The Einstein Center Digital Future recognizes several important impulses in the 2025 coalition agreement for a digitally oriented science, innovation, and administrative policy – but at the same time also notes significant shortcomings in terms of clarity, commitment, and depth of implementation. Ambition and reality often diverge, as several members of the ECDF Board conclude.
A central initiative in the agreement is the promotion of hub structures intended to connect research infrastructures and activities across locations and actors. For Prof. Dr. Martin Gersch, Professor of Business Administration at Freie Universität Berlin and Co-Spokesperson of the ECDF Board, this direction is the right one: “This exactly corresponds to the path started at ECDF eight years ago and the current ideas of Digital Science Hubs as envisioned by the German Research Foundation.”He also explicitly welcomes the integration with public-private partnerships.
Prof. Dr. Daniel Fürstenau, Professor of IT Management and Digital Transformation at Freie Universität Berlin and ECDF Board Member, criticizes the lack of concrete measures regarding digital sovereignty – despite ambitious goals: “The statement ‘We want to become a nation of AI and startups’ is a strong one to me, but it must ultimately be judged in light of concrete measures.” Fürstenau sees similar vagueness in the coalition’s intentions to promote open interfaces and open source jointly with actors such as ZenDiS, SPRIND, and the Sovereign Tech Agency. The planned “sovereign Germany stack” also appears conceptually sound to him, but again lacks tangible measures. Fürstenau sees particular potential for improvement in data policy: “While the coalition commits to a ‘more open and positive understanding of data usage’, without clear operationalization, projects like the Health Research Data Center risk failing due to overregulated access restrictions. Initiatives should enable easy and unbureaucratic access to data – not just in secure processing environments,” Fürstenau warns.
A similar discrepancy between ambition and implementation becomes apparent in administrative digitization. Prof. Dr. Timm Teubner, Professor of Digital Service Engineering at TU Berlin and Deputy ECDF Spokesperson, sees important and correct approaches in the concepts of “Digital Only” and “One-Stop-Shop”. At the same time, he criticizes the coalition agreement for directly weakening them again:“Those who cannot or do not want to take the digital path will receive assistance on site.” According to Teubner, this already undermines the promise of “Digital Only” before it has even been implemented. For a true digital transformation, Teubner sees the introduction of the citizen ID as decisive: “The next federal government will have to be measured by its implementation across all levels of government – especially with regard to digital participation and user-centered governance.”
The ECDF will contribute its interdisciplinary expertise and experience at the intersection of science, society, and politics – and will critically but constructively accompany the concrete implementation of the plans.“We look forward to doing this in strong collaboration with the Berlin University Alliance and partners from politics, industry, and startups in our core areas ‘Integrated Health’, ‘Sustainable Cities’, and ‘Transforming Communities’,” says Gersch.