German IT Boom

The days of the doctor's illegible prescription on slip of paper could soon be a thing of the past.

That is because of a German plan that will take effect in 2009 to store prescriptions and a patient's medical history on a personal electronic chip card. As a result, hospitals and pharmacies are going to have to upgrade their computer equipment.

"An investment totaling 1.8 billion euros ($2.4 billion) is going to be needed for the introduction of the electronic health card," said Bernhard Rohleder, director general of BITKOM, the German Association for Information Technology, Telecommunications and New Media.

"That will, in turn, trigger more follow-up investment at a later date," he said. "This healthcare chip card is of enormous significance for the IT sector."

Lagging behind

BITKOM, which is based in Berlin, is forecasting annual IT growth rate of 3 percent for Germany over the next few years. And the boom goes beyond the health sector.

Last year, German industry spent about 150 billion euros on IT, about half as much as American companies. Rohleder said German IT companies should focus more on the public sector.

"We have noticed that Germany, especially in the government sector, is lagging behind other countries," he said.

BITKOM is therefore calling on the German government to step up IT investment in the public sector. Germany employs about 800,000 IT professionals but needs more -- there are 20,000 spots for computer experts still left to be filled.

Demand is also likely to increase, according to experts. For example, German carmakers have a voracious appetite for hardware and software, such as German-speaking car navigation systems.

As a result, German carmakers are expected to spend 5 billion euros on computer hardware and software next year.