The Open Government Institute | TOGI

The course (in German) is the introduction to public sector informatics. It focuses on Electronic Government and the application-oriented use of modern information and communication technologies in political boards and administration to the fulfilment of public tasks. The number of tools and system solutions under consideration opens up a wide range of possible applications, from which particularly relevant approaches can be prepared in exemplary fashion and discussed together.

The students receive an insight into essential concepts, models and tools of public sector informatics, get acquainted with the application spectrum in governmental agencies, offices and public enterprises and should be enabled to get used to the work in the future independently with new technologies that are not yet foreseeable.

- Public Sector Informatics, Electronic Government and Electronic Governance

- Players of E-Government in the Federal Republic of Germany

- Secure Documents: Files, Certificates, Data Privacy and Data Security

- Secure Communication: Identification, Signatures, Delivery, Trust

- One Stop Government and Portals for the Public Sector

- Open Government: Opening of State and Administration

- Transparency, Participation, Collaboration and Open Innovation in the Public Sector

- Smart Government: Internet of Things and Internet of Services

- Digitalisation in the Civil Service, in Justice and in Tax Administration

- E-Health: Digitalisation in the Health Administration

The programming of computers and computer networks is not part of the module.

The course (in German) is the introduction to business informatics. It focuses on the scientific approach of business informatics and the application-oriented use of modern information and communication technologies in economy and administration. The huge number of applicable tools and system solutions opens up a large field of possible applications. Outstanding attempts will be reviewed and discussed in group.

The students receive an insight into essential concepts, models and tools of business informatics, get acquainted with the application spectrum in companies, and public sector and should be enabled to look ahead to new technologies that are not foreseeable yet.

- Informatics
- Business Informatics and Information Systems Science
- Data Management, Information Management and Knowledge Management
- Management: Planning, Building And Running of Information Systems
- Business Processes, Office Information Systems and Enterprise Resource Planning Systems
- Management Support Systems, Business Intelligence and Big Data
- Internet and World Wide Web
- Web 2.0, Web 3.0, Internet of Things, Internet of Services and Tactile Internet
- Portals, Distribution Channels, Electronic Business and Electronic Commerce
- Digital Transformation

The programming of computers and computer networks is not part of the module.

The course introduces aspects of digitalisation in the public sector and deepens them through seminar papers. The application-oriented use of modern information and communication technologies in the public sector will be the focus: Electronic Government, Open Government, Smart Government and Realtime Government. The multitude of tools and system solutions under consideration, the ubiquitous possibilities of the Internet and the complexity of the public sector open up a wide range of possible applications, from which selected current trends are presented and discussed in exemplary fashion.

The students will gain insights into current concepts, models and tools in public sector informatics and politics informatics, analyse the relevant actors, learn about possible applications in government and administration, in public authorities and public enterprises, and get used in familiarizing oneself with technologies not known yet.

· Methods and models of Public Sector Informatics and Politics Informatics

· Actor analysis for the digitalization of state and administration

· Electronic Government – Information, Services and Process Management

· Open Government – Transparency, Open Data, Participation and Collaboration

· Smart Government – Smart Objects and Cyber-physical Systems

· Realtime Government – Governmental Activities in real time

· Digitalization Strategies: digital.fn, Digitalisierungsstrategie digital.LÄND & Digitalstrategie

· Cooperation across administrative levels with the IT Planning Council & FITKO

· Lessons from the Online Access Act, Digitization Programme and Register Modernization

· Lessons from the German Model Projects Smart Cities

· Germany's 4th National Action Plan 2023-25 for the Open Government Partnership

· Open societal innovation for state modernization

· Foreign Policy in Times of digital Transparency: Wikileaks, NSA, Disinformation & Co

· Open Aid in development cooperation

· The cyber security challenge for government and administration

The programming of computers and computer networks is not part of the module.

With this module, the existing knowledge should be deepened and the understanding of new technologies should be strengthened. The aim is that students will learn the relevance and the possible uses of information technologies and artificial intelligence for government modernization, organization and process.

The application-oriented use of modern information and communication technologies, govtech and artificial intelligence in administration will be in the foreground, whereby current technology trends and projects relevant to the public sector at federal, state and municipal level will be given special consideration. With a view to current developments, the thematic focus shifts from year to year. 

The students gain insight into current trends, novel concepts, models, and tools of public sector informatics, learn about possible applications and should be enabled to prepare and make strategic decisions on the use of innovative technologies and artificial intelligence. External guests are invited as impulse generators.

- Current megatrends and consequences for administrative modernization
- Current trends in administrative informatics and govtech
- Current developments in digital policy
- Artificial intelligence in public administration
- Artificial intelligence in parliaments
- Challenge generative AI: Chat-GPT, Deepseek & Co
- Virtual worlds and public administration
- IoT data platforms and digital twins
- Workshop: Citizens co-designing sustainable smart cities
- Workshop: Vision of a digitalized administration 2050 with a digital Zeitenwende
- Visit to the Swiss Smart Government Day by Google CH in Zurich
- Space available for own content suggestions for seminar papers

The programming of computers and computer networks is not part of the module.

This introductory course provides a comprehensive and theoretically well-founded overview of public administration and the administrative sciences. Starting from the development of the public sector in modern states, the different approaches to identifying and implementing public tasks are handled. The main focus lies on the integration of public administration in the political, social, legal, organizational, and economic environment. In this analysis of public organizations, emphasis will be placed on the modernization of public administration, the use of information and communication technologies in government and the bureaucracy and administrative management issues. The course combines introductions to the cross-cutting issues of the administrative sciences with current issues of modernization in the public administration.

