At the Rise of AI Summit 2020, Dorothee Bär, Germany's Minister of State to the Federal Chancellor and Government Commissioner for Digital Affairs, presents Germany's AI strategy and its planned next steps. She frames the goal as an "AI-empowered society" built on European values and technological sovereignty, arguing Germany should set its own course rather than only reacting to the US and China. She reports the federal government increased its AI funding commitment from 3 billion to 5 billion euros by 2025, with the additional 2 billion earmarked for state-of-the-art computing infrastructure, and names three priority fields of action: upgrading AI infrastructure and computing power, strengthening and better internationally showcasing German AI research, and lowering financial, cultural and staffing hurdles for SMEs through funding instruments, regional networking and regulatory sandboxes. In the following Q&A, she argues European AI, built on stronger data-protection and ethics standards, has a long-term competitive advantage over China, and that the COVID-19 crisis made the case for digitization and AI investment easier to make within government, not harder.
Key takeaways
- Dorothee Bär reports Germany raised planned federal AI funding from 3 billion to 5 billion euros by 2025, with 2 billion of that earmarked for computing infrastructure.
- She names three priorities: AI infrastructure and computing power, more visible and prioritized AI research hubs, and lower adoption hurdles for SMEs via sandboxes and networking.
- She argues most German SMEs still have not implemented AI, often lacking trained specialists and using only a small part of their operational data.
- She argues European AI's stronger data-protection and ethics standards, not just raw funding, are a long-term competitive advantage over China.
- She says the COVID-19 crisis made the case for digitization investment easier within government, not harder, since ministries recognized it as essential.
Detailed notes
Vision: an AI-empowered society built on sovereignty
Bär opens with the image of setting a course "by the stars, not by the lights of every passing ship," arguing Europe needs its own convincing vision of an AI society rather than only reacting to competitive pressure from the US and China. She frames the goal as an "AI-empowered society" in which people remain the active, self-determined center, using AI to access information and translate ideas into action, rather than a society that must simply react to AI systems.
Germany's AI strategy: funding and current standing
Bär reports that, roughly two years after announcing Germany's AI strategy with an initial 3 billion euros in federal funding for research, business AI adoption and expert training, Germany has an excellent AI research reputation and structures for transferring research into applications in medicine, industry and mobility. She says the government has since increased planned investment to 5 billion euros by 2025, with the added 2 billion euros earmarked for state-of-the-art computing infrastructure. She names remaining weaknesses: only a small number of SMEs have implemented AI, companies often lack trained AI specialists, and most operational and sensor data remains unused, partly due to limited access to digital and cloud infrastructure.
Three fields of action for the next phase
Bär outlines three priorities from the strategy's further development, adopted that June. First, raising AI infrastructure to a new level with nationwide access to trustworthy computing power and world-class high-performance computing, alongside a federal data strategy covering data pools, anonymization and synthetic data. Second, strengthening research with courage to set thematic priorities in areas like cyber-physical systems and artificial curiosity, and building internationally visible German AI ecosystems around health, climate, robotics and Industry 4.0 to attract top talent, comparable to hubs like Stanford or Berkeley. Third, lowering hurdles for SMEs through expanded funding instruments, regional networking with AI institutions, and regulatory sandboxes to test AI in real-world settings such as hospitals, schools or highways, a measure also recommended by the government's AI study commission.
Q&A highlights
Asked whether Germany's funding can match US and Chinese spending, Bär says funding alone is "never enough," but argues combined federal, state (Länder) and private investment across Europe is larger than often assumed, and that Germany should focus on strengths like environment and healthcare rather than raw budget comparisons. Asked whether China is only a threat to technological sovereignty, she argues European AI built on stronger data-protection and ethics standards, citing New York State's interest in Germany's COVID-tracing app for its privacy design, gives Europe a long-term competitive advantage. Asked whether COVID-19 sidelined her digital and AI agenda, she says the opposite happened: the crisis made clear to colleagues across ministries that digitization is essential, not optional, making her work easier. On coordination with European partners, she says Germany should set its own strategy rather than wait for all EU member states to move at the same pace, while working closely with France, Finland and the European Commission.
Quotes
Set your course by the stars and not by the lights of every passing ship.
Dorothee Bär
A bad digitized process still is a bad process.
Dorothee Bär
Is the money enough? I think the answer is always no, it's never enough.
Dorothee Bär
Questions answered in this talk
How much is the German government investing in AI?
According to Dorothee Bär at the Rise of AI Summit 2020, the federal government raised its planned AI investment from an initial 3 billion euros to 5 billion euros by 2025, with the additional 2 billion euros dedicated to state-of-the-art computing infrastructure.
What are Germany's priorities for its next AI strategy phase?
Dorothee Bär names three fields of action at Rise of AI 2020: upgrading nationwide AI computing infrastructure, strengthening and better showcasing German AI research hubs, and lowering financial, cultural and staffing hurdles for SMEs through funding and regulatory sandboxes.
Does Germany see China as purely a threat in AI?
At Rise of AI 2020, Dorothee Bär argues that while China's scale raises sovereignty concerns, Europe's stronger data-protection and ethics standards give it a long-term competitive advantage, citing New York State's interest in Germany's privacy-focused COVID-tracing app.