All of the awards went to individuals who have made a decisive contribution to the implementation and development of eGovernment in Germany. This year, the eGovernment Leadership Award was presented by the editorial advisory board of eGovernment Computing to the Federal Commissioner for Information Technology, State Secretary Klaus Vitt.

Klaus Vitt received the Leadership Award 2016 for his tireless efforts to develop and disseminate eGovernment in the federal administration and for his commitment as this year's Chairman of the IT Planning Council. "Through his personal commitment, Klaus Vitt has made a decisive contribution to managing last year's influx of refugees in a humanitarian manner by digitizing the asylum procedure. At the same time, the digitalized asylum procedure has shown everyone involved that successful cooperation in eGovernment is also possible in federalism," says Manfred Klein, editor-in-chief of the specialist medium "eGovernment Computing". Klaus Vitt also set the course for cross-level cooperation in eGovernment in the IT Planning Council with the FITKO project.

Klaus Vitt comments: "In order to meet the challenge of digitalization appropriately, we need a modern digital administrative landscape that overcomes federal boundaries, questions complex processes and knows how to use the advantages of digitalization. My goal is for citizens and businesses to be able to deal with their concerns digitally. The successful digitalization of the asylum procedure shows that we are capable of doing this."

The award for eGovernment CIO of the Year 2016 went to the CIO of the state of Baden-Württemberg, Stefan Krebs. As a "newcomer", Krebs was able to make a name for himself within just a few months with the introduction of the Baden-Württemberg eGovernment Act, the reorganization of the state's own IT service provider and the introduction of important eGovernment components such as the state portal. Recently, Krebs has also assumed responsibility for the state of Baden-Württemberg's broadband initiative. The readers of eGovernment Computing acknowledged these successes in an online survey and voted Stefan Krebs eGovernment CIO 2016.

Ministerial Director Stefan Krebs, State Commissioner for Information Technology of the State of Baden-Württemberg, commented: "The award as State CIO of the Year is both an honor and an incentive for me. I want to continue to work hard to bring Baden-Württemberg forward in terms of IT reorganization and digitalization. In a modern administration, eGovernment has a very high priority. I am therefore delighted that the state's eGovernment strategy has been further highlighted by this award. At the same time, Baden-Württemberg is also working on the further development of digitalization - my task is to make this progress clearly visible. The award provides the right impetus for this."

This year's eGovernment Municipal Award went to Hans-Joachim Grote, Mayor of Norderstedt. The laudatory speech for Hans-Joachim Grote was held by Cologne city director Guido Kahlen. Kahlen praised Grote's commitment to the expansion of future-proof, secure digital infrastructures and made particular reference to the early expansion of fiber optics in Norderstedt. He also paid tribute to Hans-Joachim Grote's role as honorary president of the German Library Association (dbv), an association representing the interests of 3,000 German libraries. According to Kahlen, libraries as important places of learning, where digitalization can be experienced and learned by everyone in makerspaces, impart key skills for the digital society.

The eGovernment Congress focused on the question of how Germany can once again become internationally competitive in eGovernment and digitalization. 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.

Stefan Krebs, CIO of the state of Baden-Württemberg (center) and his laudator, Hartmut Beuß (left) (Photo: www.offenblen.de)

The winner of the eGovernment Computing Municipal Award, Mayor of Norderstedt Hans-Joachim Grote (center) and his laudator, last year's winner, City Director Guide Kahlen. (Photo: www.offenblen.de)

eGovernment Computing is the monthly newspaper for administrative modernization and the digital infrastructure of municipalities and the state. 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 Media, Augsburg, is a subsidiary of the Vogel Business MediaWürzburg. Since 1989, the publishing house has been publishing specialist media for decision-makers who are professionally involved in production, procurement or the 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, BigData-Insider, CloudComputing-Insider, DataCenter-Insider, Dev-Insider, Security-Insider Storage-Insider.