The Digital Summit 2018 took place in Nuremberg on 3 and 4 December. The special focus was ‘artificial intelligence’ (AI).

The Digital Summit thus addressed an issue which is rapidly attracting more and more attention around the world and has become a mega-issue in the digitisation field. Breakthroughs in the availability of computer capacity and data have resulted in increasingly broad fields of applications for AI technology which cut across sectors of the economy – from the fields of production and Industrie 4.0 to mobility and logistics, health and energy. AI is in the process of becoming a new basic technology of digitisation for the overall economy.

The Federal Government adopted its Artificial Intelligence Strategy on 15 November 2018. The strategy was drawn up under the lead responsibility of the Economic Affairs, Research and Labour Ministries following expert meetings and public consultations. The main theme of the 2018 Digital Summit takes up this process and adds the expertise of the large Digital Summit network. Find out more about the Federal Government’s AI Strategy.

The Digital Summit aims to help Germany to take advantage of the great opportunities offered by artificial intelligence whilst correctly assessing the risks and helping to ensure that human beings stay at the heart of a technically and legally secure and ethically responsible use of AI. The Summit’s platforms have taken on this task and presented the results of their work at the summit in December.

The Digital Summit (previously the National IT Summit) and the work that takes place between the summit meetings form the central platform for cooperation between government, business, academia and society as we shape the digital transformation. We can make best use of the opportunities of digitisation for business and society if all the stakeholders work together on this.

The National IT Summit was renamed the Digital Summit in 2017. This was to take account of the fact that digitalisation comprises not only telecommunications technology, but the process of digital change in its entirety – from the cultural and creative industries to Industrie 4.0.

The Digital Summit looks at the key fields of action within the digital transformation across ten topic-based platforms. The platforms and their focus groups are made up of representatives from business, academia and society who, between summit meetings, work together to develop projects, events and initiatives designed to drive digitalisation in business and society forward. The Summit will serve to present the results of the work that has been done in the past, to highlight new trends and discuss digital challenges and policy approaches.

Overall coordination:

Dr. Christine Kahlen
Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie (Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy)
E-Mail: christine.kahlen@bmwi.bund.de

Dr. Ulrike Engels
Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie (Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy)
E-Mail: ulrike.engels@bmwi.bund.de