Seven expert groups working on the digital future: solutions for energy, health, transport, education, administration, cities and IoT.
The digitalization of the critical energy supply infrastructure is key to the success of the energy transition. Against this backdrop, the expert group on intelligent energy grids is of particular importance. New, innovative solutions must be found, discussed and recommended in order to keep the increasing complexity of the overall system stable and safely manageable and at the usual level.
Demographic trends in Germany are causing demand for healthcare services to rise faster than the capacity of service providers. Geographical imbalances lead to a relative shortage of doctors, nurses and therapists. Close networking of centralized and decentralized healthcare facilities and the use of innovative technologies could make it easier to overcome these challenges. Pandemics show us how useful digital solutions can be in the healthcare sector in many different ways and show us where Germany’s deficits lie in terms of infrastructure and applications.
How is digitalization changing everyday mobility in terms of sustainability? Mobility is and remains an important factor for growth and employment in the digital world of the 21st century. Especially in view of the challenges of 2020. In view of the results of the EC in recent years, we continue to live with the following recommendations for action and obstacles: lack of a specific legal/regulatory framework, insufficient broadband availability and network characteristics and a continuing lack of social acceptance of intelligent, networked mobility solutions.
In the international competition for the best solutions for the deployment and use of intelligent education networks in the school and extracurricular context, in (dual) colleges, universities, in companies or in public administration, Germany plays only a minor role today and runs the risk of becoming a customer of internationally active providers of education technologies in the near future, but not a provider that shapes or even leads the international market.
Almost all processes in government and administration are based on data. Digitalization and intelligent networking therefore open up significant efficiency and design potential in this area. However, it is precisely in this field of action that Germany is currently still lagging significantly behind in terms of development, which is also being viewed increasingly critically from an economic perspective (see report by the Commission of Experts for Research and Innovation and the National Regulatory Control Council).
Digitization happens on site. Cities and regional conurbations are the main drivers of smart connectivity in Germany. The expert group has set itself the goal of highlighting the prospects and opportunities of digitalization for cities and regions, identifying obstacles and providing impetus for the accelerated implementation of smart cities and smart regions. The focus here is on citizens, because technology is only “smart” if it succeeds in understanding people as independent actors at the center of a digitally supported community.
The Internet of Things (IoT) and the associated analysis of data will have a significant impact on the further digitalization of our society and Germany’s economic strength. The challenges here must be mastered in an appropriate time and quality. The cross-sectional technology of the Internet of Things, which is almost invisible to outsiders, enables the end-to-end networking of practically all objects and is therefore the basis for everything “smart”.