Joint digitalisation requires more than simply agreeing on a common goal. It requires decisions on who develops the services, who operates them, who pays for them, and under what conditions others can actually use them. How binding must this division of labour be – and to what extent must the federal, state and local authorities limit their own scope for shaping it?

The think tank is investigating how joint service provision can be organised without confusing political responsibility with operational implementation. What should constitute a binding common core? Where are differing requirements objectively necessary? Who decides on further developments, and who bears the additional costs of extra requests? Equally important is the demand side: what assurances do those who develop a service for others need, and what rights of participation do those who are to adopt it require?

Food for thought highlights the tensions between joint scaling, independent design and local feasibility. The open discussion examines concrete forms of cooperation – including the question of what happens if participants fail to make agreed contributions or do not implement joint solutions.

The aim is to propose a robust federal division of labour: with clear service relationships, transparent cost allocation and binding decision-making processes. This should reveal which organisational bottlenecks can be resolved and where political decisions will be required.