Transcripts For DW The Digital Age 20240712

Is tomas docs and he used to be a bank clerk now in his new home of china hes a star. Almost acts and is an influencer he promotes German Companies online in china he spent the last 4 years living in shanghai and watching how chinas digitalisation istream passed out of germany. This includes payment one standbys his coffee hope but thats not all. To most decks and uses apps to organize his entire life. To do so with so much good for instance i can use city service to check how much pension ill get with Health Insurance parking tickets you can even pay your electricity your doctors bill you can do just about anything and just one simple app yeah i dont carry my wallet with me just my cell phone and you know but. And since this is now the case for most people in china even the poorest have switched to mobile payment this may. Was wearing his painted coat around his neck. Did you get your digitalisation really is a revolution would you dont get to choose whether to take part in it or not you just have to. Digitalisation no other innovation has brought about so much change in so little time when we look towards china are we seeing our own future. In the Digital World the balance of power is shifting. Giant digital corporations dominate the global economy. Germany seems left behind in the dust fashion retailers a londo wants to take up the fight will be there to film a. Fungus a mob we believe the Market Players will consolidate and that and the politicians responsible for the internet is uncharted territory for us all. Do they have a vision for germanys Digital Future this film accompanies federal commission for Digital Affairs over t. V. Beer and imo so isnt mobile 1st its mobile any. Experts are watching a global race unfold between policymakers and businesses as they have by for Digital Power or in the midst of a societal are people who is going to wind up battle between these 2 grand systems politics and Technology Europe has fallen behind in the digital sector the german politicians have where he said it was the decade Big Tech Companies today know more about us and dish back to. The question is who wields power on the internet welcome to the digital age. This is the town of marvin hyder in north rhinewestphalia. This is where shanghai based and used to live his parents still live here and he used to work for the savings bank before because. An influencer now he produces promo clips for German Companies along with his wife dipping. Below in china stacks and has 10000000 online followers many people watches videos like this one where he promotes the schoolbag brand go back in china hes known as often. And what does that mean after the dog at the rally translated often means the happy one because many followers say my physique reminds them of a happy buddha so who suits me quite well. Today thomas decks and has an appointment with air go back in cologne his most successful video to date was for their brand and had long been clear to gordon eve it bit of their go back to chinese operations that the brand needed to penetrate the Chinese Market as i do have them going in germany about 700000. 00 children start school each year in china some 16000000. 00 now if not all 16000000. 00 children or their parents may be able to afford an airbag but if we can reach even 10 percent thats already over double the size of the german market. Influencer d. X. And is instrumental to this plan. The idea was for him to film and go back gifting a taxi drivers family with school bags along with money to cover their sons to wish with the equivalent of 2500 euros. The clip went viral gun. Rights and a new life i think the video went live on august 13th and on that very day our daily turnover practically tripled and this went on until the day the school year started attack so we could be sure that the boost in traffic was helping us the traffic cones hoofed. Viewers are generally directed from the video platforms straight to ali babas online shops. You may want to get to the ship its one of the largest Platform Companies in the world and they go to place for german vendors hoping to sell goods in china. Because everyone has their its basically a Search Engine and a one stop shop listen i whatever customers want they go there to look at more it ought and theyll find it theyre in it on bandcamp not just in straight away hopefully. With all the baba china has a stablish one of the 1st make a Platform Companies in the world the company is present in all areas of life customers can make payments with all the paid. For. While they shop on the Sales Platform team all for auction things im told by the chinese. They can find their way using a map. Or have groceries delivered with element. Valley cloud owns huge Storage Farms the internets infrastructure and ali baba pictures produces in markets hollywood movies and thats just a little slice of the fast ali baba universe. The British Technology expert Jamie Bartlett observes a similar trend taking shape on u. S. Based platforms. Going on facebook in the same ones you always hear. No longer are just Search Engine platforms or social media platforms or video sharing platforms they increasingly will branch out into other areas amazon is no longer just a seller of products its also a provider of all sorts of mazing webspace the most highly valued companies in the world have long been Platform Businesses the top ranks are occupied solely by american and Chinese Companies microsoft apple Amazon Google and facebook chinas frontrunners are all the above are intense and. The only German Company to even make the top 100. 