OEFIT, DPS, News, GovTech Campus, Juni 2021
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Digitization of administration: GovTech Campus is intended to network public administration and the start-up scene

News from June 30, 2021

GovTech Campus Deutschland e.V. was founded on June 25th in Berlin. The aim of the association is to promote cooperation between administration, science and business as well as civil society.

In order to achieve that, the association is initiating the “GovTech Campus” at several locations in Germany, where founders and start-ups can settle and exchange ideas with the public sector. Founding members of the association are the Federal Republic of Germany, represented by the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community (BMI), the State of Hessen, the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, PUBLIC Germany, the Federal Agency for disruptive Innovation SPRIND, Merantix AG, Fraunhofer FOKUS and the Eclipse Foundation.

As a founding board member Dr. Markus Richter, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community and Federal Government Commissioner for Information Technology: “Cooperation with start-ups has great potential for the digitization of administration. The GovTech Campus is ideal for this: We bring founders, companies, science as well as state and administration to one table.“

Prof. Dr. Manfred Hauswirth, Director of Fraunhofer FOKUS, emphasizes: “We are pleased that we will be helping to build the GovTech Campus with Fraunhofer FOKUS as a founding member. Together we are creating a platform for Germany as a location that can significantly accelerate the adaptation of new technologies and working methods and generate international visibility.“

Prof. Dr. Peter Parycek, Director of the Competence Center for Public Information Technology (ÖFIT) and member of the Federal Government's Digital Council, adds: “The GovTech Campus is an important addition to the ongoing activities to strengthen the innovative strength of public administration, such as DigitalService4Germany. The ecosystem to support the digital transformation of the public sector is being sensibly expanded in the area of start-up cooperation with the GovTech Campus.”

GovTech Campus Deutschland e.V. has set itself the task of bringing together actors from the state and administration, startups, companies, applied research and civil society and facilitating the transfer of GovTech solutions to administration. In public and internal event formats, innovators, tech experts and executives from Germany and abroad give lectures on topics from the field of GovTech, selected application examples of digital innovations and technologies in politics and administration are presented as well as trends and strategic topics in the context of digital administration and of the digital state are discussed.