# Germany

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The information in this section primarily comes from the agenda of g0v Summit 2024: “Youth-Led Innovation: Shaping the Future through Civic Tech,” held on May 4, 2024, and the content shared by Sonja Fischbauer in her speech. Sonja Fischbauer is an organization development specialist and community strategist at the Open Knowledge Foundation Germany and a representative for Code for Germany.
Find the summit video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJ3FpZl9zfQ

References have also been drawn from relevant information on civic tech in Germany in *Examples of Civic Tech Community-Government Collaboration Around the World*:
*Case Study on Germany in Examples of Civic Tech Communities-Governments Collaboration Around The World*, written by Henriette Litta and published by the FNF Global Innovation Hub (details of the references are provided at the end of this section).
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## 1. Current Civic Tech Development in Germany

Civic tech development in Germany is diverse and active. In addition to civic tech projects and communities focused on various issues, such as Code for Germany, many organizations have been developing civic tech on a nonprofit basis. These include the Open Knowledge Foundation Germany and the Superrr Lab, which foster social change and drive technological innovation in the country.

> Image from Sonja Fischbauer

The development of civic tech communities in Europe is closely linked to the continent’s open-source movement, which emerged around 2009 in response to the global open-source movement and the rise of the Pirate Party in Europe. Another historically significant branch of the hacker community is the Chaos Computer Club (CCC), established in Germany in the early 1980s. As Europe’s largest hacker organization, CCC explores the impact of technology on society, advocates for information freedom and transparency, and protects personal privacy. The annual Chaos Communication Congress and the Chaos Communication Camp held every four years offline, serve as essential events for hackers to exchange views. Early civic tech participants in Germany were strongly motivated by politics. They aimed to build deeper transparency through open data, enhance government accountability, and foster civic engagement through digital (open-source) tools.

With changing times, however, far-right and racist sentiments in Europe have increased in recent years. Some citizens believe that greater availability of open data from the government could help mitigate these tendencies. For example, citizens can request that the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community provide more immigration statistics and that police departments release data on crime rates to clarify the facts and any connections between the two. Additionally, citizens are concerned about the media disseminating extreme views without specifying sources. While some believe the government should determine which agencies are responsible and actively legislate to control the spread of such ideas, others worry that these laws could be used to impose censorship and restrict freedom of speech.

Additionally, in recent years, civic tech participants and organizations in Germany have actively sought open data from the government to increase citizen participation in politics. However, many challenges still exist in the collaboration between civic tech participants and the government, primarily due to the country’s bureaucratic behavior model, which includes top-down and highly functional logic, strong pursuit of internal efficiency, and complex procedures. While Germany was once a global pioneer in computer engineering in terms of technological development, it has lagged behind in digital transformation in government agencies. In recent years, the German government has allocated significant funding to major investments such as fiber-optic connections. However, due to a lack of political commitment and unclear implementation procedures, the progress of these projects has been delayed. For a long time, public administrations in Germany have overlooked the importance of digitalization, resulting in efficiency gaps and an inability to provide better services to the public.

These public administrations are also highly closed-off and specialized, making them less familiar with training to collaborate with external participants. Furthermore, early civic tech communities primarily focused on exposing government misconduct and mistakes. As a result, it has been difficult for these administrations to partner with civic tech communities. Hesitation and doubt on both sides have hindered potential public-private collaboration.

Amidst mistrust and bureaucracy, government agencies in Germany tend to implement digital projects within state institutions or in closely related, controlled environments rather than pursuing partnerships with external collaborators. Due to this bureaucratic culture, civic tech activities in Germany are often more easily carried out with non-government funding to avoid the expectations associated with government-sponsored initiatives. Consequently, collaboration between civic tech groups and the government is relatively uncommon, and when it does occur, it is usually limited to local governments and tends to be temporary. Although many civic tech activities focus on regional issues, the most well-known and influential ones often operate at the central government level.

Presently, there are three major types of collaboration between the German government and civic tech communities:

- **Financial support:** The German government provides funding to facilitate the development of civic tech projects.
- **Internalized innovation:** This refers to integrating the innovation models or talent of civic tech communities within government agencies by reforming existing government institutions or creating new ones.
- **Formal and informal collaboration:** The government invites civic tech communities to participate in projects and policymaking through formal and informal channels.

The civic tech communities and organizations in Germany have formed alliances to facilitate effective communication with the government. Additionally, during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the German government hosted the WirVsVirus digital hackathon and invited civic tech communities to propose innovative solutions against the pandemic. The event demonstrated a potential model for collaboration between the government and civic tech communities. In 2022, The Federal Agency for Breakthrough Innovation (SPRIND GmbH), established by the German government, launched the Sovereign Tech Fund to support digital sovereignty. This grant program invests in developing, improving, and maintaining open-source digital infrastructure while promoting public digital infrastructure and open-source ecosystems. Through diverse projects, it provides civic tech participants with funding, professional consulting, open databases, and other forms of assistance. The program is funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK), supporting 40 technologies and projects and 195 essential technologies worth investing in. In the program’s phase-1 trials, most program beneficiaries considered that their projects were implemented flexibly, based on their proficiency, and without government interference, even if the funding was from the government.

