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Roadmapping workshop at the East German Economic Forum in Bad Saarow.
Picture 1: Workshop leader Professor Frank Sch\u00f6nefeld | PICTURES: OWF 2026<\/i><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
From May 31 to June 2, representatives from business, politics and science discussed competitiveness, innovation and the future of eastern Germany as a business location for three days at the East German Economic Forum in Bad Saarow under the motto “A new (dis)order”. However, no clear picture emerged from the panels, discussion rounds, workshops and background talks. On the one hand, there is enormous economic and technological potential, but on the other, there is a lack of clear vision and confidence in the country’s own strengths.<\/p>\n
The “Transformation Barometer 2025” published as part of the OWF also showed how ambivalent the current mood in the new federal states is. Between March 3 and April 26, 2025, 1,500 private sector decision-makers in eastern German companies with at least 10 employees were surveyed. Since the survey began in 2022, they have consistently confirmed that eastern Germany has great economic potential: 56% rate the potential as great, 23% of them even as very great. In contrast, only 23% consider it to be low. The companies surveyed see particular opportunities in the fields of renewable energies and microelectronics.\n<\/p>\n
This was also reflected in the various OWF event formats. Silicon Saxony was mentioned by name several times as a benchmark for successful high-tech cluster development – including by Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Federal Minister Karsten Wildberger, Fraunhofer President Holger Hanselka and Saxony’s Economics Minister Dirk Panter.\n<\/p>\n
At the same time, however – and the study also shows this – there is a pronounced skepticism as to whether this potential can actually be leveraged under the current framework conditions. 40 percent of those surveyed do not expect any sector to experience particularly strong growth in the future. Brandenburg is the only exception here. When it comes to assessing the general economic situation, the mood there is also the best.\n<\/p>\n
The majority of respondents can look back on a satisfactory financial year in 2024. This was also confirmed in the discussions on and off the OWF stage: the mood is often worse than the actual situation.\n<\/p>\n
This lack of confidence was therefore a recurring theme at the OWF. The consensus was that we are fundamentally living in challenging times. However, it was also agreed that many of these challenges are home-made. High energy costs, lengthy approvals, bloated administrative structures and, last but not least, a structural mistrust of entrepreneurship are – and this was also made clear time and again – not problems specific to eastern Germany.\n<\/p>\n
The necessary levers were therefore quickly identified: More speed, less bureaucracy, reliable framework conditions, the scaling of excellent research into viable business models and, above all, more trust in entrepreneurship and its own strengths would do the whole of Germany good.\n<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, 35 years after reunification, the question arises as to how much the East has been able to catch up economically. This question was addressed in the “Competitiveness Report East Germany 2026”, which was also published as part of the OWF.\n<\/p>\n
Under the title “East Germany’s catch-up process is in danger”, the study by the ifo Dresden branch, which was produced in collaboration with the Federal Government Commissioner for Eastern Germany, Elisabeth Kaiser, among others, paints a critical picture of economic development in the new federal states. Based on key figures, some of which were collected up to 2023 and some up to 2025, the study points in particular to low private investment, demographic challenges, a lack of growth capital and the exodus of qualified specialists.\n<\/p>\n
Between 2019 and 2023, private investment per capita in the east was only around three quarters of the level in western Germany. At the same time, demographic change will put additional pressure on the labor market in the coming years. Young and well-educated talent in particular is frequently leaving the eastern German states.\n<\/p>\n
In the corresponding workshop on the study, however, the authors were keen to point out that they were deliberately not trying to spread a bad mood. And so the speeches following the presentation, as well as the impulses and panels on the large stage in the Theater am See, showed that this is only part of the picture.\n<\/p>\n
In fact, business representatives as well as federal and state politicians are well aware of the strengths that Eastern Germany already brings to the table. A strong research landscape, expertise in microelectronics, chemistry, materials science and astrophysics, close cooperation with Poland and the Czech Republic and the increasing importance of renewable energies as key assets for the future are widely known.\n<\/p>\n
The fact that East Germany has not only discussed transformation in theory, but has experienced it in practice over the past decades, also speaks in favor of the East, as this has created a special resilience. And so, in the end, it was the challenges faced by the Federal Republic of Germany that dominated the OWF debates.\n<\/p>\n
It was precisely here that it became clear why the OWF has long since ceased to be a “forum of the East for the East”. The perception of eastern Germany as a purely transformation region is now clearly too short-sighted. The difference today – and this can also be proven by the ifo Institute’s study – is less one between East and West and more one between strong and weak regions within the country as a whole. And it is precisely these that need to be addressed.\n<\/p>\n
And with precisely these challenges in mind, it was only logical that the German high-tech agenda, with its six key technologies and associated roadmaps, was given its own workshop format.\n<\/p>\n
Two of the six workshops were led by the Chairman of our Executive Board, Prof. Frank Sch\u00f6nefeld (Artificial Intelligence), and Silicon Saxony Managing Director Frank B\u00f6senberg (Microelectronics). Together with companies, research institutions and other stakeholders, they evaluated, supplemented, prioritized and sharpened existing goals.<\/p>\n
Roadmapping workshop at the East German Economic Forum in Bad Saarow.
Picture 1: Workshop leader Professor Frank Sch\u00f6nefeld | PICTURES: OWF 2026<\/i><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Though Germany needs a common vision, the path to the goal must remain flexible against the backdrop of rapidly changing framework conditions. The roadmaps, which are to be continuously developed together with all stakeholders and entrepreneurs in particular, meet precisely this requirement.\n<\/p>\n
And, as always, it became clear here: When people are involved, when they have the goal in mind and, above all, can make a contribution to the journey, this creates confidence and trust. Confidence that not only the high-tech agenda needs, but the entire country.\n<\/p>\n
And perhaps that was the most important insight after three days of intensive discussions and events: yes, there are numerous challenges, both large and small. They come from inside and outside.\n<\/p>\n
But the appearances by Federal Minister Karsten Wildberger and Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz on the last day of the OWF in particular made it clear that politics and business are once again talking more about competitiveness, innovative strength and the will to shape the future, want to get things moving and are aware of the urgency of the situation.\n<\/p>\n
And the huge applause from the audience – not only during these two speeches, but also during the very first impulse from Professor Marcin Piatkowski from Poland on Day 1, who not only professed to be an ardent European, but also called on the Germans to see the glass half full more often again – showed that companies and the people behind them want trust, they want confidence and they are willing to work together to achieve this.\n<\/p>\n
Or to put it another way: The world will probably not be completely back to normal. The decisive factor is therefore not whether things change, but how courageously, quickly and collectively we react to them.\n<\/p>\n
And so, in the end, we returned from Bad Saarow with far more confidence than we had initially assumed.\n<\/p>\n
Participate in the roadmapping process for the High-Tech Agenda.<\/p>\n