Karl Kimmig is Head of the Data Center Segment at ABB in Germany. In an eco interview, he talks about high-availability data centres, energy efficiency and sustainability. ABB will provide more exciting insights on topics including data centres and sustainability at this year’s German language Data Center Expert Summit on 14 and 15 June.

Doing the same with less energy: Over the next three years, the TANGO project will work on a cross-sectoral data platform. The goal is the development of particularly energy-efficient algorithms. Why energy-saving AI belongs under every bonnet. And how the eco – Association of the Internet Industry supports the project...

Create more value digitally and give more weight to Europe as a data location: Gaia-X is driving the shift from a product-centric to a data-centric world. At Cloud Expo Europe, the IT industry discussed why the economy and society need cloud technology.

eco – Association of the Internet Industry and the BMZ’s Invest for Jobs initiative are cooperating together to make it easier for the Internet industry to access IT talent abroad. Today’s focus: Tunisia.

Which rules operators of critical infrastructures have to follow in the context of Gaia-X, is discussed in the new Gaia-X Federation Services (GXFS-DE) whitepaper “Information Security of Critical Infrastructures – Law and Regulation for Gaia-X and the Gaia-X Federation Services”.

In the run-up to the event, we spoke with Marcel Klein, Strategic Partner Manager, plusserver, about data lakes and digital sovereignty and the central challenges of Industry 4.0.

eco Survey on World Environment Day on 5 June 6.1 per cent of Germans look for regional products and traders, 5.8 per cent optimise their electricity consumption Apps for tracking individuals’ CO2 footprint rarely used (0.5 per cent) At 14.6 per cent, only a minority of Germans take advantage of the opportunity...

From factories to supermarkets to medicines, data has a price. It is when companies share data with others that the greatest economic impact can be expected. Why the Digital Single Market goes against established principles of competition. And how the TANGO project is technologically balancing the interests of citizens. More on www.tango-project.eu

Digitalisation is also about transforming the culture and mindset in the company and building skills. In an eco member interview, Adrian Stanek, Managing Director at webbar, talks about how this can be achieved.

Most people in Germany (61.4 per cent) are aware of possible security risks and name security measures to be observed in a Civey survey. 38.6 per cent only want to use devices with security certification, 37.6 per cent say they should change default passwords, and 35.7 per cent do not want to connect some devices to the Internet.

Showcase your skills and creativity at the 2023 .eu Web Awards! This year marks the 10th anniversary of this prestigious event, presented by longtime eco member EURid, and they're looking for the most impactful, innovative, and stunning .eu, .ею, and .ευ websites out there.  

On 17 May, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) hosted the inaugural section meeting, “Education in the Digital Transformation”. In this section of the BMBF Digital Summit Platform “Learning Systems | Digital Competences”, in which eco is also represented, projects and initiatives are to be developed that advance digitalisation.

Christian Schmitz, Director OpenSource at the German cloud provider plusserver, explains which factors can influence data sovereignty in an eco interview. He also talks about the potential of open source solutions and Gaia-X.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers has issued invitations to the ICANN77 Policy Forum in Washington, D.C. Once again, eco will be there on site. At this event, Oliver Süme (eco Chair of the Board), Thomas Rickert (eco Director Names & Numbers) and Lars Steffen (eco Director International) will represent the interests of eco member companies. Interested parties can attend either online or on-site.

For the first time since 1999 in Berlin, a meeting of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers will take place in Germany with ICANN78 from 21 to 26 October 2023 in Hamburg. In the run-up, eco is organising a series of events on the DNS (Domain Name System). On 21 April, the geoTLD.group and the eco Association...

The intention of the 2017 German Online Access Act (OZG) was to lay the foundations for digitalised public administration. However, there was an acknowledgement in late 2022 of a clear failure in achieving the act’s goal. Today, the successor regulation for the Online Access Act is now to be adopted in the Federal Cabinet.

Tomorrow, Thursday, the German Bundestag will discuss the Energy Efficiency Act in its first reading. The Alliance for the Strengthening of Digital Infrastructures in Germany, founded under the umbrella of the eco Association, considers the current version of the draft approved by the Federal Cabinet in April to be detrimental to Germany as a digital location.

Compliance with legal protection targets in IT poses new challenges for many companies, according to Mathias Handsche. In an eco member interview, he explains how nGENn GmbH helps to boost cybersecurity.

The German Federal Ministry of Justice (BMJ) currently intends to draft a “law on the protection of digital violence”, which is intended to strengthen private law enforcement. In preparation for this draft law, the BMJ drew up a key points paper on 12 April. The Association of the Internet Industry has now produced a position paper on these key points.

On 15 May, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and the eco Association, invited participants to two events in Berlin: An exclusive “Roundtable Luncheon for Business” at the Adlon hotel was followed by a reception plus panel discussion on regulation issues in the evening.

Sharing and securely storing data is a must in the mobility industry – this was the consensus of the participants and speakers at the webinar jointly organised by the eco Association’s Mobility CG and Car Repair 4.0.

Five years after the General Data Protection Regulation (EU GDPR) came into force on 25 May, most consumers in Germany are making a conscious decision to protect their personal data on the Internet. This is shown by a representative Civey survey commissioned by eco – Association of the Internet Industry.

Recent innovations and developments in AI have intensified the debate around data protection. Prof. Dr Anne Riechert, Board Member of the AI Frankfurt Rhein-Main Society gives a first insight into the topic and presents the activities of the AI Frankfurt Rhein-Main Society.

According to a representative Civey survey commissioned by eco – Association of the Internet Industry, many Germans say that the Internet industry is making a major contribution to better shaping our future.

Critical infrastructures are of considerable importance for many spheres of our societal life. Since the beginning of the year, the protection of critical infrastructures has been newly regulated by the NIS2 Directive and the CER Directive, meaning that the regulatory field for critical infrastructures is also growing. This prompted eco to set up the KRITIS Competence Group at a constituent meeting last Tuesday.

The EU Commission’s proposal for a regulation to prevent and combat child sexual abuse has sparked much discussion and severe criticism since its publication in May 2022.

It is  important that the AI Act clearly addresses potential risks, but in order to harness the opportunities of the technology, we need room for innovation. Today, Europe is already lagging behind in the development of AI systems. This threatens not only Europe’s technological sovereignty, but also the competitiveness of the entire economy in Germany.

At our Mobility Competence Group meeting,“Urban Mobility – Interaction of IoT and Mobility for the Implementation of Mobility Solutions”, eco entered into discussion with various experts from the mobility and IoT environment on the topics of data generation, data usage, data management and data policy. Together with our host, WOBCOM in Wolfsburg, and our CG Mobility Leader Giovanni Coppa, we arrived at exciting content and a highly productive CG meeting.

Many companies underestimate the threat posed by cyber attacks, even though experts believe that the threat is growing – this was the result of the eco IT Security Survey 2023. eco IT Security Survey 2023. As a result, cybersecurity should be a top priority in all companies.

The Alliance for the Strengthening of Digital Infrastructures in Germany calls for data centres to be included in the current discussion on the introduction of industry electricity prices. The German federal government should recognise the importance of the industry as the backbone of digitalisation and part of the solution in achieving climate goals.