CDU on digital affairs

The CDU wants to keep investing heavily in digital networks, innovation and start-ups. The state itself should also make greater use of digital tools to work faster and more efficiently.

The CDU wants to spend a lot on fast internet. New ideas and new companies should also get money. Government offices should work more digitally. That should make them faster.

As the current status, the platform cites a leading position in 5G rollout among Germany's larger, non-city states. According to the CDU, 98 percent of schools, 95 percent of business parks and 76 percent of households have access to gigabit-capable connections. A mobile network pact is meant to close remaining coverage gaps. Public administration is to become more effective through digital processes.

The CDU wants to better protect children and teenagers online through education, media literacy, and technical requirements. Secure age-verification systems are to be developed and then made binding for all providers. Smaller networks would also have to take protective measures.

The CDU wants to protect children better online. Children, parents, and teachers should learn more about the dangers. Providers should check users' age in a secure way. For the CDU, clicking a button is not enough. Small networks should also have to protect children.

The plans include additional media education offers for families, teachers, and caregivers, plus more media literacy in schools. It should be possible to report suspicions to the police or an independent reporting office. Children are to learn about offenders' tricks and the risks of images spreading, and contact points for online youth protection are to become better known. The CDU wants to examine whether media regulators can get tools against cybergrooming through the interstate treaty on youth media protection. The threshold at which precautionary duties under the Youth Protection Act apply is to be lowered.

The CDU wants full gigabit internet coverage across the state and to close the remaining mobile dead zones. 5G is to be available almost everywhere by the end of 2024, and the gigabit master plan is to be completed by 2025.

The CDU wants very fast internet everywhere. The cell phone network should also be good everywhere. By the end of 2024 there should be 5G almost everywhere. 5G is a fast cell phone network.

North Rhine-Westphalia is to be the first German state to achieve "Double Gigabit" by 2025. At least 10,000 cell sites are to be upgraded to 5G. Business parks and schools are to have a gigabit connection by the end of 2022. To cut costs, trenching, which lays cables in narrow slots, is to be used more often instead of costly civil engineering. Mobile coverage coordinators in the counties and independent cities are to speed up the rollout, especially in rural areas. The CDU also wants to set up test fields for the future 6G standard together with equipment makers and network operators.

The CDU wants to make North Rhine-Westphalia a leading location for quantum computing and artificial intelligence. To that end, 50 new professorships are to be created in each field, existing research centers expanded and cybersecurity research strengthened.

The CDU wants more research on new computer technology. This includes quantum computers and artificial intelligence. There should be 100 new professorships for this. Research on internet security should also grow.

The competence center "EIN. Quantum NRW" is to receive 50 million euros over five years. The Paderborn project on photonic quantum computing is to grow into an internationally leading research center in the long run, and the cooperation between Forschungszentrum Jülich and the Fraunhofer institutes is to expand. A "Technologie-Forecasting NRW" is meant to identify early which fields of technology will matter in the future. The KI.NRW platform is to become a German and European network, and the Rhine-Ruhr machine learning competence center is to be strengthened. The Bochum cybersecurity hub is to be expanded and the GAIA-X.NRW data infrastructure strengthened for sovereign cloud services.

The CDU wants to digitize public administration so that people can handle official business from home. One app is to bundle all citizen services in the state, and administrative services are to be available digitally around the clock.

The CDU wants to make government offices digital. People should no longer have to go to an office. They should do everything with an app on their phone. The app should be easy and safe.

The basis is to be a digital identity for citizens. Administrative processes are to run digitally from start to finish, with no switch to paper. For municipalities, the CDU plans digital coaches and an expansion of Kommunalportal.NRW, through which towns and cities can use central state solutions free of charge. Administrative data is to be published as open data on a larger scale. The state administration is to get more decentralized workspaces, especially in rural areas, and training courses whose participants pass on their knowledge as digital guides.

The CDU wants to organize the state administration in a more digital and decentralized way. Agencies are to get branch locations across the state, especially in rural areas, and clear rules are to be set for working from home.

The CDU wants public offices to work more digitally. State offices should also have small sites in the countryside. There should be clear rules for working from home. The staff should have a say.

According to the platform, decentralized sites of state agencies would shorten commutes, help protect the climate and make it easier to combine family and work. The CDU sees working from home as an opportunity for staff and the administration alike. Rules for mobile work, for example on occupational safety and data protection, are to be drawn up soon together with those affected.