In order to catch up technologically, subsidies are also possible, says Brünler: “It’s not for nothing that there are funding programs from the state, the federal government, the EU and so on, which are supposed to catch such things. And there, I think, is the Free State of Saxony We’ve already done quite a lot. I don’t think we have any reason to hide there either. Many of our companies in the mechanical engineering sector or suppliers in the automotive sector – or if you think of any start-ups in the IT sector – are no less productive and no less innovative than companies in other parts of Germany.”
Administrations are also looking for skilled workers
But Saxony’s administrations are also in a quandary, the state and municipalities need skilled workers themselves. However, these are then missing in the economy. The economic policy spokesman for the co-governing CDU parliamentary group, Jan Hippold, says that the Free State wants to think about this in the future: “In order not to burden the economy with this additional competitive pressure. In the future, we will not be able to avoid either digitizing or thinking about the fact that certain Tasks can no longer be performed. That will happen all by itself. From the point of view of task criticism, it would be good to start questioning early on what absolutely still needs to be done and what can be done in the future, for example by artificial intelligence .”
The commissions responsible for this have existed for several legislative periods. Hippold admits that it is debatable whether these have so far delivered the relevant results. But there is a great need for action: by 2035 there could be a shortage of 400,000 workers in Saxony – if the situation is not changed in a timely manner.