Claudia Eckert is President of acatech – German Academy of Science and Engineering, leads the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied and Integrated Security AISEC as a cybersecurity expert, and is a professor at TU Munich.
| © acatech / David AusserhoferThe Hightech Agenda is based on a key insight: truly new, disruptive technologies are built on deep-tech research – research in AI, in quantum technologies, and in nuclear fusion. These fields can trigger groundbreaking developments and business opportunities across many industries, and they create fertile ground for innovative start-ups.
Breakthrough technologies that fundamentally reshape markets can achieve rapid adoption, as we see with AI solutions. Or they may lead to highly specialized technological advances – such as quantum sensors or laser technologies – that also reach the market quickly.
Disruptive technologies require stamina: Before quantum technologies and their applications can be widely deployed at scale, or before a fusion power plant can be operated sustainably and economically, a number of scientific and technical challenges still need to be solved. Along this path, however, many commercially viable intermediate solutions will emerge. The journey itself can therefore be seen as part of the goal. In the long term, intensive research into tomorrow’s key technologies always pays off.
We need this research to act more sovereignly and to set our own standards with our own high-end technologies.
The Hightech Agenda therefore approaches technological innovation from both sides: it aims to accelerate the translation of good ideas into new value creation while also supporting long-term initiatives in deep-tech fields. What will be especially important is that Germany leverages and expands its strengths in less visible but indispensable technological areas.
This includes materials science and engineering, where essential enablers for fusion reactors, quantum computing, and other key industries of today, tomorrow, and well beyond are created. Equally important will be expanding Germany’s expertise in designing, engineering, and reliably operating complex, autonomous technical systems – and strengthening the country’s production and development capabilities with innovative solutions, including in systems engineering: Engineered in Germany.
The Federal Ministry for Research, Technology and Space has earmarked €18 billion for the Hightech Agenda Germany from 2025 to 2029 – €5.5 billion of which will come from special funds and another €4.5 billion from the Climate and Transformation Fund. This demonstrates a clear political will to invest in research and innovation. But it is equally clear: politics does not create innovation. Innovation emerges within a competitive innovation ecosystem in which excellent scientists, innovation-friendly large companies, and especially SMEs and start-ups work closely together to quickly transfer new ideas into economic strength.
Politics must therefore create the right framework conditions: enabling freedom for innovation, providing infrastructure such as computing capacity for AI usage, and making data access and data use easier. The HTAD already identifies tools such as real-world laboratories and innovation hubs – important and appropriate approaches.
The central actors in the innovation system, however, are companies. Already today, research-driven companies account for more than two-thirds of R&D expenditure in Germany – putting the country far ahead both in Europe and globally. With targeted development of industrial hubs and innovation ecosystems, there is an opportunity to translate innovations even more quickly into economic strength.
Public funding must become a catalyst that incentivizes private investment. When public and private investments in research, development, and innovation transfer work together, the Hightech Agenda Germany can generate significant momentum. Ultimately, success will depend on close collaboration between science, industry, start-ups, and politics.
