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Germany creates 'super–high-tech ministry' for research, technology, aerospace

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Re: Germany creates 'super–high-tech ministry' for research, technology, aerospace

#181

Post by jsemrau »

throwaway2037 wrote: post #173
jsemrau wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Applying for a grant in the European Commission is a labyrinth of different websites each with their own need to register. Grant Specs are largely in PDFs or Word Documents that are attached to the call. And it takes at least 6-9 months from open to decision. I have applied to about 20 grants throughout 2024 and haven't heard anything back from a single one yet.

You should blog about your experience and submit to HN. I am sure you can get lots of good advice to improve your chances.

This has spawned almost an entire industry. Have a look at Zebra Embassy in Berlin as an example. I think it would be easier to "digitally transform" the process to be more efficient.

Re: Germany creates 'super–high-tech ministry' for research, technology, aerospace

#182

Post by valenterry »

janderson215 wrote: post #179
valenterry wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The problem is not the bureaucracy. It absolutely is. Try to open a company in Germany. Then try to do your tax. Then try to close your company. After that, let's talk again about bureaucracy. Oh, and the new government just announced plans that non-employeed people (freelancers, business owners, ...) are now forced to pay into national pension (with few exceptions). And don't get me started on that one. Just as an…

Have you also done these things in the US? I have heard this sentiment that the German system is far and above the more bureaucratic before, but for all I know, Americans could just be relatively complacent in comparison to Germans and our systems function nearly identically. I’d like to hear from someone if they have been through both processes first hand who could answer this question. Americans constantly complain…

> Have you also done these things in the US?

No, and in the context of the thread I care little about the US. This thread is about Germany and is specifically about "they [the companies] are drowning in bureaucracy" and "The problem is not the bureaucracy". And my post was a response to that. The US might be worse (I doubt it) but it has basically no relevance imo.

Re: Germany creates 'super–high-tech ministry' for research, technology, aerospace

#183

Post by _fizz_buzz_ »

selfmodruntime wrote: post #63
fxtentacle wrote: post #26

The upside is that this will actually provide lots of research funding to small companies. Think of it like the seed round from a VC, but instead of investing into new companies, they try to strategically invest into existing companies to boost future tax revenue. It'll probably be very German, meaning overly bureaucratic. But the basic idea of financing R&D in small companies to grow them more competitive seems legi…

Applying for a grant is normally difficult. In Germany, it's outright hellish. I hope I will be pleasantly surprised.

I have applied for a few grants in Germany and also got them. It’s honestly not that difficult. If you have a large consortium with many partners it can become complicated but mostly because of the partners and not the government. My secret advice: when there is a grant there is also always a number you call or an email address, if anything is unclear, you can call them and they have always been very helpful.

Re: Germany creates 'super–high-tech ministry' for research, technology, aerospace

#184

Post by mk89 »

valenterry wrote: post #162
mk89 wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not the OP, but I don't understand what your original comment was trying to convey. You took in my opinion unfortunately the worst example you could. Unions are by definition bureaucratic because they need to be...

Betriebsräte are not unions though...

You're right, technically they are different. However, the context is relatively similar - lots of laws to know about, etc.

Re: Germany creates 'super–high-tech ministry' for research, technology, aerospace

#185

Post by 331c8c71 »

whilo wrote: post #158
Barrin92 wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Software in Germany is built to achieve a means to an end. It is never the end goal itself. Well, that's how it should be, I don't write software to worship any software deities, I use it to get a job done. If you don't you end up with that 700 dollar useless gadget that was basically a python API wrapper in a box that everyone rightfully made fun of. We can do a lot of things better in software in Germany but treat…

As a German coming from Mannheim, and now living on the Canadian West coast, I have to say that this is exactly the mindset that makes it so difficult to innovate in Germany. While people have a top education and know everything they need to, they don't have a "digital mindset". I think of myself now as computing process, and see myself as a cyberneticist in the German philosophical tradition of Hegel, Marx, Hilbert,…

Hmmm, does Jurgen Schmidhuber live in Germany? I'd think primarily Ticino where he spent the majority of his career if I understand correctly.

