Abstract
Current assessments of the German economy and its innovation potential are reminiscent of the early 2000s when Germany was considered the sick man of Europe. Germany is facing enormous challenges of overlapping crises in connection with demographic change and the green transformation that will require a wide range of innovations to overcome. The responsibility must first and foremost be borne by the companies themselves. However, public (infrastructure) investment is often followed by private investment. Streamlining the bureaucracy for targeted immigration is a high priority in order to counteract the shortage of skilled labour.