00 is as a. P. Ranked 58th in the world. But some German Companies are trying to catch up in the summer of 21000 fashion retailers along opened its new headquarters in berlin twice a month is onboarding day when they welcome all the newcomers. There are 200 today alone 200 out of 14000 accounting. For snacks are tailored to the new workforce. The average the londo employee is in the early thirties and speaks english. They come from all over the world. I was really surprised when i found this amount of people ive heard thats ok im sorry but i didnt like that im so excited for this its what its implied that they are doing something good its great to have a dynamic and you know fortune white man to hear and learn a lot of scenes and you know move forward in my career. The newcomers are shown the heart of the company. And i would say lets start with. The places designed to make people reluctant to go there are not. Individual offices but instead Flexible Working spaces inspired by big players like google apple or facebook on the floor are the founders principles speed. And entrepreneurship. So youre going to like America Great you. Lose your job. And they too are part of the family pictures of the office dogs are posted on instagram with the hash tag was a launch of. The welcome speeches invite the newcomers to not just be part of a company but to join in on a mission eat on pasqual is the v. P. Of product and design. Is very very excited to have you on board and im personally very excited to kick off this day and telling you more about our story that started off with a very bold idea in 2008 in germany to sell shoes online and so this spirit of optimism that something crazy is possible starting with the yes rather than with a this is never going to work is something that keeps us all together so long ago has a new ambitious goal it wants to become a platform not just an Online Department store but a digital shopping district it wants to bring customers and retailers together and be the one who makes the rules what does it mean to be a platform ultimately the goal of sachas to become the starting point for fashion and theres other examples in your life for instance when youre looking for entertainment and you dont know what to watch on friday saturday night you start opening netflix and that fixed recommends you what you should watch so this very strong bonds to those platforms is what were looking to be in terms of starting point for fashion lisa marie cheika heads Business Operations for germany austria switzerland poland and the Czech Republic under her stewardship the londo is to become a platform in all. These countries as a platform to be calling the platform strategy also means that customers can buy brands thats a land doesnt carry in stock but instead these products are sold directly by our partners we are networked with 1300 offline straws and some of them generate a large part of their turnover through some land. Even classic brick and mortar shops. Now. Invite more for instance there is a lot of his out of the consumer weimar Department Store so the platform one of the schiller cult followers downtown is the biggest shop in the city. This afternoon theyre unveiling the upcoming spring trends. Ladies and gentlemen welcome to our grand fashion show here at the shellac alpha house were delighted you want to take a glimpse of the coming season let me tell you this season will be anything but boring up next is. The cause for the extra special attention is given to regular customers who still prefer visiting in person because we got what was going to be a super space. Meanwhile the Platform Business is humming along in the rear stock room customer orders through the lawn to come in from all over germany. People are still buying that skirt. In 24 hours a day working in the digital age constanza here bush tried it and christiane of course are looking for the product ordered the internet has created a new profession besides sales clerks there are now socalled pickers. What sets i number it into the a in series or a full. Was there is there a for this can be had. Ive got a 5 to 5 here anyone know where it is and. Mine all scrubbers its my job is to find the product a customer ordered online here in the store and then take it to the stockroom for shipping files and send them how many would use today. Or how many received quite a few orders today there were around 250 or 200 so i would still. Go through all 3 get to use our own tissue paper and stick our logo on top of the food so customers can see that its from close environment and. It definitely took everyone some getting used to to not serve customers face to face but to just get a list of a product and send it off without any personal contact and the times they took on the hang of it now and really give it their all out so it would. In order to be displayed on the platform the shiller pays a lot of heat how much exactly Neither Party will say Department Stores filling platform orders will this save offline businesses or spell their demise. Thats over the counter retail isnt on its way out and was stick around but in a completely different form for. The little. d economist fear that small and Medium Sized Companies and their workforces may end up losing out in this Digital Transformation the platform economy marks the dawn of a new age what does is this is practically a new economy because you dont necessarily need 3 or 4 different platforms you need one single marketplace and thats why these platforms have a tendency to snatch up entire markets on the in other words they gravitate towards monopolies and because the market is dominated by only a few players then we basically have not much choice but as i would say the major platforms dont dominate the market they basically aga market them not because theyre good i did this i. Win powerful companies charge ahead in the digital age and dictate the market do we need a force to counter them. What about policymakers. The federal commissioner for