Entitled “Digital transformation at a turning point. Sustainable. Resilient. Future-Oriented.”, the Federal Government’s 16th Digital Summit took place in Jena on 20 and 21 November 16. The event at the Volkshaus Jena was organised by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action and the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport. The conference was attended by Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz and numerous federal and state ministers as well as by over 1,000 experts from the digital sector.

Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, Dr Robert Habeck: “The world is undergoing profound change. There are daunting environmental and climate challenges facing all of us – government, business and society. In these times of change, the digital transformation plays a key role and serves as an important tool. The digitisation process therefore needs to be given a boost, if we are to master the challenges ahead. We need to expand our technological and digital sovereignty and design the data economy in such a way that it is secure and beneficial for society, especially in the context of artificial intelligence, and that it is sustainable. To achieve this, we must compete for the best solutions and ensure that they will be implemented here in Germany and Europe. The Digital Summit as a place for digital debate and experience provides an important platform for this."

Dr Volker Wissing, Federal Minister for Digital and Transport: “The Digital Summit has never been more important than now. We are seeing rapid developments in many fields of technology, especially artificial intelligence. The way in which we deal with AI and how we use it will be decisive for our competitiveness and future prosperity. It is therefore important that we engage in a dialogue with the digital economy on these issues and focus on the opportunities they hold. I want to ensure that we offer our domestic companies the best policy environment for the development and use of AI. And Jena is certainly the right place for this dialogue. The city is young, it has a vibrant research landscape and many upcoming start-ups that contribute to the innovative strength of our country."

"Market for digital possibilities" brings digitisation to life
During the two days of the conference, a wide range of projects from the eight participating ministries, business, science and civil society were presented. The projects focused on many important topics such as the cloud infrastructure of the future, ethical aspects of artificial intelligence and the transformation of agricultural value chains. [For more details of the programme, click here: https://www.de.digital/DIGITAL/Navigation/DE/Digital-Gipfel/digital- gipfel.html]
Parallel to the programme in the Volkshaus, many discussions, workshops and lectures took place at various locations in Jena (including at the Friedrich Schiller University and the Ernst Abbe University) as part of the "Market of Digital Opportunities" which was organised by the city of Jena and the state of Thuringia. These events of the Digital Summit provided interesting opportunities for citizens to see, touch and participate in digitisation, making it a special experience for them. A special emphasis was also placed on the participation of civil society and parliament, which were also present at the summit with their own events.

AI as a key technology
One focus of this year's summit was on the opportunities and potential of artificial intelligence: AI can help to boost productivity and to cope with major challenges such as climate change or the shortage of skilled labour. It is therefore crucial to create a good policy environment for the development and application of trustworthy "AI made in Europe". The dialogue held between government, business, science and society at the Digital Summit makes an important contribution to this.