On the morning of May 24, the Sino-German Bilateral Academic Seminar on Digitalization of Public Administration: Opportunities and Challenges was successfully held in the Conference Room 202 of Haixing Building. The seminar was co-sponsored by Shanghai Administration Institute (SAI) and the Shanghai Office of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), and was organized by the Department of Public Administration and the Foreign Affairs Division of SAI, and CHEN Qixing Studio, the counseling research base of the Municipal Government. The seminar was presided over by Professor ZHAO Yong, deputy director of the Department of Public Administration. Professor Tino Schuppan of the German University of Potsdam attended the seminar accompanied by Stefan Pantekoek, director of the Shanghai Office of FES, and his colleague Arthur Tarnowski. More than 30 experts, scholars, and representatives of teachers and students from SAI were also present.

Professor ZHAO Yong first welcomed Director Stefan Pantekoek, Professor Tino Schuppan and Mr. Arthur Tarnowski. Director Stefan Pantekoek expressed to the Chinese side the willingness to learn from Shanghais experience, practices and future prospects in the digitization of public administration. Afterwards, Professor Tino Schuppan made a speech on the subject of German Digital Administration: Structure, Competence and Employment Skills. He reviewed the digital legislation of German Federation, states and local governments, shared the practical application of digital technology in the process-optimization of vehicle access application, 115 hotline service, Brandenburg interactive patrol cars and other projects, and analyzed the changes and challenges resulting from digital application in organization structure of the public service industry, leadership abilities, job substitution and personnel incentives.

Professor ZHAO Yong responded to Professor Stefan Pantekoeks themed speech and introduced Shanghais work in promoting the digitalization of public administration. Subsequently, the both parties had a warm discussion and in-depth exchange on points of common concern, such as personal information security, dynamic data update and the application scenes of new generation information technologies, like big data and artificial intelligence, in public administration in the background of digital administration.

This seminar has laid a solid foundation for deepening friendly exchanges, communications and cooperation between the Chinese and German sides, and has provided useful help for both parties to promote the research on digitalization of public administration.