#mannheim

#mannheim

"It was a very intense game; it was incredibly tense, and at the end there was an outpouring of emotion. In my opinion, we deserve to be going to the final in Berlin given the greater number of clear-cut chances we created. My team deserve a great deal of praise for producing a battling cup performance like that."

Germany's Hanover Industrial Fair has introduced a Defence Production Area, featuring around 30 companies that offer products with potential military applications, marking a significant shift in focus.

We see him every day, playing at the highest level in the Champions League. He will certainly be one of the best in the world one day; he's on the right track. Everything he does is right. His level is already on par with the best players in Europe.

The IDEA program aims to help organizations make their data infrastructure AI-ready, addressing the challenge of data primarily designed for human use, which is not suitable for AI applications.

Known as ExStra, this is a permanent national funding programme designed to strengthen research at the nation's top universities and make them more competitive internationally. While the ExStra programme allows for up to 15 "Excellent Universities" (Exzellenzuniversitaten), only ten institutions have made the grade for the next round of funding.

The fact that some companies are not planning to switch to S/4HANA until 2030 does not mean that they will wait until then to make the switch. Rather, they simply need this time due to the complexity of their system landscapes. I see this as a reflection of the reality in IT departments. Skills shortages, parallel transformation projects, and limited budgets are also causing schedules to be pushed back.

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Merz's trip to China, which became Germany's largest trading partner last year, seeks to deepen decades-old economic ties with the world's second-largest economy in the wake of tariffs imposed by the United States last year. But he has also sought to address challenges in the relationship, most notably tackling the massive imbalance which saw Germany's trade deficit with China hit a record 89 billion euros.

Given the daunting nature of the challenges they face in the era of Donald Trump, it is perhaps understandable that European politicians should wish to get away from it all. This week, in what is being billed as a leaders' retreat, a remote castle in the Belgian countryside has been selected for an EU summit on competitiveness. The pastoral setting may soothe the spirits of attending heads of state; but it belies the urgency of the debate they need to have.

In 2025, German car companies earned nearly 44% less than in 2024, with earnings before interest and taxes dropping to just 24.9 billion, the lowest since 2020.

"The future will be, for sure, that you are not typing any data information into an SAP system. You can instead ask certain analytical questions with your voice. You can trigger operational task workflows. You can also make entries in the system with your voice-performance feedback, pipeline entries, etc. The technological capabilities are there, it really is now about the execution."

The 62nd Munich Security Conference opened on 13 February 2026 in Munich, Germany, and this year's gathering feels different from past editions. For decades, Munich was about jets, troops, and treaties. Today, cyber and AI are no longer peripheral; they are part of the architecture of security itself. Cyber risks, digital infrastructure, and emerging technologies like AI now sit alongside tanks and treaties on the agenda as European leaders try to make sense of a world where digital threats and geopolitical tensions are deeply intertwined.

The proposal was put forth by Schleswig-Holstein State Premier Daniel Gunther, who pointed to the negative impact that sugary drinks have on the health of children. Noting that roughly one-quarter of all German children are overweight, Gunther said, "We need a tax that can affect behavioral change if we are to confront this massive health issue." Gunther said he hoped such a tax would force companies to put less sugar in their drinks.

To manage the crowds, the public order office is deploying up to 400 staff, along with around 2,600 security personnel from external service providers. Police are also sending up to 1,500 additional officers. Last year, Islamists suspected of belonging to so-called Islamic State (IS) used social networks to call for attacks including on Cologne's celebrations. The security assessment remains one of caution.