Eröffnungsrede bei der Smart Country Convention 2026 in Berlin

Keynote von Bundesminister Dr. Karsten Wildberger

Welcome to Berlin, to the Smart Country Convention 2026. Dear Mr. Matias, it's a real pleasure to open this convention with you. Portugal, our country of honour, shows what determined reform can achieve. You’ve made real progress in digital government. I've seen a vibrant startup ecosystem myself, and I value our partnership and the personal trust we have built. There is much we can learn from each other. Welcome and thank you for being here.

And a big thank you to Bitkom and Messe Berlin for bringing us together. Congratulations on what you have built here and what you have pulled off. When you enter, it just looks amazing. It's a new record. I feel very proud. This is one of the largest conventions of this kind worldwide – and all this in Germany. Fantastic, so congratulations and thank you.

And, most importantly, thank you to all of you, to everyone who's coming here, who builds, runs, improves public services, makes cities smarter, as well as regions. My ministry and my whole team here, we are very proud to be your partner and the patron of this convention. 

And let me come back to you again, for everyone here who is here at SCCON: thank you for being here, because building secure and sovereign digital solutions for public administration is incredibly important. 

Not just for the government, of course for the people in the country, but it's also important for the economy to grow. And a modern state makes it easy obviously for people. It gives businesses room to grow. And it earns trust by working very well every day. 

So, we have a lot of work to do – I know this. But this is our purpose. And here is what is improving and what we are changing, and how you can join us. I'd like to give you a very brief account. But I'd like to make it specific – rather than bore you with statements on what we should do, what we could do, what we must do. So, here's what's going on: