“Germany and Europe must have the courage to be among the world leaders in AI and cybersecurity research”

Artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, along with the methodological breakthroughs that these fields make possible, are the main drivers of innovation and economic growth in the 21st century. This insight is leading to concerted action worldwide, such as the US project Stargate, which has an investment volume of up to 500 billion dollars. Global IT companies in the US and increasingly in China are leading the way: while according to OECD figures the US invested around 54.8 billion dollars in AI start-ups in 2023, China invested 18.3 billion dollars and Germany only 2.2 billion dollars. Germany runs a serious risk of losing this crucial part of value creation in the long term. The preservation and sustainable growth of prosperity in Germany and Europe depends to a great extent on whether we catch up internationally in terms of innovating in these key fields and taking on a leading role. As such, the new German government will face a major challenge.

The decisive factor for competitiveness will be disruptive advances in the methodological foundations of trustworthy information processing and their translation into novel applications. It is precisely such advances that have been revolutionizing our lives for years and are having exponential effects. They culminate in the “winner takes all” principle: conceptual breakthroughs in AI lead to such massive improvements in functionality, performance and costs that applications and new markets previously considered unrealistic are suddenly possible, while many existing approaches are rendered obsolete virtually overnight. The analogy of the transition from the horse-drawn carriage to the automobile comes to mind. The model of pure technology transfer, which has often been postulated by politicians in Germany and practiced in the past, falls short because it fails to recognize conceptual progress as a decisive element of innovation chains that deliver sustained success. To continue with the analogy, it focuses on faster horses instead of devoting all its energy to designing the automobile and tapping its possibilities. Germany and Europe must have the courage to be among the world leaders in AI and cybersecurity research.

To do so, the new German government will need to address various issues. The focus must be on funding in-depth research that is not only geared to current needs. We need the courage to radically reduce bureaucracy and quit funding initiatives that do not meet international standards of excellence. Instead of short-term transfers of established concepts, conceptual innovations and subsequent value creation are the key.

We will also need lighthouse initiatives across disciplines and real-world examples of how to turn cutting-edge research into value creation. Researchers who uphold the highest international standards must be the content drivers of a constantly improving system that cooperates with ambitious and tech-savvy entrepreneurs and investors. One such initiative is the collaboration between CISPA and the European School of Management and Technology. By combining our expertise, we aim to establish a leading European ecosystem that achieves real technological breakthroughs and efficiently converts them into economic value.