Decision-makers from politics and the Internet industry met at this year’s Internet Policy Forum on 25 April in the Microsoft Atrium Berlin to discuss the lever projects, fields of action and flagships of the Digital Strategy.
The German Federal Minister of Digital Affairs, Dr Volker Wissing, gave an initial interim assessment of the Digital Strategy and emphasised the relevance of data in driving forward digitalisation in public administration. Wissing emphasised the need for constant adaptation in implementing the strategy: “The path to the goal is not a sprint anyway, it is a marathon for which we need a lot of endurance and diligence.”
eco Chair Oliver Süme explained that the Digital Strategy contains many important outlines and approaches, but is a challenging strategy. “We now have to get started on the doing,” Süme said. In addition, the eco Chair emphasised the need for a digital budget.
In her keynote speech, Dr Anna Christmann, Commissioner for the Digital Economy and Start-ups at the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Action, outlined the current developments in the Energy Efficiency Act and in the area of technical innovations. Christmann emphasised the need for technological sovereignty and the promotion of AI in Germany and also affirmed that data centers are not the problem, but part of the solution to digitalisation and sustainability.
Finally, members of the Bundestag, the German parliament, Tabea Rößner (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen), Maximilian Funke-Kaiser (FDP), Dr Jens Zimmermann (SPD) and Marc Biadacz (CDU/CSU) exchanged views on the topics of digital sovereignty and sustainability with business representatives Ingobert Veith (Huawei), Alexander Wallner (Plusserver) and Dr Guido Brinkel (Microsoft) in a focus talk.
Impressions and the video of the event can be found here.