Digital Affairs doherty beer is attending the games com Gaming Convention in cologne. Shes been at the helm of digitalisation for 2 years now. She and transport minister under is sure you want to spread their enthusiasm for digitalisation. What i mean the total has been addressing the topics of games and harnessing innovation for years now. She assures progress that you sports and digital and. Structure and in many many more areas physically all that you meant is everyone in the cabinet is excited to see you too and that you know that wed have to ask them but essentially objects to the next question. Taking the. Door t. B. O. Often has 10 sometimes 15 such appointments a day her goal is for digitalisation to be considered a political issue. I kept my life i once said offhand that many of my colleagues want this internet thing to just the other with at some point yes there is definitely a bit of truth to that some do feel that if we just ignore these developments long enough they wont really come tomorrow even if. There is offices in the chancellor one floor below uncle americas. I have a smartphone and 2 tablets as you can see i dont have a computer here at home i had it removed immediately even in the old building on him i dont have one in my Parliamentary Office either my motor isnt mobile 1st its mobile only. 0. Point 2 this interview is the interview today then im meeting a photographer for another interview and psystar today is a very media intense day then my breakfast which sadly i didnt manage to photograph and tie. The hands of what you post. Can i destroy develop people like that not just me and us and what detroit and besides i dont get around to it every day but today i really wanted to show all my scheduled appointments one after the other because its always nice to be more transparent and show what im up to old i. Go to bears office plus a front room thats it thats where her digitalisation realm ends and the chancellor. Theres no dedicated ministry of digitalisation but the policy makers face countless challenges who tackles them what response has the German Government put in place. Because i dont have an organizational chart but i brought something new instead and went on 5 so nobodys seen it yet either its called a dashboard in my talk that he gets to see who is actually responsible for this as my work ethic and this is just a 1st draft or damage to determine which ministries are tackling the issue before and the good news is they all are. The ministry of transport for example is responsible for Digital Infrastructure in the ministry of labor the think tank doing 5 week discusses digitalisation the ministry of the interior intends to digitalize administrative procedures while the ministry for Economic Affairs supports the Digital Transition in all the ministries combined a total of 244. 00 teams and 76. 00 departments deal with digital issues. In addition there is the Digital Department and the chancellor for Strategic Issues and the Digital Council an expert committee. In the digital cabinet all 15 ministers are to meet with specialist policy makers. The Innovation Council is for politicians and Business Leaders and she helps coordinate it all. Bear commissioner for Digital Affairs. Are policymakers prepared for Digital Transformation. But the critics say. Its easy to see how problematic it is everyone bubbles about on their own with no overarching plan i think its disastrous. When i look when everyone is in charge and then no one really has switched and they sure as human side there has to be a minister at the top jihad with an allocated budget and staff in order to quote were named and guide others who are responsible. In theory to our tape it is minister of state for digitalisation in practice she will do little actual power come must both of you have to take there has no budget and she just serves as window dressing shells of the government can say we take digitalisation seriously but they wont give her the main challenge the market so i really appreciate her as a colleague but she lacks the support of the budget and the power within the cabinet to make progress with precisely these issues influence of time as one skips internet sites model of us crime section a section as often as we send a very a no use crying over spilt milk to put it more politely of course you always have to work with what youve got. In there someone asked why so many if it were to be just one head thats entirely the wrong approach what i care about is does it work well not and does it when for instance the government takes its charts along to meet with centralised Platform Companies. The digital summit of the German Federal government and or booked my. Commissioner wishes to emphasize the positive aspects of digitalisation here as well she meets with a group of students in a side room. Over the next 2 years the federal government is investing 5000000000 euros in better digital equipment and schools. As its called one student is concerned the funds may not reach their proper destination since schools have to actively apply for them. Bottles will have another problem is if the principal doesnt take the initiative the students face a problem. It isnt obligatory you have to contact the officials yourself or its this and thats where i see the problems or the educational concept isnt really put into practice and the students lose out because of it and i address you know if you just use the word problem 11 times maybe it was 10 or 12 times but either way quite frankly i believe thats just too much to kind of personally i see more opportunities where the program can be deployed sensibly and the concepts are already on hand and they are comprehensive thats right now its someone elses time. Base thats what social media use might be my favorite tool is instagram really because theyre people much friendlier with how we treat each other is important to me im going to get in the. Door to bare its quick to post pictures on instagram for visits to major Platform Companies such as facebook. Or google. People. But what about the problems the Digital Companies are posing for policymakers for example for years giant platforms have hardly paid any taxes despite billions in turnover. In part because they post profits and losses globally. And the result while the top earners in germany fall into a 45 percent tax bracket and in the e. U. Conventional Companies Pay 23. 