telecommunications
Association: Germany only in the middle when it comes to digitization
Bitkom President Ralf Wintergerst considers bureaucracy to be the biggest brake on digital Germany. photo
© Arne Dedert/dpa
According to the Bitkom digital association, Germany can still make significant gains in the area of digitization. The digital strategy of the federal government must be pushed forward.
The digital association Bitkom sees a lot of catching up to do in digitization Germany. Bitkom President Ralf Wintergerst told the German Press Agency: “In the digitization of the economy and society, we are only in the midfield worldwide and also in Europe. So: not at the bottom, but also far from being good.” A year ago, the federal government presented a digital strategy.
To put it bluntly, Germany is a “failed state” when it comes to the digitization of administration. “When it comes to administrative digitization, it’s not just about citizens being able to apply for their birth certificates and passports digitally, it’s also about digitizing and simplifying approval and reporting procedures for the economy,” said Wintergerst. “Bureaucracy is currently the biggest brake on digital Germany.”
In the European context, however, there is one area where Germany has caught up rapidly in recent years: in terms of connectivity and the development of our telecommunications infrastructure.
The federal government’s digital strategy
With a view to the cabinet meeting in Meseberg on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Bitkom President said: “The digital strategy was adopted in Meseberg a year ago and far too little has happened since then. The federal government must pursue its digital policy with much more vigour, if it wants to achieve the goals he has set himself before the next elections.”
The digital pact for the digitization of Germany’s schools and the digitization of state and administration must be promoted. “The planned austerity course for digitization projects is going in the completely wrong direction.”
With the digital strategy, the federal government wants to make this decade a “digital decade” for Germany, as it was called. By 2025, half of all households and companies in Germany are to be supplied with fiber optic connections. It is also planned that the state will provide citizens with secure digital identities so that they can carry out many administrative processes online.