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By Paul Carrel and Douglas Busvine
BERLIN / FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Germany's thriving economy has plunged the country into a false sense of security that is hampering the government's efforts to bridge the digital technology gap with other major economies, the Chancellor's tsar said on Tuesday. Angela Merkel.
Merkel 's cabinet holds a retreat on Wednesday and Thursday, after which it wants to introduce an artificial intelligence (AI) strategy to help Europe' s largest economy adapt to the situation. digital age.
Germany has been at the forefront of industrial innovation for decades, but politicians have been slow to realize that its export model, based on traditional manufacturing, is vulnerable and has difficult to catch up.
Solid growth – the economy is in its ninth year of expansion – has left many businesses too busy responding to orders today to have the time to plan their digital future.
"Unlike other countries, a majority here does not think it's a big change," said Dorothee Baer, Minister of Digital Affairs Merkel, at a working conference organized by the Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
Citing the need to act induced by the global financial crisis ten years ago, she added: "I do not say" unfortunately, we have no crisis ", but rather" unfortunately, the need to change things does not exist. "Merkel has made the correction of Germany's digital failures a priority for her fourth term and almost certainly final, claiming that the future prosperity of the country depends on it.
Describing the government's AI strategy, Merkel's chief of staff said last week that his plan would be to collect more data, support research, retain skilled workers and encourage them to create new skills. startups.
Extensive surveillance, first by the Nazis, then by the Stasi secret police of Communist East Germany, led the Germans to closely protect their privacy and personal data.
Merkel thinks it's time to go forward, but the Chancellor must face a fierce fight.
Inadequate investment, lack of skills and lack of digital innovation are problems in Germany, according to industry professionals.
"We do not have an ecosystem in Germany where these people want to build and find the next 10 people with such talents," said Gabriel Matuschka, senior partner of Fly Ventures, an investment fund. based in Berlin. .
Nation in development
Lars Klingbeil, senior official of Merkel 's coalition of Social Democrat Democrats, said Germany should commit billions of euros to support its anti – AI strategy, without which it could be left behind by the United States and China.
But Baer complained that there was always other pressure to spend Germany 's budget surplus.
"It's always easier to say" we have impressive tax revenues, we could also distribute them, "she said.
Germany, handicapped by outdated research infrastructure and restrictive data protection laws, has not yet developed a state-of-the-art start-up pioneering AI, although 120 companies formed a lobby to advance the process.
Group leader Joerg Bienert said it was important for policymakers to recognize the scale of the challenge, but to meet it, they needed to support AI research with heavy investments. .
"I'm afraid we're not making a big jump," he told Reuters.
Chris Boos, founder of artificial intelligence company Arago, who sits on a committee that advises Merkel on high-tech issues, said that Germany needed to become familiar with digital technology otherwise, it could sink into post-industrial decline.
"The price of inaction is that you will be a developing country in 10 years," said Mr Boos.
(Written by Paul Carrel, edited by Ed Osmond)
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