2 percent on average Digital Companies less than half that 9. 5 percent. But thats still far more than what the biggest digital players hand over. To take one example from the us amazon turned a profit of 11300000000. 00 there in 2018 and paid 0 taxes on. Our students are just you must understand little subsets taxpayers who pay half their income like corporations pay a fraction tired of form 10. 00 to 25. 00 euros they pay less taxes but im completely against waging that sort of trade and everyone pays their taxes in their home country and thats why it always depends what rights do i say and what comes back as it says there is talk of this to demands they should pay even more they must be a healthy balance by those steps. If youre taxation of Digital Companies is a global issue one keynote speaker at the digital summit is my greater best toggery the head of digitalisation at the european commission. Shes a european doughty bear of sorts but her tone is quite different. When these 2 put a framework in place so that students will this is pay their cash on taxes just as well as any other pieces do already. We need. Which can make sure the planet homes i mean do people i know its the other way round the more you know how those Companies Operate the more you see the harm they are this is how i want to show things in common. Their home for things. And when every day life is driven by platform apps people deliver this data supply around the clock like in china. These bikes can only be booked by app. If you dont have the and. And want to hail a cab you often wait in vain. To be admitted into chinas international. You have to have your face scanned. At the fair to. Come back for example. But this is a Primary School but. At the booth he takes a quick selfie with the promoter. Ok here we go back can reach up to half a 1000000 visitors but customers buy online on the pages operated by the major platforms just like the. Air go bag pays fees to the platform and supplies its data to ali baba. This is the best and do you know what happens to the data your company feeds into the internet here in china as you have no no idea. I dont think you can request that kind of automation. When tomo stacks and uses r. D. P. In a cafe he also beats behind data does he know how much the platform knows about it. To get through the data volume is certainly huge kind of course you could live like a hermit somewhere but if we dont jump on the bandwagon it will eventually find ourselves struggling behind watching from the sidelines. Its the Digital Business model the platform supposed easy access to customers in return they demand data from companies and customers. Not just in china. We are observing now a major quest for data in is driven mostly by the Business Models of the culture firms internet made of its online or you can observe how much time ive spent on a website how much i interact with it what products have caught my interest or what topics are from this before. You can then make deductions about my occupation depending on which topics im interested in a city and all this is collected and compiled into a broad class im not. A margin of time in 10 or 1520 years from now not that far away really when somebody who is 18 years old has had almost their entire life data fied their fitness levels their diet levels their caffeine intake Big Tech Companies today know more about us than the stasi. Without a doubt. However unlike the stasi customers in the digital age often disclose their data voluntarily its an enticing offer the more data customers give to a company the more accurately it can tailor their products to each individuals demands solano also collects Customer Data as the size of it what about the style all this flows into an algorithm. For the. Drawing on millions of data points of product designer and pasqual team create special profiles from fashion conscious adopters to the chronically dissatisfied. Then go and when we look at this feedback we notice a pattern of behavior of models this means that we can show our customers that we understand we know you here the things you like and here are some things you might not have 9 lyrics citing as relevant to you thats each band on the event that it is and the longer also uses customer type ologies to show targeted advertising. There is no evidence that the Company Fails to sufficiently protect data scientists have long feared that customers might also be influenced against their will. And. Heres one example a couple in their early thirtys is considering having children but also loves to travel the major platforms already know this about them based on their online clicking behavior. And what can happen is that this information gets sold to the highest bidder so for example you can imagine a company that specializes in the 1st tentative treatment. Encouraging these people to go for holidays in order to believe having children for example the older more videos more adverts about holidays or even more of 80 years of having friends who are going on holidays rather than baby videos and these people may find themselves 5 years later after travelling a lot more they find themselves in a situation where they need for timothy services so there isnt and