In the federal system, all German states are formally responsible in equal measure.
And yet rankings like the Bitkom state index keep showing: some states are clearly further ahead. Strikingly often at the front: Hamburg and Bavaria.
What do they do differently?
1️⃣ Digitisation is a matter for the boss
Hamburg bundles digital governance in one central Senate structure and relies on clear overall responsibility for e-government, OZG implementation and platform services.
Bavaria has set up its own state ministry for digital affairs — with clear political visibility and the power to actually push things through.
That sounds trivial, but it’s decisive:
If one ministry is responsible for the whole implementation, that’s clearly more effective than splitting it across several ministries.
2️⃣ Platform logic instead of individual projects
Hamburg systematically pushes “one-for-all” services, and develops solutions so that other states can reuse them.
Bavaria invests early in statewide platforms, for example BayernPortal as the central entry point.
Both states rely more heavily on standardisation, reusability, and central architecture.
That speeds up implementation — because not every authority starts from zero.
3️⃣ Monitoring and steering instead of symbolic politics
Digital progress is made measurable.
There are:
- strategy papers with roadmaps
- clear responsibilities
- regular monitoring
4️⃣ Political prioritisation creates speed
When digitisation has its own ministry and budget, it doesn’t get ground down between other topics. And that’s exactly where the difference lies compared to states where digitisation is wanted, but not organisationally bundled together.
Do you think centralising digitisation is the right approach, or should the topic be spread across every ministry?
Images: zalazaksunca and Liggraphy for Pixabay.
Sources:
Bitkom state index 2024
OECD Digital Government Index
FITKO OZG/EfA data
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