NIK - Sustainability in information and communication technology

With a view to linking the guiding principle of sustainable development with the political goal of promoting the information society, the German Bundestag decided on 11 May 2000 to develop a "Strategy for Sustainable Information Technology" (BT-Drs. 14/2390). To implement this resolution, the Federal Government launched the "Sustainability of Information and Communication Technology" (NIK) project via the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

In a dialogue process between companies and associations in the IT sector, science, administration and politics, sustainable innovations in information and communication technology were identified and concrete roadmaps for their implementation were developed. The project has produced a large number of concrete initiatives, particularly in the areas of "mobile communication", "displays" and "public procurement". As a result, the most important business associations in the information and communication technology sector reorganised their activities in the direction of sustainability.
It has become clear that the implementation of sustainability in information and communication technology requires not only product-related environmental relief, but above all system innovations. To this end, the project provided an orientation aid with which various applications of information and communication technologies can be categorised and evaluated in the context of the sustainability debate.