that may be what what this companies that provide Fertility Services are optimizing for because theyre trying to create future customers. Data is the fuel that feeds major platforms are we at risk of losing control of our data. So longer not only collects Customer Data but also that of its employees. The Company Calls this 360 degree feedback. The associated Computer Program is called zone r and depends on employees evaluating each other by Digital Tools helps them rate their colleagues strengths and weaknesses. Philip stop as a professor for the future of work in a study he investigated what Companies Like salon dont use this data for. Does it get the out for these assessments are gathered and then aggregated into what is generally referred to as a score and thats the companies usually have a classification system. A 3 tier system has become established for whatever reason with a low mid and High Performance lifestyle that is the power of numbers. And in principle its no longer your employers feedback its your calling except in its facts on the states debt quickly. So you find with most big tech firms theyre obsessed with Employee Feedback monitoring their employees working out what theyre doing or to try to drive increases in productivity and they would say happiness most of what happens there is not a great number of different contexts are suddenly mixed together one and enough money you money should i not always give my best friend a good rating in the company regardless of how well i think she did her job demanded he do confront moral conflicts when you were forced to use such software i certainly didnt think that it would ever end up being used in germany have an infant daughter. Who is a board member of the laundry. He rarely gives television interviews. But he wants to emphasize digital feedback systems have long been commonplace. Reason to think its even more definitely not the only company to use 360. 00 degree feedback and i think it is overall the Natural Evolution of assessment and feedback culture to incorporate more data out of the question is how can we collect as many data points as possible in order to create an objective assessment and service in order to know where have accomplishments really been achieved and what needs more work and this forms the basis of our promise to employees weve always said so mondo is a place to learn and grow from it and to me that really states the core of why employees enjoy working out i got to here ive been. Data Protection Authority is currently investigating the tool the program is under constant revision theres a lot to assess. Digitalisation is shaking the bedrock of all we know how we work how we live together who knows. What about us and how is it being used. In china the state drives digital development. The country is steaming ahead into the future and this group of german entrepreneurs wants to join. In the past such digitalisation tours led to Silicon Valley but now its shanghai like this one organized by the Management Consultant to accenture. This trip is led by dr may want. She was born in beijing and works for accenture and humble. The 1st lesson for german visitors is facial recognition what happens if they cross a red light here if you crawl one is red they capture you in the spring and your face well be lifted out of the spring over the year and people know you made a mistake people know you are the person cross the street. That you cant yeah yeah hes real peer here you see this people out we should have broken the law so we can help to make the people follow the rules i would say so i mean shaving and their works are one now a bit careful especially when they see the camera here on the streets. A total of 600000000. 00 smart cameras monitor the country they recognize exactly who theyre filming. The government gives the projects whooping names like eagle eyes were sky and. What is their plan. Good morning im chen i want to show you something that you could only do it in china. The Chinese State television explains what the collected data can be used for already voluntary point systems reward customers for instance for giving their data to shopping platforms but this year china wants to introduce a state run social Credit System mandatory for everyone. Every person is then meant to get a score from the state. Posts social credit social Credit System or scoring is based on 1st collecting information from the population. The focal given today across the street on red lights or have they committed a crime because all this data is collected and points are assigned comments of course this is also an attempt at measuring a persons value and if the governments are good then do you know they could use this or this information for good it can improve services that can improve health care and so on if the governments are bad then that could be a problematic thing and it can lead to all kinds of exploitation and to end tyranny. The Chinese Government is already planning penalties for people who scores dropped below a certain minimum. They cannot go to plane back in place they cannot go chopping block high speed trains they cannot go to luxury restaurants and they cant get a gold watch as they are unable to get that answer is that they cant even read the house its just its broken in one place restrictions are imposed everywhere. Whats happening in china is no less than a social revolution and the government is transforming the country at a breakneck speed. To climb a building has a Management Consultancy in germany. You dont have to like what you see to be impressed by chinas determination. I think thats the huge advantage of a Single Party System and a solution comes they just implemented and its the internet startups are being founded in the states is dispersing a lot of funds to the response to