On 19 June 2013, at a press conference with Barack Obama in Berlin, Chancellor Angela Merkel said: Das Internet ist für uns alle Neuland. (The internet is new territory for all of us.) #Neuland quickly became the most-discussed term on German Twitter. The next day, the car rental company Sixt ran an advertisement with Merkel’s picture: Für alle, die #Neuland entdecken wollen. (For everyone who wants to discover #Neuland.)
When Germany Changes Fast
Germany can change very fast. On 28 October 2010, the Bundestag extended the running time of the nuclear power plants. On 11 March 2011, the disaster in Fukushima began. Three days later, the government announced a three-month moratorium for the seven oldest plants and for Krümmel. On 30 June 2011, the Bundestag voted with 513 of 600 votes to end nuclear power. Eight reactors lost their licenses on 6 August 2011. German unification was faster still. The Berlin Wall opened on 9 November 1989. The D-Mark came to East Germany on 1 July 1990, and the country was united on 3 October 1990.
Words of the Year
Every year, the Society for the German Language chooses the words that marked the year. Several of them describe the distance between the wish to move and the movement itself.
Reformstau — reform jam. Word of the year 1997.
Funklochrepublik — the republic of mobile dead zones. Second place in 2018.
Fluch-Hafen — the curse port, a play on Flughafen, airport, for Berlin’s new airport. Ninth place in 2012.
German Angst — used in English in German, for a supposedly typical German hesitancy. The German Wikipedia calls it a stereotype.
Leading, but Uneasy
In spring 2019, 79 percent of Germans told the Allensbach Institute that it was important for Germany to be among the leading countries in digitalization. In April of the same year, 51 percent agreed with the sentence Mir sind viele dieser technischen Neuerungen unheimlich, many of these technical innovations make me uneasy. Among people under thirty, about a quarter agreed. Among people over sixty, 75 percent agreed. Asked whether science should accept some risk when testing new technology, 46 percent said yes. Thirty-nine percent said that if there is even a small risk, it is better to give up the progress.
An Opportunity, but Late
In 2015, the trade association Bitkom asked German companies with twenty or more employees about digitalization. Ninety-six percent said it was an opportunity for their own company. Fifty-six percent also said they were latecomers, and another 8 percent said they had fallen far behind. In a survey published in January 2020, Bitkom asked managing directors and board members again. Fifty-eight percent called their company a latecomer, and 3 percent said they had missed it altogether. Thirty-six percent saw themselves as pioneers.
The Agency for Leaps
In 2019, the federal government founded SPRIND, the Federal Agency for Leap Innovation, in Leipzig. Its task was to find and fund research ideas with the potential for leap innovation. Soon the agency was held back by the rules of public administration. According to its director, the Federal Court of Audit made sure that, contrary to the plan, all its hires fell under the Besserstellungsverbot, a rule that bars pay above public sector levels. In May 2021, Chancellor Merkel criticized the structures created for the agency as allowing too little movement. In November 2023, the Bundestag passed a law to free it, the SPRIND-Freiheitsgesetz, the SPRIND Freedom Act. The agency for leaps needed its own law before it could move.
Campaigns for Confidence
In 2005, twenty-five media companies ran a national campaign called Du bist Deutschland, you are Germany. It aimed to spark a movement for more confidence and personal initiative. Its lines included Du bist das Wunder von Deutschland, you are the miracle of Germany. Critics called it a feel-good campaign. In the same year, the federal government and German industry launched Deutschland – Land der Ideen, Germany, land of ideas. Twenty years later, on 3 November 2025, the federal government started another national campaign, Das kann Deutschland, Germany can do this. One of its stated aims was Zuversicht für den Wandel stiften, to create confidence for change.
Industry 4.0
Industrie 4.0 is a German coinage. Henning Kagermann, Wolf-Dieter Lukas and Wolfgang Wahlster introduced it to the public at the Hannover Messe in 2011. Their article in VDI nachrichten was titled Mit dem Internet der Dinge auf dem Weg zur 4. industriellen Revolution (With the Internet of Things on the way to the fourth industrial revolution). On 14 April 2013, a working group chaired by Siegfried Dais of Bosch and Henning Kagermann of the National Academy of Science and Engineering presented its recommendations at the same fair. In 2015, Reinhard Clemens of T-Systems said the goals of the national Industry 4.0 platform had been missed, because concrete results and coordination were lacking. The computer scientist Wolfgang Halang called it sicher vermessen und unseriös, certainly presumptuous and not serious, to announce a fourth revolution before it had happened.
Shake Off the Mildew
In the budget debate of 6 September 2023, Chancellor Olaf Scholz offered the sixteen state premiers and the opposition leader Friedrich Merz a Deutschland-Pakt, a pact for Germany. Its purpose, he said, was to den Mehltau aus Bürokratismus, Risikoscheu und Verzagtheit abschütteln, shake off the mildew of bureaucracy, fear of risk and timidity. He called for Tempo statt Stillstand, Handeln statt Aussitzen, speed instead of standstill, action instead of waiting things out. One of his examples was concrete: „Schneller“ heißt, dass alle 16 Länder bis Ende des Jahres Bauanträge auch digital annehmen. (Faster means that all sixteen states accept building applications digitally as well by the end of the year.)
We Ask About the Risks First
In May 2025, Germany created a new federal ministry for digital affairs and state modernization. Its minister is Karsten Wildberger, the former head of the electronics retailer MediaMarktSaturn. In a dpa interview in January 2026, he described the national habit: Wir stellen oft zuerst die Frage nach den Risiken. (We often ask about the risks first.) He said he wished Germany would rediscover the enthusiasm for the new and for technology that had always defined it. In the same interview he spoke about the coming digital ID on the phone. He said he would keep his physical ID card: Es ist immer gut, noch ein Backup zu haben. (It is always good to have a backup.)