„Digital or bust“

Mr Staudt, you founded an initiative to shape digital transformation before there was any hint of the digital society and when it was still in the distant future. What moved you to take this step almost two decades ago?

Erwin Staudt: At the time I’d been CEO of IBM Germany for some years and in this role I was able to predict the direction in which the Internet and computer technology was going. Back then it was already fairly clear that this technology was going to develop a huge dynamic and take hold in many areas of our lives. Under my aegis we founded the Initiative D21 to support this process, prevent a potential split in society, and duly identify the challenges posed by the digital transformation.

Whom do you mean when you say “we”?

Erwin Staudt: An illustrious group of people were involved in the network back then. Aside from Erwin Teufel and Sigmar Gabriel we also had a committee chairman called Gerhard Schröder, who as we know was German chancellor at the time. The committed supporters who joined our coalition for action also included top managers like Bernhard Walter of Dresdner Bank, Daimler chair-man Klaus Mangold, AOK boss Roland Sing, Hewlett-Packard boss Menno Harms or Lothar Späth, who held a leading post at Jenoptik in those days.

The initiative’s stated aim was to draft a future plan for “the development of the informational society in Germany”. How did you go about this in the beginning?

Erwin Staudt: Our first major campaign was to equip the country’s schools with high tech equipment. To do so, we looked for companies to sponsor a school and put computers with Internet access into all the classrooms. At the time, Germany had a lot of catching up to do in this area.

Erwin Staudt

Leonberg manager Erwin Staudt has been preoccupied by the subject of digitisation since the mid-1990s. When he was Chief Executive Of cer of IBM Germany he found- ed the Initiative D21 which today, as the largest network for the digital society, sparks discussion and supports the digital transformation. The pioneer regards Baden-Württemberg and Stuttgart Region as being well setup for the future. What is lacking in his opinion are IT specialists. As Staudt emphasises: “We don’t train enough specialists to push ahead with digitisation in our companies.”

In contrast to today?

Erwin Staudt: Generally speaking, digitisation has developed well in Germany in many areas. The government of the day, headed by Gerhard Schröder, had commissioned surveys, which revealed that Germany lagged far behind other countries in terms of developing Internet technology. We have long made good this de cit, and this applies in particular to Baden-Württemberg, its sites and conurbations with their innovative power. However, I think that schools and educational facilities still have some catching up to do. Investment is urgently required in this area, for equipment, software, and specially trained teaching staff. Politicians have meanwhile realised this and have declared digi- tisation in education to be one of the key elds of action. Failure to establish an extensive technical basic infrastructure might in the medium term jeopardise the country’s future as a ourishing economic area. In this respect our old motto “Web oder weg (Digital or bust)” still holds true today.

Why is that?

Erwin Staudt: We urgently need well-trained people, IT special- ists like developers or system programmers and the like, to push ahead with digital innovations and implement new business models in the country’s many enterprises, for instance. The reality is that Germany does not have enough of these specialists and also that too few are being trained at the moment. Unlike in the past, this shortage of specialists is no longer only affecting small- and medium-sized enterprises, but now large companies as well. If this doesn’t change, it may result in IT services being gradually moved to sites abroad or companies may outsource them entirely. And that would certainly not be in the interest of Germany as an economic community.

Or, the opposite would happen, and specialists from abroad would be brought to Germany, which in turn would benefit the country?

Erwin Staudt: That was exactly the idea of the so-called Greencard, a kind of instant scheme to cover the acute lack of IT specialists at the time, which was launched in August 2000 by the red and green government led by Gerhard Schröder. Within a short time, around 13,000 trained experts from the information technology eld, mainly from Asia and Eastern Europe, settled in Germany. It gave industry a huge boost and resulted in an upturn in the economy. At the time it was very important, how- ever today we should be able to push ahead with digitisation through our own efforts, which is why investing in education is so important.

Are you still actively engaged in this area?

Erwin Staudt: I’m still honorary chairman of Initiative D21 and I’m also on the boards of software companies. So, in this way, I still come into contact with the subject of digitisation, although not so intensively as in the past. However, then as now, I’m still fascinated by the possibilities. Many fear that digitisation will take away jobs, in the automotive industry, for instance. I’m confident that just the opposite is the case. IT will create a huge number of new jobs and thus generate prosperity.

“Germany must become IT world power – and pronto!” This is what you called for at your book presentation in 2002. How well are Baden-Württemberg and Stuttgart Region set up today?

Generally speaking, the country has developed in the direction we predicted back in 2002. At that time Lothar Späth and I demanded that first of all education must be led into the digital age and that people must be willing to accept innovations like the Internet of Things in their daily lives. Much of which has happened, so I’m very happy with the development in Baden-Württemberg and Stuttgart Region, which compared to other regions with their large groups, world-leading companies, and highly innovative SMEs are very well positioned.

The federal states and regions are engaged more than ever before in a tough business competition for highly qualified jobs and well-trained employees. Can you name three reasons that make it worthwhile to live and work in Baden-Württemberg?

I could name a whole host of good reasons. Baden-Württemberg is one of the world’s strongest economic regions, and many indicators are there to prove it. In hardly any other region is the density of well-known companies higher than here. In hardly any other region are so many patents led annually than here. Baden-Württemberg guarantees top jobs with top companies, many of which are world market leaders. Incomes are correspondingly high, unemployment figures on the other hand, low. And these are just the economic benefits. Baden-Württemberg of course offers many cultural and leisure activities, for instance the Black Forest, Lake Constance, the Swabian Alb, and many beautiful cities worth visiting.

You were born in Leonberg and still live there today. What does your Swabian homeland mean to you?

It’s my home, I’ve always been proud of it and praise it no matter where I happen to be, in Paris, New York, or Berlin. I have my roots here in Baden-Württemberg. I’m very proud to live here with the people of this region and in this state.

Markus Heffner conducted the interview

INFO

Initiative D21

Initiative D21 e. V. is the country’s major political and business partnership engaged in shaping the information society. The association is headquartered in Berlin and was founded in 1998 under the aegis of then IBM Germany CEO Erwin Staudt with the support of the German chancellor at that time, Gerhard Schröder. Today the initiative comprises a cross-sector network of 200 member companies and institutions as well as political partners at national, state, and local government level. Every year the initiative publishes the D21 Digital Index, which explores the level of digitisation in the German population and its development, also their access to it, their expertise, receptiveness, and diversity of use in relation to digital media and the Internet. The survey with around 33,000 interviewees is the most extensive and informative study on the Internet usage habits of the German people. The index is a guide for industry and society, providing a detailed picture of the impact of innovations and events over a period of time and in the long term. Numerous special surveys are also published on a regular basis.