Retrospective on the sixth CDR conference

The CDR Initiative office would like to thank all speakers and participants of the CDR Conference 2025.

This year, the conference started in the morning for the first time. Over their first cup of coffee, participants engaged in lively discussions on digital and consumer policy issues. The Data Space Berlin filled up before the official start at 11 a.m., and the restaurant area provided space for discussions and lively exchanges throughout the day, including with CDR topic partners at the ‘Market of Opportunities’.

In his opening statement, State Secretary Frank Schwabe from the Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection set the tone for the day ahead. He said that the German government's policy was opposed to authoritarianism and in favour of openness, anti-racism and inclusion – values that are also reflected in the CDR Code.

The Parliamentary State Secretary emphasised that we must be courageous, stand up and oppose authoritarian tendencies. In European digital policy, the Federal Government will advocate harmonisation, simplification and opposition to double regulation. The aim is to find practical solutions for the interaction between the AI Regulation, the General Data Protection Regulation and the Digital Services Act, which would also benefit consumers. Responsibility is therefore also crucial in a business context. Value-based politics is gaining ground – as is value-based action in companies.

This was followed by the keynote speech ‘Trust in Transformation’ by Janina Mütze, founder and managing director of Civey, as well as analyst and columnist. She emphasised that transformations thrive on acceptance, and acceptance arises from trust. Whether it's the energy transition or digitalisation, people need to be taken along for the ride, even if that can sometimes be exhausting. According to Mütze, the CDR action areas of education and employee involvement play a central role in this.

In the panel discussion on the current relevance of digital responsibility, State Secretary Frank Schwabe (BMUV), Janina Mütze (Civey), Isabelle Rosière (Managing Director of Deutschland sicher im Netz e.V.) and Dr Lena Wallenhorst (SVP Corporate Governance and General Counsel, Zalando SE) discussed the following questions: Can companies still afford digital responsibility at present? Or why is digital responsibility ‘now more important than ever’? How can companies strengthen trust in digitalisation? Why are they always political – whether they want to be or not? And how can corporate digital responsibility be made a success?

The panel also discussed the results of a new survey conducted by the CDR initiative on the opportunities of digital responsibility for companies. One important finding of the survey was that 45% of respondents already take corporate behaviour into account in their own usage and consumption behaviour.

In addition, 34% of respondents said that they had already avoided using a digital product or service because they did not like a company's behaviour in a social context. Respondents said that they no longer used services such as Facebook, TikTok or X. Violations of data protection and privacy were also cited as negative examples.

After the lunch break, which provided plenty of time for networking and visiting the ‘market of opportunities’, the CDR development partnership was presented. Dr Frank Esselmann introduced the new type of development partnership, which helps organisations at every stage of CDR maturity to further develop their digital responsibility. Maximilian Förster described the positive experiences from the CDR development partnership and the workshops with the CDR office, which he was able to accompany for AOK PLUS. 

Next up were four interactive workshops. Participants could choose between the following four topics:

• Workshop 1 – ‘First steps in implementing CDR: How to get off to a pragmatic and value-adding start’ together with CDR development partners.
• Workshop 2 – ‘Data ethics as a compass: Empowering companies for value-oriented action’ in collaboration with ING Germany.
• Workshop 3 – ‘50% AI adoption: How to break the magic barrier’ in collaboration with the Otto Group.
• Workshop 4 – ‘Empowered instead of overpowered: Corporate responsibility for a healthy youth’ in collaboration with Barmer and Telefónica.

In the highlights from the workshops, speakers provided an overview of the insights gained.

• Workshop 1 emphasised that CDR must be low-threshold in order to succeed, otherwise companies will be deterred. At the same time, information security is also a form of sustainability, which gives CDR a high priority.
• The workshop on data ethics emphasised that trust is extremely important and must be ensured in the long term through good data handling.
• The AI workshop highlighted that many organisations can use AI even more and that the AI adoption phase is an ideal breeding ground for CDR.
• The fourth workshop emphasised how important digital skills are for young people and how, for example, youth protection officers in every organisation could take their needs into account. 

The final item on the agenda was the outlook: CDR practice and the presentation of the CDR theme partners. The CDR theme partners were integrated into the initiative in particular to expand their expertise and reach. Further information on the structure of the CDR initiative and the CDR theme partners can be found here.

Over coffee and cake, the market of opportunities for CDR theme partners once again took centre stage. We are excited to see what joint CDR project ideas will emerge from these discussions.

The CDR Initiative office would like to thank all speakers and participants for attending the CDR Conference and looks forward to seeing you again at the CDR Conference 2026 next year.

You can also download the anthology based on the content of the CDR Conference 2024 on the topic of ‘Fairness in AI’.

All photos: Jan-Philipp Burmann / City-Press GmbH