Decades? No, for centuries Germans have known administration to work the same way: whoever wants something has to do something. Get in touch, fill out applications, enter data, wait, chase it up, wait some more… But that’s now coming to an end (okay… that end still looks pretty far off at the end of the tunnel): the age of invisible government!
“Invisible Government” is a new buzzword — and the idea behind it is radical: citizens shouldn’t even notice that there’s an administration at all. Sounds odd, but it’s actually great. Finally we get a state that delivers services proactively, based on data, and seamlessly — without people even having to take action. The pre-filled tax return in Hesse is a small example of this. For the first time, the state is starting to take on work instead of creating new work.
Similar approaches exist internationally:
- automatic family benefits
- proactive pension processes
- automatic re-registrations
- data-based services around birth or care
Why is this so relevant? Because classic digitisation of government often just moves analogue bureaucracy onto a screen. Invisible Government, by contrast, tries to make bureaucracy itself invisible. That’s exactly why the term is becoming more and more important internationally. It combines:
- digital identities,
- register modernisation
- automated data exchange
- data interoperability
- AI and digital public infrastructure
Sounds great. But is it? The risks are huge — but so are the opportunities. Germany in particular faces a fundamental question here. Do we want to keep building digital forms? Or do we start rethinking government from the ground up?
Sources:
- OECD, Digital Government & Digital Public Infrastructure Reports
- International Telecommunication Union, GovStack Initiative
- European Commission, European Interoperability Framework
- World Bank, GovTech Reports
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