The innovation survey published today by the Technology Foundation Berlin shows that the proportion of companies using artificial intelligence in Berlin is around twice as high as the national average. AI use in Berlin is particularly widespread in the service sector, especially in the software and data processing industry. The survey can be downloaded free of charge.
With the Berlin Innovation Survey, the Technologiestiftung Berlin is now in its eleventh year of providing detailed insights into the innovation behavior of Berlin's economy - the German Innovation Survey was supplemented by the ZEW with 2446 Berlin companies from industry and knowledge-intensive services.
Every fifth company in Berlin relies on AI
In a nationwide comparison, Berlin's economy is a leader in the use of AI - the current innovation survey by the Technology Foundation Berlin shows the areas in which the technology is already being used. The foundation has been evaluating innovation data from the capital for more than ten years and making it accessible. The Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises has been funding the innovation survey since 2021 as part of a grant to the Technology Foundation Berlin.
According to the data, the use of AI in Berlin - across almost all areas of application - is almost twice as widespread as the national average. This applies to AI processes such as speech understanding as well as AI applications such as chatbots. Overall, almost 20% of the companies surveyed use AI, with the focus in Berlin being on the service sector at 23%. It is worth noting that a third of the companies also develop AI solutions themselves.
The most common applications: Text recognition and speech understanding
Artificial intelligence in general has recently received a lot of attention in the media. The Berlin Innovation Survey now provides detailed insights into individual application areas and sectors. An increase in AI applications can be observed in text recognition and speech understanding in particular. The software and data processing sector leads the field in AI use with 41%.
In addition, the software and data processing sector's share of research in the economy has roughly doubled in the last ten years, as the time series of the Berlin Innovation Survey show. In 2022, Berlin's economy spent a total of €3.4 billion on research and development, with the software and data processing sector accounting for almost 20% of this.
Franziska Giffey, Senator for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises: "Berlin is the leading AI location in Germany today. Artificial intelligence is being researched here, the latest developments are being applied here, and thousands of small and medium-sized enterprises and start-ups are using artificial intelligence for their services and products. The Berlin Innovation Survey illustrates this high level of dynamism. However, we also have to assert ourselves in international competition and are working to make Berlin Europe's number one innovation location. For the state of Berlin, this means above all improving the framework conditions and infrastructure for research and development, promoting cooperation between science and industry and further increasing the visibility of Berlin as an AI location for international investment and talent. That is why we are also working on establishing an AI hub in Berlin. This hub will coordinate and strategically develop the diverse activities in Berlin's AI ecosystem, network the decentralized landscape of players, create more international visibility and strengthen the transfer of technology and knowledge between science and industry."
Nicolas Zimmer, CEO of Technologiestiftung Berlin: "With an impressive €3.4 billion spent on research and development, the innovation survey shows the further increase in the scope of research in Berlin's economy. Although artificial intelligence makes the headlines almost daily, only a few AI applications beyond chatbots are widespread in practice."
The Berlin 2023 Innovation Survey is freely available to download. The underlying data sets can also be downloaded.