china in the league of cities argues im smoking up. A good 2 hours away from shanghai the city of hung joe is home to the make a platform ali baba. It invests in the company developing the governments facial Recognition Software and it supports the social scoring system. But ali baba doesnt actually allowed television teams with a camera into the premises. We accompany the tour group to the for you. Then were told from here on the cameras must stay off. Only photos are allowed inside. The tour group learns ali baba is currently building a Worldwide Logistics network they want to reach any point on earth with their products within 72 hours. And. That evening in hong show the german entrepreneurs recap what they experienced today. If there is this incredible unfathomable optimism in technology they say things Like Technology will give us a Brighter Future and frankly even it will help us dominate the world of it to greater. He said this digital totalitarianism seems to be the most successful model for christ in what it was a. Few 100 noid today here people are under the impression that the Government Works just fine germany on basic impression is a hugely government doesnt work that has an impact on so of course we put up with all the other downsides which take a heavy toll on us surveillance scoring and so on and you think to yourself at some point someone ought to bring up George Orwell is george or nobody ever does and thats a bit surprising and makes you question your own position of it i think its wrong from dissidents wanting. China is compelling us to act how do we ensure that our Digital Transition doesnt turn orwellian but that the old world doesnt face its demise how do we pave a democratic way into the digital age. A 3rd of germans actually believe that the dangers of digitalisation outweigh the opportunities for them things are changing much too quickly. Then again at a digital trade fair in lisbon the impression is germany is far too slow. Its been left in the dust by major platforms from the usa and china but what are the costs of catching up yeah you know everyone thinks whats happening in china as great as no one in germany wants education is like to have in china at the expense of freedom and Human Rights Watch and no one wants to give up democracy in our country and i believe that even without relinquishing our basic Democratic Values we can step up our game it was that was not a bad thing. But how. Is a lot of board member who been hit or is on his way to see commissioner doughty bare. There is a lot that the platform boss and politician could argue about. Like indecision regarding germanys digital policy or platforms of hunger for power online. But the told remains pleasant. If government with darpa tape there i think we have an interlocutor who took interest in digitalisation long before she was named commissioner and as for this team and i think both sides always provide ideas we can discuss but there are always issues we can talk about probably many members question coming as i could speak today in india and im not one who always tries to force things or who gets rude i dont get lout thats not my way of doing politics get down to 20 of politicians are going to take entrepreneurs to the side but thats not your style. It has come to mind up for them to type of course that really appeals to the general public and youd probably like it too because it translates into more clicks and the bigger audience but you must remember everyone has their cross to bear and you know everyone faces certain constraints wherever they stand when given something and so youd say youre taking the lead and its right i make Great Strides every day with grand visions and high heels into the future towards a positive Digital Future one of. We need a politics to put this on the agenda of what kind of a digital millia do we want to have to alter our world was we need to understand from the technologists what is actually feasible technologically. And they need to understand from the public and from politicians and what are the rules and then there are going to be nations that should govern their systems who wields the power online policymakers businesses all of us. In munich as in many german cities people have already decided to let ali baba into their everyday life at the vic to ali and mark food market you can pay in cash or with ali babas ali. You can find the chinese logo in many shops. At the drugstore chain d. M. You can pay with all the pay in all of its 2000 german affiliate branches and an old traditional tavern has replaced its blue and white flag with one from ali baba. And so the digital age dawns in germany brought to you by trying. To. Cheat me more superfood. Discounted and inexpensive but animals are suffering and the environment is crying out. A new trend. And feeding resources and. Price more on the plate how good is cheap. Made in germany. 30 minutes w. A meal some good welcome to the 2nd season on the fence its about the environment still about society its still about us Little Planet on the brink he spoke to several leading that suppose im a fish. Trying. To get to sleep the only real sense. Of. How does a virus spread. Why do we panic and when will all of this. Just 3 of the topics covered in the weekly radio show is called spectrum if you would like an information on the coronavirus or any other science topic you should really check out our podcast so you can get it wherever you get your podcast you can also find us at. Science. This is deja vu news coming to you live from the race to save lives in beirut after the massive blasts that devastated the lebanese capital the explosions flattened the port area killing at least a 135 people and injuring. Residents are demanding answers then some sports officials are now under house arrest also coming up