On June 22, 2023, the 13th Gigabit Summit Hesse took place in the Hessian state capital of Wiesbaden, building on the success of previous years. Organised by Hessen Trade & Invest GmbH and on behalf of the Minister for Digital Strategy and Development, Prof. Dr. Kristina Sinemus, the event offered all stakeholders an important platform for the expansion of digital infrastructure. Prof. Dr. Kristina Sinemus kicked off the event by presenting the update of the Hessian gigabit strategy as part of her opening speech.
The Digital Minister focused on the key points of the state’s own gigabit strategy. Accordingly, the focus will continue to be on the nationwide supply of fibre optic networks by 2030, the expansion of public Wi-Fi infrastructure, nationwide mobile network coverage and resilient networks in order to remain capable of acting even in times of crisis. It is important to make digital data transmission fail-safe and future-proof in Hesse, the Minister discussed, emphasising: “The resilience of telecommunications networks is becoming increasingly important and requires additional preventative measures.” In the area of education and health, she was able to present concrete achievements of the gigabit strategy in Hesse: 96.3 percent of schools and 98.4 percent of planned hospitals now already have a gigabit-capable connection. According to the Minister, this was only possible in cooperation and as a joint project.
Stefan Schnorr, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport Affairs (BMDV), emphasised in his subsequent speech that Hesse is one of the state’s gigabit pioneers. The State Secretary also presented the federal government’s new gigabit funding, provided information on the main focus of the funding and reported on initial experiences with this programme, which was published a few weeks ago.
The Gigabit Summit was followed by keynote speeches on the future and expansion of digital networks as well as moderated panel discussions on mobile communications and nationwide fiber optic expansion. Patrick Burghardt, Hessian State Secretary for Digital Strategy and Development / CIO, Hessian State Chancellery, spoke about the Online Access Act (OZG) and digitisation in the municipalities. Ralf Stettner, CISO of the Hessian state administration, Head of Department “Cyber and IT Security, Administrative Digitisation”, Hessian Ministry of the Interior and Sport, addressed the challenges of a “digital society” through resilience and cyber security. Georg Matzner, Head of Division for Fundamental Issues of Digital Infrastructure, Gigabit Expansion, Department of the Hessian Minister for Digital Strategy and Development, Hessian State Chancellery, gave a closing speech to the podium and kicked off the afternoon with workshops on the two main topics of the Gigabit Summit, “Mobile Communications” and “Fixed Network”.
The Managing Director of aconium GmbH, Tim Brauckmüller, was involved as a speaker in the fixed network area and spoke in his presentation about the framework conditions for broadband expansion and provided information on the new Gigabit 2.0 funding programme.
This was Georg Matzner’s last Gigabit Summit in an official position, as he is retiring. As Head of Unit for Fundamental Issues in Digital Infrastructure and Gigabit Expansion, a department of the Hessian Minister for Digital Strategy and Development, he played a key role in driving forward the expansion of digital infrastructures in Hesse during his career.