At Rise of AI 2018 in Berlin, Christian Rickerts, Berlin's Secretary of State for Digitization, describes how the city government supports its AI and tech startup ecosystem after years of economic stagnation. He cites 3.1 percent GDP growth in 2017, the fourth consecutive year Berlin outperformed the German average, 50,000 to 60,000 new residents arriving annually, and one in eight new jobs created in tech. He says 69 percent of all German venture capital, about 3 billion euros across 233 deals in 2017, went to Berlin, and counts about 200 startups working in deep learning, machine learning and natural language processing in Berlin and Brandenburg. He describes the city's support instruments, including its state-owned investment bank IBB, funding programs, the Einstein Center founded in 2016, and the Adlershof research campus. Quoting Stephen Hawking's warning that AI could be civilization's greatest success or its last, Rickerts argues Berlin should also lead on data protection, privacy, taxation and algorithmic transparency, drawing an extended analogy to how traffic regulation evolved gradually alongside the automobile, from no rules at all to today's near-global system.
Key takeaways
- Rickerts says 69 percent of all German venture capital, about 3 billion euros across 233 deals in 2017, went to Berlin.
- He counts about 200 startups working in deep learning, machine learning and natural language processing in Berlin and Brandenburg.
- One in eight new jobs created in Berlin is in the tech industry, according to Rickerts.
- He uses the historical evolution of automobile traffic regulation, from no rules to a near-global system, as a model for how AI regulation might develop.
- Berlin's state-owned investment bank IBB, founded in 1997, has invested 1.3 billion euros in the startup ecosystem together with partners.
Detailed notes
Berlin's tech-driven economic turnaround
Rickerts describes Berlin's transformation from a period of high unemployment and negative growth into an international tech boomtown, attracting roughly 50,000 to 60,000 new people a year to work and study. He cites 3.1 percent economic growth in 2017, the fourth straight year Berlin outperformed Germany's national growth rate, and says the tech industry has become a key jobs engine, with one in eight new jobs in the city created in tech and generally paying higher wages than average.
Venture capital and the AI startup scene
Citing Ernst and Young figures, Rickerts says 69 percent of all German venture capital, about 3 billion euros across 233 deals in 2017, flowed into Berlin. He counts roughly 200 startups in Berlin and Brandenburg working in deep learning, machine learning and natural language processing, and says a fuller study of this environment is underway. He acknowledges this growth brings challenges for the city and its citizens alongside its opportunities.
How Berlin supports the ecosystem
Rickerts lists the city's support instruments: direct financial support for new businesses, new technologies and bringing products to market, an 80-line funding program for research, and IBB, the state-owned investment bank founded in 1997, which has invested 1.3 billion euros together with partners. He describes a collaboration framework linking more than 70 research institutes, universities, startups and established businesses, including the Einstein Center, founded in 2016 with a promise of 50 new professors and 20 partner companies working on smart housing, digital education and semantic data intelligence, and Adlershof, a roughly four-square-kilometer research campus with more than 1,000 companies, 18,000 employees and 6,700 students. He also cites Berlin Partner, the city's business development company, as support for international companies relocating to Berlin.
Regulation: the traffic-law analogy
Quoting Stephen Hawking's warning that AI could be either civilization's greatest success or its last, Rickerts argues Berlin should also be a place to debate data protection, privacy, cross-border taxation and algorithmic transparency. He compares this to the emergence of automobile traffic regulation: Bertha Benz's first long-distance drive in 1888 at 15 kilometers per hour needed no license or traffic signs, but by 1899 cars reached 100 kilometers per hour and fatal accidents followed, prompting local rules such as a man with a red flag walking ahead of the car, then Germany's first traffic lights at Potsdamer Platz, installed in the 1920s. He notes Germany briefly suspended all speed limits in the 1950s, leading to more than 12,000 deaths a year, before reinstating limits, and argues this gradual, debated, iterative process eventually produced today's near-global system of shared traffic rules, a model he says can guide AI regulation, including for autonomous vehicles.
Quotes
Every aspect of our life is going to be changed, and the development of AI could be the biggest success of the history of our civilization, but it could be as well the last success if we don't learn to prevent the risks.
Stephen Hawking (quoted by Christian Rickerts)
Questions answered in this talk
How much venture capital does Berlin attract compared to the rest of Germany?
According to Christian Rickerts at Rise of AI 2018, citing Ernst and Young figures, 69 percent of all German venture capital, about 3 billion euros across 233 deals in 2017, went to Berlin.
How does Berlin's city government support its AI and tech startup ecosystem?
According to Christian Rickerts at Rise of AI 2018, Berlin provides direct financial support for new businesses and technologies, an 80-line research funding program, investment through the state-owned bank IBB, a research collaboration framework spanning more than 70 institutes, and relocation support through Berlin Partner.
How many AI-related startups are based in Berlin?
According to Christian Rickerts at Rise of AI 2018, roughly 200 startups in Berlin and Brandenburg work in deep learning, machine learning and natural language processing.