Contribution from Digital Minister Professor Dr. Kristina Sinemus for Curious 2022

It has certainly been a long time since a new technology has changed our lives, our society, as dramatically as digitalisation has. It has brought not just profound change to all areas of life, but also extremely fast change. Keeping pace with this and extensively harnessing the many opportunities digitalisation harbours poses a challenge in all kinds of situations—because alongside making things far easier in many cases, the digital transformation also entails risks and fears. All of this needs to be addressed. This is why, since 2019, there has been a dedicated portfolio for Digital Strategy and Development in the Hessian Government pooling and coordinating all its digital activities and managing the digital budget totalling more than EUR 1.3 billion. In 2021, as a kind of roadmap for the vision of Hesse in 2030, the Hessian State Government published the strategy “Digital Hesse—Where the future begins”—because we need to tap into the potential harboured by digitalisation for social progress, greater value creation and sustainable development, and ensure that digitalisation serves people and not the other way around. The aim is for citizens to use digital technologies naturally and confidently, for companies to develop and produce these innovations, and for science to harness digital progress for its research.