Re: Germany creates 'super–high-tech ministry' for research, technology, aerospace

#186

Post by chme »

DataDaoDe wrote: post #84
pasabagi wrote: post #36

I actually think Germany would be really good at digital infrastructure if they stopped being afraid of friend computer. Germany is immensely proud of its history of creating standards - there's literally a place in berlin called DIN Platz. Germany is also very proud, and rightly so, in its history of mathematical innovation. Everything that isn't dross in the computer world is either a well designed standard, or a w…

Germany has tons of potential, but Germany is one of the most risk averse countries on the planet (see Uncertainty Avoidance Cultures)[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncertainty_avoidance ]. This makes it amazing at building high quality industrial products, taking innovation done elsewhere and refining and polishing it, slowly over many years - building standards as you say. However, it doesn't help much in the inno…

> There is also a massive union culture, which provides Germans with a great quality of life, but again, that's something probably negatively correlated to innovation.

Hmm... So if people struggle in life and have live from hand to mouth in multiple jobs to support their family and loved ones, they are more innovative?

Re: Germany creates 'super–high-tech ministry' for research, technology, aerospace

#187

Post by stratocumulus0 »

calmoo wrote: post #50
anigbrowl wrote: post #34

Black_13 appears to be shadowbanned so I'm reproducing their comment here: black_13 11 minutes ago [dead] | parent | context | unvouch | favorite | on: Germany creates 'super–high-tech ministry' for res... The cynicism in these comments is telling, but misses crucial realities about Germany's capabilities and social achievements. Yes, Germany creates bureaucracies. Yes, Dorothee Bär's digital infrastructure record is…

Having no gun violence and having a higher life expectancy than America is not something to be proud of and not a useful benchmark. This comment is a prime example of Germany's inability to take external criticism - it nearly always devolves into comparison with America. You know many non-americans also criticise the state of Germany currently?

Having lived here for a bit over 5 years, I can say that Germans too often like to speak from the moral high ground. There are things that are sacred and indisputable, like opposition to nuclear energy. Try to complain about a strike in public services causing you inconvenience, and you will invariably get lectured on solidarity. I've seen people interrupting speakers at public events to "provide important context" that was nothing more than self-flattery from the interrupting person. I do believe in this country and think that it has way more upsides than downsides, but the people here could sure use a bit of humility.

Re: Germany creates 'super–high-tech ministry' for research, technology, aerospace

#188

Post by amadeuspagel »

> In a section titled “scientific freedom,” the document seems to refer at least obliquely to developments in the United States, where scientists working on topics such as gender, global health, and climate change have seen their funding slashed and important data sets have been scrubbed from the websites of federal agencies. “Funding decisions will be based on science-driven criteria,” the document states. “It seems like that should be a no-brainer, but we have seen how quickly it can change,” says Eva Winkler, an oncologist and medical ethicist at Heidelberg University and a member of the German Ethics Council.

If this obliquely refers to anything, then to a scandal under the last german government, where the minister of science and education had demanded to know whether any signatory to an open letter received funding from the ministry[1].

[1]: https://www.forschung-und-lehre.de/politik/foerdermittel-aff...

Re: Germany creates 'super–high-tech ministry' for research, technology, aerospace

#189

Post by amadeuspagel »

pasabagi wrote: post #36

I actually think Germany would be really good at digital infrastructure if they stopped being afraid of friend computer. Germany is immensely proud of its history of creating standards - there's literally a place in berlin called DIN Platz. Germany is also very proud, and rightly so, in its history of mathematical innovation. Everything that isn't dross in the computer world is either a well designed standard, or a w…

There are two common standards for documents: PDF and HTML. The german government mostly uses PDFs and should move to HTML.

Re: Germany creates 'super–high-tech ministry' for research, technology, aerospace

#190

Post by amadeuspagel »

pezezin wrote: post #177
submeta wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Random German company: You open your intranet, manually search through hundreds of (pdf!) application-forms (because search is not implemented), downlod the right form, print it(!), fill the form, sign it, scan the paper, send it to the ticket system. That’s what they call „Digitalisierung“, because previously they had to send the printed paper-form to the helpdesk team.

Sounds like my random Japanese company, except for the fact that here all the forms are created in Excel.

Well, that's better, right?
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