The Internet is by far the most important driver of digitization

Internet based applications fundamentally change the way people communicate and collect information, what their working environments look like and how they spend their leisure time. The internet transforms political processes and the formation of public opinion as well as the way that values are created and knowledge is imparted.

• Thus, the internet has a profound impact on the social and economic development of a country and its position in global competition.
• In Germany we have been discussing these changes comparatively late and we do not always shape them proactively.

The Munich Center for Internet Research commenced operations as a new research center of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences in December 2015. It carries out extensive scientific research on societal changes that go along with the digitization and the internet and will give guidance on how to shape these developments. For example, studies are already underway that examine how the use of cloud computing transforms digital working environments or who is responsible for actions of autonomous, smart robots.