Digitalization – A Panacea for the Economy in Corona Times?

Digital technologies provide a lifeline in pandemic

Digital technologies have played a significant part in helping the German population deal with the coronavirus pandemic according to digital association Bitkom. The representative study provides a reflection of digital behavior of more than a thousand people aged 16 years of age and over one year into Germany’s Covid-19 lockdown. Digital technologies have helped ensure that life could go on to a large extent despite lockdown restrictions on public movement and widespread closures. 

8 out of 10 households using digital technologies more

Around eight out of ten households state that they have used digital technologies, services and devices more frequently in the last year, with 50 percent of those surveyed having spent more or significantly more money on digital goods than in the previous year. Digital technologies are mostly used to support working from home (60 percent), with communication, shopping, health, sport and fitness as well as financial and insurance-related matters being other important areas of live. 

Average German screen time has increased from 8 to 10.4 hours daily as a result of coronavirus-related restrictions on movement. This is in part due to the sharp uptake of home working across the country, but also explained by increased use of video conferencing services for communication with family and friends.

Sixty-five percent of Germans spent more money on digital goods including notebooks and printers as well as entertainment streaming services, faster internet connections, and smart device applications.

This equates to an annual per capita surplus of EUR 482 on digital devices and services in 2020. 

Public services in digital transformation

The digital transformation of the public sector in Germany is part of a longstanding and far-reaching reform focused on the digitalization and de-bureaucratization of public services. In January, federal and state governments signed the Online Access Act (OAA) – itself part of the nine-point plan for a digital Germany – to expand online administrative services. The act obliges federal, state and local governments to offer their administrative services digitally by the end of 2022.

Digital learning market shows the way ahead

A recent German Economic Institute study of further training reports that more than 90 percent of companies active in continuing education used at least one digital learning medium in 2019, compared to 84 percent in 2016. This trend towards the use of digital media prior to the current coronavirus pandemic is likely to have contributed significantly to training activities not experiencing a slump despite lockdown measures.

The conventional reasons for the use of digital learning materials cited in the study – cost- and time-effective deployment of resources – has gained more relevance during the current crisis, with remote accessibility and flexibility further important factors.

Digital geodata solutions for life after the pandemic

Digital applications like the “Corona Dashboard” created by the Robert Koch Institute make use of geodata to help decision makers properly orient themselves in order to react quickly and effectively to the Covid-19 pandemic. Similarly, geodata is also being used to monitor, plan and improve decision-making processes in hospital environments in terms on intensive care bed occupancy rates, vaccinations and vaccination centers. Data protection-compliant sensor technology and geodata can also help in the post-pandemic phase to record and control flows of people in public spaces including, for example, shopping centers and other public spaces.