If you move in Germany, you must register your new address with the authorities. That often means calling city hall, waiting weeks for an appointment, and showing up in person with paper forms. Yes, in 2025! What if you forget your health insurance card at the doctor? Some apps can help \u2013 by sending a fax. Around three quarters, i.e. 77%, of German companies still use fax machines, and 25% use it often or very often.<\/p>\n
Most companies say it is essential for communicating with authorities. The European Union regularly publishes rankings on the digital development of the member states, with Germany at best somewhere in the middle of the 27-nation group. The country is lagging behind, especially when it comes to e-government, i.e. digital public services. According to a study by the consulting firm CapGemini, Germany is in 24th place within the European Union.<\/p>\n
German engineers invented the programmable computer, the SIM card, and MP3 technology. But to register a car or get a marriage license, you still have to wait in line. Frank Reinartz, head of the digital agency in D\u00fcsseldorf, told DW that Germany has no problem with strategy and goals: "We have a problem with getting things done." D\u00fcsseldorf, a city with around 650,000 inhabitants, offers 120 of 580 administrative services online – just over 20%.<\/p>\n
Germany’s federal government structure with 16 states often leaves communities to find their own solutions. \u201cWe don\u2019t have a lot of software and processes from the federal government [state] \u201cEvery city has to find its own solution for a nationwide process, for example for vehicle registration,\u201d said Reinartz. Added to this is a lack of coordination and what researcher Stefanie K\u00f6hl calls \u201cinstitutional inflation\u201d. K\u00f6hl and her colleagues from the GKV Institute in Berlin investigated why digital public services in Germany have not really taken off in the last 25 years.<\/p>\n
While Germany debates, Denmark delivers. Germany’s northern neighbor has long since turned Reinartz’s vision into reality. \u201cThe Borger.dk website is a one-stop shop where all citizens have access to more than 2,000 public services on a digital platform,\u201d said Jakob Frier from Digital Hub Denmark in Copenhagen. Almost everything \u2013 from taxes to healthcare \u2013 is online. The key is a mandatory digital ID card, or eID, Adam Lebech, deputy director general of the Danish Agency for Digital Government, told DW.<\/p>\n
India has shown that it is possible to make great strides in the development of digital services and establish its own electronic ID system called Aadhaar within just 15 years. According to official government data, about 99.9% of India’s population uses Aadhaar. Aadhaar is now linked to a digital payment platform called Unified Payment Interface, which even street vendors selling coconuts at street stalls accept as payment. Tej Paul Bhatla of India’s largest IT company TCS told DW that Aadhaar and UPI are "basic systems" that were developed with government support but also with private sector funding.<\/p>\n
Aadhaar and UPI were planned from the outset as open source systems for private and public use, similar to public infrastructure. \u201cWhen you build railways, highways or ports, you make them accessible to everyone,\u201d Bhatla said. He added that this has enabled private sector initiatives to use these systems to \u201cbuild and utilize larger services for citizens and businesses.\u201d Better digital infrastructure and an ecosystem of digital services could also boost economic growth in countries like Germany, Bhatla said. \u201cIf you don\u2019t grow, you will definitely experience threats from other economies,\u201d Bhatla said, \u201cand life will become more difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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