Germany needs a digital policy!

There is no difference between a „real“ and a „virtual“ world – that is one of the principles of the German federal government. Because of that, digital change, digital transformation, digital economy, digital society, digital future and many other „digital themes“ are no special field or just a temporary, short-term political momentum, but an elementary challenge for politics, economy and society for the present and the next generation. Because of that, it would be consequent to have a related and integrative „digital policy“ on all political decision levels. But this is not the case (yet)! And this is not acceptable in the year 2017 and for an economic nation like Germany. The reasons for that are obvious:

Reason 1: Digitalization needs a related digital policy

„Digital policy“ still has not received the same and necessary political status than other core themes. Germany is politically still #unknown territory (#neuland) and not #digital country (#digitalland). There is still no superordinate and integrative approach for a „digital policy“, but we still get politically lost in digital sub topics as, for example, data protection, broadband, network neutrality, cyber criminality, WiFi liability, data retention and concerning economic policy in sub topics like startup support, venture capital law, industry 4.0 and work 4.0 etc. At the federal level as well as at the state level, there are very different suspensions of the subject in ministries or state chanceries. In this regard, „digital politics" is often caught up in cross-departmental responsibilities and loses its power and vigor. It is an elementary requirement to all political parties in Germany to write “digital policy” on their flags and to give theme-crossing responses to all questions concerning the future challenges in this field. Conclusion: Shaping digitalization is an urgent assignment to the politics!

Reason 2:  Digitalization addresses 65 million votes

„Digital politics“ is therefore not least a general societal theme, related to the question, how general communication between people, firms and institutions over and with digital networks will look like. Surprisingly at the moment the political establishment is largely driven by external interest groups without giving an overall policy guideline for an own “digital policy”. Because digital transformation of all areas of life has not just begun, but will move on more and more rapidly, one cannot go on to drag behind but has to get to the top of a more and more digital society. With this background, digitalization is not a side issue for a small startup-scene with approximately 50.000 votes in Berlin, Hamburg, Munich or Cologne. It addresses all of us and thus affects up to more than 65 million voters in our country. Conclusion: The digitalization of society and economy concerns all voters!

Video: The Digital Society

Reason 3: Digitalization will activate the voters

Many politicians have recognized the meaning of digitalization, but cannot give answers. Furthermore, they think, that they cannot distinguish themselves from other political parties in this theme. There is a lack of political friction points because the demand of promoting digitalization e.g. of quick broadband are quite the same in all political parties. They completely disregard that digitalization is not about a theme which is characterized by political parties’ colors, rather it is much more about the credibility of the consequent and quick realization of the necessary activities. It is no longer about political agendas, but about the strategic design of the corresponding activities. By the corresponding realization competence, digitalization could become a top-theme for the activation of undecided voters and especially young non-voters, who as “digital natives” do not see themselves collected politically concerning this theme. Estimates say that this group of voters can make a difference up to 3 or 5%. With respect to the growing differentiation of political parties, it might become an important issue of having or not having these votes. Conclusion: Digitalization is an important topic for election campaigns!

Digitalization in the 2017 election campaign

The political structures do not reflect digitalization to its full importance, yet. However, we need digital politics to be organized in one hand with an overarching concept. This is why we need an independent digital ministry with a central digital minister in Berlin after the next federal election this year. We massively need to catch up in this topic and thus, the centralized solution is the fastest and most effective solution as opposed to a lengthy and fragmented solution with shared and unclear responsibilities between different ministries. This would lead us to a clear and strong voice not only within Germany but also in Brussels, where a variety of relevant decisions with regard to the “digital single market” in Europe are about to be made.

This theme shall not be politically outsourced to a digital agency but it has to be an integrative part of the core political system.

Sebastian Rieger from the “Stiftung neue verantwortung” analyzed this in a splendid way, when talking about the sense of splitting the responsibilities for the digital agenda to the three ministries for economics, interior, and transport. He sums up: “that this constellation is primarily negative because the responsibilities are spread too widely and thus the work won’t be conducted in an efficient manner without high coordination efforts. Additionally, competing interests of the different parties that lead those ministries will also hamper constructive work.” His opinion is also supported by the blog netzpolitic.org: “Right from the first publication of the strategy, we already disagreed to split the responsibilities for net and digital politics onto so many small resorts with the result that it is still not accepted as an independent field. This also becomes evident by the fact that the committee “Digital Agenda” did not get the lead. The fear that this will not lead to any substantial results became true so far. Most recently, with the presentation of the results of the digital agenda.”

Video: The Digital Platforms

Against this background, what could be the cornerstones for digital politics in Germany considering an independent ministry?

1.      Do not leave the fate of the digital economy to data protectionist: Many digital projects in Germany fail early due to the “concerns” of data protectionists. The fact that they interpret our already strict data protection policies even more strictly creates a real locational disadvantage. The hope that strict data protection policies may lead to a locational advantage has not become true so far and in times of big data, it probably will never come true. Data protection is important, but should be considered as a necessary pre-requisite only. A digital minister should therefore consider the topic of data protection from a competitive perspective!

2.      Build faster data networks for the gigabit society: Although Germany is one of the richest countries in the world; we only have a second-class network infrastructure. In a current ranking of the actual network speed, Germany is only on the 20th place and with regard to the super-fast fiber we only rank 28 in the world. An intelligent regulation with investment incentives rather than protection of the ex-monopolist and more investments by the government are necessary steps. A digital minister should therefore consider the issue of digital infrastructure!

3.      Ensure digital education in schools and universities: When asked about the poor or non-existent digital education in schools and universities, most politicians usually respond with “This is state policy and not our topic”. This attitude is no longer acceptable. Digital education and computer science need to be mandatory subjects like German or English and the federal government needs to elaborate and finance an attractive concept that works out for the states. This also holds true for the new disciplines “digital economy” and “digital entrepreneurship” in our universities. A digital minister should therefore consider the topics of digital basic and continuing education!

4.      Design the digital single market: Germany needs to understand itself as a digital part of Europe. Europe can and needs to be digital together, because each country taken for itself is too small for the digital world. Only with our combined efforts, we can stand against the USA or Asia in the strong worldwide digital competition. Similar to the European single market, we need to establish a European digital single market as well. A digital minister should therefore consider the topic of European digital policy!

5.      Dare to work for a digital location policy: From a regulative point of view, we may not like the way the US, China, or Russia support their digital companies. However, their success is undoubtable because all three countries developed companies that became digital world market leaders. An integral part of a locational policy should in particular be the support for startups. They are an important source of digital innovations and we need to develop digital world market leaders from Germany. A digital minister should therefore consider the support of digital startups!

We in Germany are not a BIT or BYTE inferior to the Americans or Asians – but we need to show it now!

Video: The Digital Economy

The politics can no longer only passively react but need to actively shape this field. It is now the time to create our own regulative vision for the digital age in Germany and to join the playing field instead of leaving it to Facebook, Google, Amazon and so on. Thus, I wish that the best possible people are going to be considered for the new digital ministry in Germany after the next federal elections. These people should not only represent the interests of the political parties, they belong to, but possess the required digital competencies that we urgently need today. Digitalization does not have a political color but the right of a consequent implementation of its necessary boundary conditions.

E-Learning (in English): The E-Business-Seminar - The Online-Course for the Digital Economy: www.e-business-seminar.com

Buchhinweis (in German): Deutschland 4.0 - Wie die Digitale Transformation gelingt: www.deutschland40.digital