On November 15 and 16, 2012, top-class IT decision-makers at federal and state level met for the 5th eGovernment Summit in Bonn. Under the congress motto "From Open Data to Big Data - Limitless eGovernment", Vogel Business Media's eGovernment Computing Academy invited an exclusive circle of eGovernment and administration experts from the federal and state governments. In addition to extensive presentations and discussions, the eGovernment Leadership Award and the eGovernment Communication Award were presented.



Both prizes went to personalities who have decisively advanced the implementation and development of eGovernment in Germany through their commitment. The eGovernment Leadership Award 2012 went to the CIO of the Free State of Saxony, Dr. Wilfried Bernhardt. The editorial advisory board of eGovernment Computing explained the decision: "With his many years of personal commitment, Dr. Bernhardt has made a significant contribution to ensuring that more and more administrations and courts in Germany are opening up secure and legally binding electronic communication options for citizens and companies. In addition, his constant commitment to the European dimension of eGovernment is to be honored today." The laudatory speech for Wilfried Bernhardt was given by Erwin Schwärzer, Head of the IT and eGovernment Policy Division at the Federal Ministry of the Interior. "The eGovernment Summit has developed into an important forum for informal exchange between politics, administration, business and science. The high-quality discussions in a small circle make an important contribution to thinking outside the box, away from the often full agendas in the eGovernment committees."



This year's eGovernment Communication Award 2012 was presented to Dr. Georg Thiel from the Federal Ministry of the Interior. Thiel, permanent representative of the head of the "Administrative Modernization and Organization" department, has not only rendered outstanding services to the dissemination and development of geoinformation applications in recent years. He has also been actively involved in the modernization of the administration as part of the "Networked and transparent administration" project.



In addition to the further development of the German eGovernment strategy and the establishment of a federal IT infrastructure, the congress talks focused on the reform of administrations under the pressure of open data and open government. The aim of the series of events is to intensify the exchange of information between administration and politics, business and science in connection with eGovernment and administrative reform.



eGovernment Computing is the monthly newspaper for IT-supported local and state administration. It informs IT decision-makers at federal, state and local level and in public institutions about all relevant areas of digital information processing in the public sector. Further information can be found at www.eGovernment-Computing.de. Vogel IT-Medien, Augsburg, is a subsidiary of Vogel Business Media, Würzburg. Since 1989, the publishing house has been publishing specialist media for decision-makers who are professionally involved in the production, procurement or use of information technology. In addition to print and online media, it also offers a broad portfolio of events. The publisher's most important publications are IT-BUSINESS, eGovernment Computing, SearchNetworking.de, SearchSecurity.de, SearchStorage.de, SearchDataCenter.de, SearchCloudComputing.de.