Digital summit: Wissing wants "digital only"

Germany's digital reputation is worse than the reality, said Federal Digital Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) at the start of the Federal Government's Digital Summit in Frankfurt am Main. Although he sees room for improvement, the situation is not that bad. However, now is the time to switch from parallel solutions to digital only. This is important for reasons of efficiency, but also to generate data: "Without the consistent generation of data, we will not be able to exploit the possibilities."

AI could then be based on the data and insights could be gained. Wissing cited the Deutschlandticket as an example of this. The Mobility Data Act, which is currently being discussed in the Bundestag, would pursue an open data approach that has become law. However, everything must always be anonymized, Wissing said, as he did not want to receive the next Big Brother award.

Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) also wants more data. In order to strengthen Europe digitally, it is also necessary to rethink the German interpretation of data protection –, in particular the diversity of supervisory authorities with a total of 18 supervisory authorities. What was right 20 years ago does not necessarily have to be right 20 years from now, Habeck said: "Data protection is not about protecting data."

Data as an asset for AI development

For the Minister of Economic Affairs, this is also about Europe's sovereignty. He also sees data as an asset for AI development. It is true that Google and ChatGPT have great advantages in the processing of voice, but he sees great opportunities for the EU in machine data and other uses, although Germany alone is too small as a data space.

Despite a number of recent setbacks, Habeck wants to continue to focus on locating chip production in Europe. "The masses are coming from South East Asia, especially from Taiwan and South Korea," explained the designated Green candidate for chancellor. These are not the safest places for reliable supplies of semiconductors.

"Trustworthy applications need regulation"

It is important that Europe can continue to implement its ideas in the future. This also applies to regulation: "If TikTok is more strictly regulated in China than in Europe, that should give us pause for thought," said Habeck, also with regard to the Digital Services Act (DSA). This is one way of binding Elon Musk to European values.

However, his cabinet colleague Wissing pointed out that regulation is needed to generate trustworthy applications. Regulation that increases legal requirements to such an extent that innovation is only possible with expensive legal advice would be problematic and must be avoided.

This year's Digital Summit is taking place in Frankfurt with over 1500 participants. Many cabinet members will speak at the event, including Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The series of events, which was once launched in 2006 as the IT Summit, is held at different locations in Germany every year.

(mki)