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"2024 must become the year of digitalization"
The Digital Monitor evaluates the current status of the German government's digital policy plans.
Even though the German government picked up speed in digital policy at the end of the year, progress has not been sufficient to achieve the goals it set itself. Bitkom's latest digital monitor shows that only 22 of a total of 334 planned digital projects were completed in the second half of 2023. This corresponds to only 18% of the projects in this legislative period.
A total of 60 of the more than 300 digital policy projects have been implemented to date, while 226 projects are currently being implemented. 48 have not even been started yet. "Even if the federal government has made up some ground in recent months: Many central projects are a long way from completion or implementation, including in particular the Digital Pact 2.0 for Germany's schools, the digitalization of administration and also projects such as the digital driver's license," says Bitkom President Dr Ralf Wintergerst.
Every second target could be missed
In order for all 334 projects to be implemented by the next federal election in 2025, the federal government will have to pick up the pace considerably, Wintergerst emphasizes: "However, if the current coalition continues at the current pace of 17 completed digital projects per quarter, it would only manage 119. Including the 60 projects already completed, it would only complete just over half of its digital projects (54%) with a total of 179. The federal government must more than double the pace of its digital policy if it still wants to achieve its goals. The current coalition has it in its own hands to become a real coalition for progress. To achieve this, it must make 2024 the digital year."
Pioneers and latecomers
The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection (BMWK) implemented the most digital policy projects in the last quarter (five), while the Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF) implemented four. The projects implemented include improved financing for start-ups and the digital pact for the justice system. In contrast, six ministries had not made any progress on digital policy by the end of 2023.
Digital Policy Monitor
Bitkom's "Digital Policy Monitor" regularly reviews the implementation status of 334 digital projects. The projects are examined in terms of their significance for the digitalization of the economy, society and the state as well as their complexity.