Jobmotor: Digitale Wirtschaft übertrifft Automobilindustrie deutlich

The digital economy in Germany has surpassed the automotive industry and is now a significant pillar of the economy, according to a study by the German Association for Digital Economy (BVDW) and the Mannheim research institute ISTARI.AI. The digital economy generates a gross value addition of €481.5 billion annually, accounting for nearly 12% (11.91%) of the country's total economic output.

This is more than double the weight of the automotive industry, which typically generates around 4.5 to 5% of the gross value addition.

The study analyzed the websites and business activities of approximately 1.4 million companies to categorize them based on their actual activities, rather than outdated statistical industry codes. The digital economy comprises around 229,000 companies, including 63,000 businesses with purely digital products like software or platforms, which generate about €192 billion.

Other 166,000 companies with digitally driven business models, such as pure e-commerce, contribute approximately €289 billion. When including the 124,000 digitally transformed businesses from traditional sectors, nearly every fourth company in Germany contributes to digital value creation.

The study also debunked the notion that the digital economy is dominated by market-leading US corporations. In fact, 95% of the companies studied were small and medium-sized enterprises, indicating a strong medium-sized business sector. Additionally, the digital core and digitally driven business models supported nearly nine million jobs; with the transformed industries, the figure rises to over 15 million.

BVDW President Dirk Freytag called for a political realignment, emphasizing that digital value creation should be seen as economic policy, as digital value creation lays the foundation for future competitiveness. Germany needs better frameworks for data utilization, scaling, and investment to fully harness the sector's potential.