SPD Chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz joined our founder Anja Vedder, Industrial Analytics IA GmbH, and Mona Feder, co-founder of tokenstreet, at the BITKOM e.V. Policy Pitch on 1th September to discuss Germany's digital future and the necessary steps in politics to improve the existing deficits.

Digitization as one of the most important topics for the 2021 Bundestag elections

According to a survey by BITKOM e.V. Digital policy is one of the decisive topics for two-thirds of the German voters for the federal election 2021. Olaf Scholz himself admitted in his opening statement that Germany is lagging behind in digitization and that necessary investments from the government side and the political will are needed to position Germany for the future as a global player. To make this happen, the promotion of an entrepreneurial culture for digital economic growth, government support for new digital ecosystems and technologies, and employee participation play a major role.

New framework conditions for new ecosystems

In order to make Germany more digital in the long term, new framework conditions and investments for new technologies must be created, says Anja Vedder. To create a more digital world and new ecosystems, these cannot only result from regulations for CO2 emissions, but investments in new technologies such as AI applications by municipal utilities and other state-owned companies need to be made, to become more digital. To do this, the state must also create governmental fundings for such technologies so that companies and startups can benefit from it. Also regulations need to be created so that companies can easily share their data with third parties in order to be able to implement such technologies. Anja Vedder also emphasized that the government's administrative burden in registering government funding could be significantly reduced through a central registry.

Facilitated investment and employee participation as a boost to innovation

Anja Vedder, co-founder of Industrial Analytics, criticized above all that the state currently offers many subsidies for young entrepreneurs in higher education, but that the conditions for founders with work experience and family as well as fundings for growth remain very difficult. "If you have big plans, you have to think big and plan your capital requirements accordingly. These are one of the biggest obstacles and hurdles for young founders," said Anja Vedder. Such obstacles must be dismantled accordingly to make it easier for founders to obtain seed financing, federal funding and capital procurement. Not only for founders are the hurdles high, also employees' company shares need to be re-sharpened and be eased fiscally, in order to create an innovation culture. So that employees can participate in companies' success, since they are jointly responsible, in order to develop a successful company, so Mona Feder.

Watch the whole talk on: