Goals of the previous government that were not implemented.
(Photo: dpa)
Berlin The federal government’s new digital strategy is worrying the economy. Start-up representatives and business associations consider the strategy of Digital Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) to be too ambitious and far too vague. The federal government wants to decide on the new digital strategy this week, the final draft is available to the Handelsblatt.
For example, the Digital Ministry should no longer be responsible for the “implementation” of the strategy, but only for “monitoring”. There is therefore no central body to control implementation.
“It is surprising that after eight months the self-proclaimed progressive coalition has still not been able to come up with a coherent strategy for modernizing Germany,” criticized the Association of Family Businesses.
The stumbled digitization threatens to become a “brake on the economy and innovation”.
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The Handelsblatt analyzes which four points of the digital strategy are decisive for the economy – and why the strategy disappoints at exactly these points from the point of view of the economy.
1. A digital administration
Where citizens are already bothered by outdated administrative structures and idle administrative procedures, the economy is almost driven to despair. According to a survey by the Chambers of Commerce and Industry, companies have an average of one hundred times more administrative contacts per year than ordinary people. Digital processes could ease the high level of bureaucracy. So far, however, the digitization of administration has only had a few successes.
This is what the strategy promises: The digitization of administration should be established as a “permanent task”. The strategy does not name any concrete goals. In the future, however, administrations should be able to exchange data more easily with one another, so that citizens and companies only have to enter information once.
The economy demands: Instead of vague announcements, the family businesses are calling for a “federalism reform” with a focus on digitization. At the moment, the different levels would slow each other down. For example, it is “not very useful” for each federal state to operate its own user account for administrative services, which is incompatible with one another.
>> Read here: In the digital strategy, ministers rely on “experimental spaces” and data
2. Fast Internet
The fact that companies can count on fast internet anywhere in Germany has so far only been a vision. This also has an impact on the “attractiveness of the business location”, as the family businesses warn. In 2021, only 7.1 percent of connections in Germany had access to the fast fiber optic network – the OECD average is over 34 percent.
This is what the strategy promises: By 2025, at least half of households and companies should be connected to the fiber optic network.
The economy demands: The German Mittelstands-Bund (DMB) criticizes that the goals for fiber optic expansion were already named in the gigabit strategy written in 2018. So far, however, these have “rarely been pursued consistently”. For small and medium-sized companies, the strategy is therefore primarily a “pretty-colored inventory”. The DMB’s simple call to action is therefore to finally implement the goals that have been known for a long time.
According to the strategy, the Digital Ministry is no longer responsible for implementation.
(Photo: dpa)
3. Make better use of data
Sharing and using information in the form of data – this is a great opportunity for business to better understand its customers and optimize its business models. For many start-ups and tech companies, data is at the heart of their products. And the future technology of artificial intelligence also derives its intelligence from reading information.
This is what the strategy promises: For the economy, the promise of the “data economy” in particular should raise hopes. “The design of an attractive, secure and agile data economy is one of the strategic priorities of the federal government,” says the strategy. By 2025, data from business, science, administration and society should be “combinable” – i.e. exchangeable with each other.
The economy demands: The managing director of the start-up association, Christoph Stresing, welcomes the fact that the “topic of data availability and use, which is so crucial for start-ups” plays a major role in the paper.
But when it comes to data, the confusion of responsibilities across the ministries is an example. “According to the current status, the EU Data Act is managed by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Affairs, the data institute by the Ministry of Interior and Economic Affairs, the national data strategy by the Ministry of Digital Affairs and Interior, whereas the Data Governance Act falls within the responsibilities of the Ministry of Economic Affairs,” criticized Sarna Röser from the Association of Young Entrepreneurs. That’s madness. She sees that “complicated and time-consuming coordination loops” could slow down the projects and instead calls for clearer competencies and responsibilities.
4. Rules for new technologies
It’s no secret that political regulation is struggling to keep up with technological developments. This is shown, for example, by the tough process in the struggle for a legal framework for artificial intelligence or data exchange with the USA. Legal certainty in the digital sector would be extremely important for companies to be able to research new technologies.
This is what the strategy promises: The federal government is leaving most of the regulation issue to its EU colleagues in Brussels. According to the strategy, “clear and reliable framework conditions” should prevail at European level. Only the Ministry of Economics is more specific and wants to promote small and medium-sized companies in Germany by preventing a “competitive concentration of market power” of the large international tech companies. To this end, law enforcement in the digital sector should be strengthened.
The economy demands: The family businesses find it worrying that when it comes to regulating technology, the ball is mainly being played to Brussels. Because there is a risk of “considerable over-regulation” that could damage innovation and competitiveness. The federal government should develop a clearer position on this and represent it more vehemently in Brussels.
More: Why we need a digital turning point quickly