## 2. Civic Tech Organizations in Germany

> Image from The Open Knowledge Foundation Germany

The Open Knowledge Foundation Germany (OKF), founded in 2011, is an independent, non-profit, and interdisciplinary organization. It is also an essential initiator of Germany’s civic tech events. The OKF focuses on transparency, information freedom, civic tech, and open knowledge. It is also devoted to the following four aspects:

1. Exploring the potential for technology-enabled democracy: The OKF aims to facilitate fact-based political discussions by developing software, providing infrastructure, and funding open-source projects.
2. Promoting open knowledge: Open knowledge is a prerequisite for participation in a democratic society. Lectures, advocacy events, and research projects demonstrate the role of open knowledge in strengthening democracy.
3. Connecting project initiators and participants dedicated to an open and fair society: This refers to building communities through joint efforts by 30 city labs, including holding conferences and hackathons, and promoting exchanges between civil society and the government.
4. Enhancing digital citizenship and ethical use of technology: Holding workshops on various topics, such as digital literacy, open data, and open education, are offered, along with customized educational plans.

Other than advocacy, the OKF is dedicated to public oversight and open government. As of 2024, it has organized various activities in over 40 cities, gathering 1,387 active community participants and developing 56 projects, including events, research, and educational initiatives. The OKF’s representative projects include:

### (1) FragDenStaat (Ask the State)

This transparency platform established in 2011 assists people in requesting open data from the German government and the EU. These requests include lobbyist emails, environmental reports, meeting records, and more. FragDenStaat facilitates and publishes these data in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act (IFG). FragDenStaat develops through the following four components: transparency platforms, engagement initiatives, strategic lawsuits, and research projects. Out of over 250,000 requests, 130,000 have acquired open data through FragDenStaat, and many valuable documents have been revealed. Over time, FragDenStaat has focused more on public campaigns about strategic litigation, investigative journalism, and information transparency.

> Learn more from: https://fragdenstaat.de/

### (2) Offene Gesetze (Open Laws)

A platform providing open, free access to federal legislative texts in Germany.

> Learn more from: https://offenegesetze.de/

### (3) Offener Haushalt (Open Budget)

This project analyzes federal-level budget data and offers simple visualizations of public expenditures by categories.

> Learn more from: https://www.offenerhaushalt.at/

The projects mentioned above are dedicated to making governmental data open to public scrutiny. Visualization, filtering, and search features also enhance the user experience, including citizens, journalists, and policymakers.

Aside from projects that aim to open governmental data, the OKF initiated Code for Germany (CfG), a civic tech community founded in 2014 as the German branch of Code for All, a global civic tech contributor community. CfG aims to enhance citizens’ technological literacy and foster collaboration between the government and the public through information transparency, open data, and civic engagement. At its core are 30 labs and an active online community across Germany that bring together civic tech enthusiasts, government officials, and other interested citizens to address local issues using technology. So far, these labs have gathered over 500 participants. What’s more, participants can use an online platform for project collaboration and communication, with most projects focusing on transportation, climate crisis, and digitalizing public administration. In addition to developing various applications using open data, the CfG also designs and manufactures hardware, such as air quality sensors.

Based on the OKF’s observations, civic tech activities and projects in Germany include the following two types:

1. Focusing on government reform: Addressing government issues, advocating for reforms, and initiating actions, such as the FragDenStaat (“Ask the State”) project or the platform KlimaWatch.de (climate watch).

3. Using technology to address individual or local needs, such as the Gieß den Kiez (“Water the Neighborhood”) initiative, originated by the Berlin CityLab and further developed by Code for Germany, which visualizes trees and water basins in various German city neighborhoods to organize watering activities during increasingly hot summers. Other civic tech actors' projects besides the OKF include the Wheelmap project, which uses OpenStreetMap to add accessibility-related data to maps through community effort; the Nebenan (“Between Neighbors”) platform allows neighbors to interact online.

However, the development and maintenance of many civic tech projects have been carried out by individual community participants. Therefore, quite a few tools cease to operate after years of use due to a lack of resources or the contributors’ inability to continue.

> The Open Knowledge Foundation German: https://okfn.de/en/

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#### Sources

1. g0v Summit 2024. (May 4, 2024). “Youth-Led Innovation: Shaping the Future through Civic Tech” (video). Sonja Fischbaue (specialist and community strategies, Open Knowledge Foundation Germany; representative, Code for Germany) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJ3FpZl9zfQ

2. Berlin Workshop on Digital Citizenship Education and Building the Civic Tech Collaboration Models within the Community and Government. (June 5, 2024). g0v jothon and Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (FNF‘s Global Innovation Hub) https://g0v.hackmd.io/@jothon/2024Berlinworkshop

3. Henriette Litta, Examples of Civic Tech Community-Government Collaboration Around the World: Case Study on Germany, Examples of Civic Tech Communities-Governments Collaboration Around the World, Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (FNF). (September 2023), p.24-28 https://www.freiheit.org/publikation/examples-civic-tech-communities-governments-collaboration-around-world

4. Open Knowledge Foundation Germany. (n.d.). Open Knowledge Foundation Germany – Empowering Open Knowledge in Society. Retrieved on October 21, 2024 from https://okfn.de/en/
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