Students get an overview of current issues in administrative sciences. They can capture important debates for establishing and carrying out public functions in the context of scientific literature and discuss and evaluate complex organizational problems in the public sector analytically. They can obtain the theoretical and conceptual foundations from concrete examples in the public sector and work out sound solutions. In addition to the analytical skills, the students acquire the ability to professionally formulate their arguments in written and oral form in short comments.

- Administrative sciences and the science of public administration
- State and Government in a historical perspective
- State and administrative law
- State and administrative tasks
- Organizational structure of public administration
- Theory of bureaucracy and administrative federalism
- Internal organization of administrative authorities
- Administrative culture in governance
- Modernization of public administration and administrative reform
- New public management
- Human resources in the public administration
- Finance and budget
- Planning, decision, control and accountability
- Public procurement
- Public sector informatics, e-government, open government and smart government

As part of the eGov-Campus, a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) covering the field of open government and a textbook have been produced by The Open Government Institute (TOGI). The aim is to contribute to the education, training, and continuing education of public administration managers in the field of open government. This module aims to deepen students' existing knowledge and strengthen their understanding of open government.

The MOOC uses different didactic methods. Online lecture units in the form of videos are used to disseminate knowledge. These are supplemented by expert impulses from the field on various topics as well as reflection units at the end of each section. In addition, the MOOC relies on extensive quizzes and transfer exercises that students can work on alone or together with others in digital learning spaces. In addition, simulation games were designed for four sections in which students can take on different roles from politics, administration, civil society, business and academia in order to deal with the respective challenges in these areas. The results and findings of the simulation games can in turn be shared in the learning spaces. The accompanying textbook summarises all the content in a comprehensible way. At the end of the MOOC, a take-home exam has to be passed.

After completing the course, students are able to name current examples and projects in the field of open government in national and international contexts, to describe the upcoming change processes through the opening of state and administration, and to identify associated potentials as well as risks. They will also be enabled to independently draft guiding images, goals, concepts, and strategies in the sense of open government. Open governance thrives on the active participation of civil society. Therefore, it is also a concern of the course to inform individual civil society actors and organisations about possibilities of participation, to encourage them to participate, and to network them with one another.

- Open Government
- Transparency
- Open Data and Open Government Data
- Open Budget
- Citizen participation
- Cooperation
- Open Government Partnership

The course focuses on current trends in media informatics and data spaces. The application-oriented use of social media, modern information and communication technologies, and artificial intelligence in the media industry and public broadcasting companies is initially in the foreground. On this foundation, the students independently work their way into the data spaces currently being set up and present the status and current developments as part of their assignments.

The students gain insight into current trends, new concepts, models and tools of media informatics and data spaces, get to know application possibilities, and should be enabled to prepare and make strategic decisions for the use of new technologies by public broadcasting agencies and for the design of data spaces.

- Media Informatics and Digital Communication

- Public Broadcasting Agencies in Germany

- Transformation in the Media Economy

- The Future for Newspapers and Publishing Houses in the Digital Age

- The Future for Radio Stations in the Digital Age

- The Future for TV Stations in the Digital Age

- The Future for the Movie Business in the Digital Age

- The Future for the Music Business in the Digital Age

- The Future for Performing Arts in the Digital Age

- The Future for Imagination Arts in the Digital Age

- Open Culture and Urban Culture Data Spaces

- Data Strategy of the European Union and the German Federal Government

- Open Cultural Policy and Urban Cultural Data Spaces

- Open Administrative Data and Urban Data Spaces

- Mobility Data Space

- Health Data Space

- Energy Data Space

- Green Deal Data space

- Financial Data Space

- Industry Data Space

The former disciplinary boundaries between economics, politics, administration, culture, and psychology are increasingly dissolving, and interdisciplinarity is gaining importance. Information and communication technologies, as drivers of these changes, are becoming ever more relevant in the field of economics. To understand and manage the new challenges resulting from this development, this module provides students with in-depth knowledge of business informatics through selected areas of application of modern information and communication technologies in business, media, and society.

This module aims to deepen existing knowledge of digitalization and strengthen the understanding of new technologies. The goal is to convey the relevance and potential applications of information technologies and artificial intelligence for the digital transformation of organizations and processes.

The course introduces aspects of the digital transformation of companies and the economy and makes use of the TOGI Digital Lab. This is further explored through seminar papers. The focus is on the practical application of modern information and communication technologies in companies and institutions: The wide range of available tools and system solutions, the ubiquitous possibilities of the internet, and the complexity of the economy open up diverse application scenarios. Selected current trends are prepared and discussed as examples.

Students gain insight into current concepts, models, and tools from business informatics and computer science. They analyze the relevant stakeholders, explore application possibilities in companies and the economy, and are expected to develop the ability to independently familiarize themselves with new technologies not known yet.

- Methods and Models of Business Informatics and Computer Science
- Actor Analysis for the Digitalization of the Economy
- Foundations of AI, Automation & Algorithms
- Application-Oriented Use of AI, Generative AI, and Agent-Based AI
- Data Excellence, Data Governance & Data Management
- Information Management & Knowledge Management
- Information Systems
- Process Automation and Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
- Internet and Digital Sovereignty
- Cloud Computing and Platforms
- Cybersecurity and Data Protection
- Practical Tools

The programming of computers is not part of the module.