The survey was released for the second annual German Digital Day, and consisted of 1004 people aged 16 and over in Germany who were interviewed by telephone. According to the study, 52% of Germans have never heard of the term blockchain, whereas 23% know the word, but cannot explain what it means. Only 17% reported to believe they could explain the term. 45% of respondents knew what cryptocurrency meant, and this number sunk to 41% for the term big data and 40% for virtual reality. On the other hand, respondents found it easier to explain what a data center was (80%), as well as apps (76%), 5G (67%) and cookies (63%). Cloud computing was a term understood by 52% of respondents and artificial intelligence by 49%.
The study showed a positive trend, as the digital vocabulary of Germans improved in comparison to 2020. The proportion of respondents who had never heard of the survey’s terms decreased for 10 of the 13 keywords. The term blockchain, for example, was still 60% unknown in 2020, which decreased by 8 percentage points in 2021. According to a Digital for All representative, this uncertainty surrounding many terms shows a need for educational development and is the only way to ensure that everyone benefits equally from digitisation. The full results for this study will be released on 14 June 2021.