The charter will be signed on the fringes of the security conference in Munich. In addition to Siemens, the nine partners include the aircraft manufacturer and defense company Airbus, the insurer Allianz, the car manufacturer Daimler, the software giant IBM, the semiconductor manufacturer NXP, the testing company SGS and Deutsche Telekom. The Security Conference itself is also one of the partners.

The charter comprises ten fields of action in which the partners believe politics and industry must take action - including certification for critical infrastructures in the Internet of Things. This refers to technologies such as autonomous driving or industrial robots that work together with people.

Cybersecurity is an essential part of modern security policy, Siemens CEO Joe Kaeser told the German Press Agency at the start of the security conference. Conflicts are no longer fought exclusively by two opposing armies, but often through virtual attacks on individual institutions, companies or entire economies. It therefore made sense to join forces and act together in the economy as well. There are already numerous other partners
who want to join the initiative.

Cyber security anchored at the highest level

The charter also calls for cybersecurity to be anchored at the highest levels of government and business, for example through the creation of dedicated ministries. The paper is also supported by Chrystia Freeland, Canada's Foreign Minister and G7 representative, as well as the EU Commissioner for Internal Market, Industry and Entrepreneurship, Elzbieta Bienkowska.

In Germany, however, the new coalition agreement of the grand coalition does not provide for a separate digital ministry, contrary to the demands of various business associations. For Kaeser, however, it is more important that there is now a clear awareness of the importance of the issue and the potential devastating damage.

The European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) puts this at around 560 billion euros for 2016 alone. With the growing number of networked devices, these threats are likely to increase significantly: According to estimates by IT market research company Gartner, the number of networked devices worldwide will rise from 8.4 billion last year to a good 20 billion in 2020.

Kaeser also called for a faster expansion of the mobile communications infrastructure in Germany. Coverage is noticeably worse than in other industrialized countries, said the Siemens CEO. In the further expansion of the communications infrastructure, it is important to set priorities and, for example, to provide emergency systems and companies with the fastest mobile communications standard as a matter of priority.