The Economic Affairs Ministry has presented its 2017 DIGITAL Economy Monitoring Report. Germany ranks third in the world in terms of the availability of venture capital.

Minister Brigitte Zypries said: “In 2016, venture capital totalling €934 million was invested in Germany – almost €100 million more than the year before. I find this encouraging. It shows that we have digital companies with highly promising technological and commercial prospects, and that we have succeeded in making the policy environment for start-up financing more attractive. Nevertheless, we still need to catch up in the field of finance for corporate growth. We aim to double the amount of venture capital in the next few years – from the private sector, the public sector, the KfW and European financial partners. And the future Federal Government will also need to press ahead in other fields too, such as expanding infrastructure and eGovernment.”

This year’s Monitoring Report attests that Germany has the highest level of innovation of the ten countries covered. The greatest progress was made on the availability of venture capital. Germany has moved up four places and now ranks third. The only places where the situation is better are Finland and the United States. On the other hand, there is still a lot of room for improvement in other areas: Germany is down in eighth place in terms of eGovernment services. Overall, Germany again ranks sixth (with 57 points) in the league table of competitive digital economies, which compares the performance of the digital economies of the various countries. With 81 index points, the United States comes first, followed by South Korea and the United Kingdom.

The economic significance of the ICT sector in Germany has continued to grow. Its gross value added rose by 3.8% to €105 billion in 2016. The budgets for innovation increased to €17.2 billion, a rise of nearly 18% over the preceding year. More than 1.1 million people work in the ICT sector – somewhat more than in vehicle construction or mechanical engineering.

The Digital Economy Monitoring Report is published annually by Kantar TNS and ZEW Mannheim on behalf of the Economic Affairs Ministry. The summary of this year’s report can be downloaded here.