Digital retreat
The German government intends to shape the digital revolution and prepare the country as well as possible for the future. To this end the government has put together a package of measures which is summed up in an implementation strategy. The aim is to further improve the quality of life for everybody in Germany, to develop economic and environmental potential, and to ensure social cohesion.
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The Digital Strategy with its five fields of action: specific responses to the challenges posed by the digital revolution
Photo: Bundesregierung
The strategy embraces five fields of action: digital skills, infrastructure and equipment, innovation and digital transformation, society in digital change and the modern state. The fields of action bring to life the many advantages offered by digital change so that people experience them first hand. The implementation strategy offers specific solutions for every challenge, along with implementation plans. It will be regularly updated and the achievement of its goals will be measured and reviewed.
Digital skills
The German government wants everybody to be able to make use of the opportunities afforded by digitalisation. They are to play an active and self-reliant part in shaping digital change and are to be enabled to deal responsibly with the risks involved. To this end more services are to be made available across the boards and the education system is to be geared even more to digital technology in everyday life, to the digital working and economic world and to the digital knowledge society.
The federal government’s DigitalPakt Schule (Digital Compact for Schools) for instance is ensuring that fast internet connections are installed at some 43,000 schools in Germany along with an effective digital learning infrastructure.
Infrastructure and equipment
Effective infrastructure is the lifeblood of our society, particularly digital networks. Without them the people, private companies and public authorities will not be able to use the advantages of digital change – and they are needed in urban and in rural areas. The aim is for everyone to have a connection – everywhere at all times. The special importance and the vulnerability of digital infrastructure calls for security and special protection.
It is our goal to see all of Germany served by the new high-speed net by 2025. Germany is to become the leading market for 5G applications.
Innovation and digital transformation
The force to shape change and create something new is a precondition for underpinning sustainable prosperity and social cohesion in Germany, Europe and the world in the long-term. The German government aims to ensure that technology and innovations are in line with the legal framework and the values of Germany and Europe. We want to become better at taking excellent technical research and using it to make and market excellent technological products in Germany and in Europe, and to set international standards with these.
The Artificial Intelligence (AI) Strategy is to bring research and development, and application of AI in Germany, to a leading level worldwide. In the health sector, for instance, AI can help diagnose diseases earlier as well as developing new treatment options.
Society in digital transformation
Digitalisation needs values. People must be at the heart of all of the government’s considerations and projects – even in the digital era. Whether people are open to digitalisation, or have concerns and fears, or whether they have to date been entirely indifferent to the digital world: digital transformation is to improve the lives of the people. The government aims to bring the country together and move it forward, safely and securely.
Positive progress can only be made if digital transformation is strongly anchored in society, if it is embraced by all sections of society and if the opportunities it offers are open equally to all sections. These are the framework conditions the government aims to put in place, at national European and global levels.
Modern state
Authorities should make people and company’s lives easier not more complicated. That is why the German government wants to make dialogue with the authorities, and requests for services simple and secure for everyone. To this end, by the end of 2022, all of the services offered by authorities will be offered online.
Parents, for instance, will be sent the birth certificate for their new babies without having to make an application, and child allowance will likewise be paid automatically. Naturally, digital access to the authorities will be barrier-free, so that more people with disabilities can also be reached in this way.