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German gov't meets for special digitalization summit
Last Updated: 2018-11-15 10:41 | Xinhua
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Germany's ruling "grand coalition" cabinet is convening for a meeting in Potsdam on Wednesday where it will engage in two days of special consultations on the subject of digitalization.

The federal government is planning to use the digital technology summit to draft a strategy for how to make Germany an internationally-leading research destination in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). Chancellor Angela Merkel's (CDU) ministers will also discuss how to enhance the provision of digital public administration services to be more accessible to citizens.

Speaking to the online news portal t-online.de ahead of the meeting, Merkel called for a German and European innovation drive with respect to digital technologies.

"Germany and Europe must be a leading location for artificial intelligence in the future. Our prospective prosperity and the question whether we can defend our European values of the dignity of every individual human and the protection of privacy in the digital age will depend on this," she said.

Merkel told t-online.de that while her country was already amongst the group of leading nations for AI technology, it would have to continue investing in research and improve its record on developing concrete applications thereof. This circumstance also applied to the German public administration sector which would have to become faster in implementing digital projects and still had "a lot to learn in the coming years."

Labor minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) similarly emphasized the societal importance of reacting effectively and quickly to the far-reaching changes of digitalization in the newspaper Rheinische Post on Wednesday. "The point is to prevent unemployment in the digital transition before it materializes".

According to a "skilled labor monitor" published recently by the labor ministry, digitalization will eliminate 1.6 million jobs in Germany by 2025 but at the same time lead to the creation of 2.3 million new positions. Heil argued that the findings showed that while Germans would not run out of work, they would be confronted with new types of careers which called for corresponding qualifications and further education.

"Germany needs more ambition and drive in the competition for leadership in digitalization. An ambitious AI strategy is long overdue", a statement by Iris Ploeger, member of the Federation of German Industries managing board, read.

Ploeger highlighted that other countries, including the United States, Canada and China, were already far more advanced with respect to AI. The AI strategy which is set to be drafted in Potsdam would constitute a first attempt to launch a catch-up process in this context.

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