German Production: The ICT Sector

One sector that seemed interesting and growing is the Information and Communication Technology goods (ICT) sector. The sector made up 11.6% of total exports in 2020 and grossed over $197 billion dollars. According to Statista, this number is set to rise with a projected $199.4 billion dollars of revenue in 2023.

ICT is a large umbrella of goods, covering internet, wifi, telecommunication connections, television and radio as well as robotics and AI. Furthermore, the three leading telecommunication companies — Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone Germany, Telefoníca Germany — made over $40 billion dollars. Germany also has the “single largest software market in Europe” (International Trade Administration). However, Germany is not necessarily a leader in this sector as the US has 36% of the market share with the EU and China only holding 11 (Statista). They also host several trade shows which allow international exhibitors to sell their products to other countries. As of 2020, China accounted for 41.4% of German Imports (Destatis).

Specifically, there has been an increase in demand for IT positions as “one in ten (11%) businesses of that size advertised jobs for IT experts in 2021, and more than three fourths (77%) of those businesses stated that they had had problems filling the vacancies” (Destatis).

Berlin has also found itself host to many tech startups with over 40,000 businesses being started there each year. Popular startup fields include e-commerce, fintech, and transportation (Reason-Why Berlin).

The industry itself took on a new form amidst the rise of the internet and digital age with significant growth occurring between 2004 and 2014. Between 2014 and 2019, Marketline predicted an annual growth rate of 5.5% in the field.