only a problem for social security funds and the labor market, but also threatens Germany as a location for innovation. The Commission of Experts for Research and Innovation (EFI) came to this conclusion in a new report, which it handed over to Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) this Wednesday. In it, the government advisors are urging government programs to improve the digital skills of senior citizens.
Germany is far behind here, said the EFI chairman Uwe Cantner to the Handelsblatt. “It’s not about companies then earning more from the elderly, but about their social participation: as employees, as consumers and as patients.” The EFI also hopes that this will give the economy a boost in innovation. The EFI, convened in 2006 by the then Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU), consists of six experts who advise the government on all questions of innovation.
In an international comparison, the proportion of 65 to 74-year-olds with at least basic digital skills is only 28 percent in Germany, which is significantly smaller than in the Netherlands, Switzerland or Norway. The corresponding shares there are 55 to 61 percent, according to the report.
The industry association Bitkom explains the enormous differences with Germany’s general lag in digitization: “Senior citizens are open-minded, but in Germany they lack the opportunities to come into contact with them in everyday life,” says Managing Director Bernhard Rohleder.
Other countries are sometimes decades ahead – whether in the office, in the doctor’s office, at work or at school: the use of digital applications and technologies is there every day and is associated with positive experiences. “Wherever the ID card is applied for digitally, the daycare place is found online or the patient file is managed via smartphone, people’s digital skills are also more pronounced,” says Rohleder.
At the same time, the risk perspective often still dominates in Germany, which is why it is necessary that “the opportunities are emphasized and low-threshold offers are created – into old age”.
The Commission of Experts refers to the example of Canada, where intensive funding brings rapid success. A state program launched there in 2019 and equipped with 19 million euros with numerous free digital offers across the country reached more than 400,000 citizens, especially people over 65. That was almost one percent of the population. In 2022, the program was extended with a volume of almost 13 million euros.
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In Germany, the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs has had the “Digital Pact Age” since 2021, which finances personal advice on digital issues. However, the budget for two years is just under 1.4 million euros; According to the EFI, around 10,000 older people were reached in the first year.
The government’s digital strategy also promises to “strengthen sovereign handling of the digital in old age”, also in order to “secure the innovative power of our country – however, the House of Digital Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) does not name specific programs.
Huge need in the care sector
“Canada should be a role model for us,” Cantner warns, “we can’t just make a mess here, we have to go big.” Because digital competence can also make a decisive difference in medicine and at the same time save considerable costs.
The possibilities are enormous: they range from control apps to telematics to online consultation hours. However, all of this can only be used if not only doctors and nurses but also older patients have the necessary digital skills, warns the EFI. The need is gigantic: According to the report, the number of people in need of care alone will increase from 4.6 million today to 6.5 million by 2050.
In order to enable qualified and innovative retirees to work longer, the expert commission calls for “attractive opportunities to retire later if you wish”. In addition, the federal government should urgently allow “unreasonable limitations” on employment contracts, which are only permitted with restrictions for employees up to retirement age. Because pensioners no longer need to be protected, says EFI Chairman Cantner, “and companies get into big problems if they are not allowed to limit their contracts”.
The Commission of Experts also recommends paying more attention to older people when it comes to promoting company founders: older people should be systematically included and stereotypes of “young” founders should be avoided when addressing them.
The Federal Ministry of Economics assures that all funding programs are open to all age groups. A brochure on the subject of “starting a business in different life situations” addresses not only pupils and students but also the self-employed “in the prime of life”. These have already “reached some highs and survived lows” and are therefore often more relaxed than younger people, says the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
So far, however, older generations have hardly been represented when founding start-ups. According to the ministry, only 5.5 percent of start-ups are founded by people older than 55 years. The technology-oriented start-up scene in particular is characterized by young faces.
In the USA, the country of founders like Bill Gates (67) or Jeff Bezos (59), things are different. Alexander Hirschfeld, Head of Research at the start-up association, assumes that many who are now founding a company in Germany will remain loyal to the start-up world “and we will, like in the USA, do more in the coming years experienced older founders will see”.
More: German universities and technical colleges are producing more and more start-ups – things are going particularly well in three cities.