The digitization of public administration in Germany continues to gain momentum: The Federal Information Technology Center (ITZBund) is working with Dortmund-based IT service provider Materna to test the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to support software development. The basis for this is KIPITZ, the ITZBund's AI portal, combined with powerful software from NVIDIA AI Enterprise, a key player in global AI and high-performance IT. The aim of the pilot project is to increase efficiency, secure skilled workers, and accelerate the federal government's digitization projects.
As the federal government's central IT service provider, ITZBund is responsible for implementing numerous software projects for the federal administration. These tasks require specialized skilled workers – a resource that is becoming increasingly scarce in light of demographic change. To counteract this, ITZBund is now testing the integration of generative AI into existing development environments as part of an innovation project in collaboration with Materna.
The focus is on linking the federal government's secure software development infrastructure with KIPITZ, ITZBund's AI portal, which was set up specifically for the use of generative AI applications in government contexts. Unlike commercial AI services, KIPITZ operates entirely within the federal government's sovereign IT environments and meets the highest security and data protection requirements.
The technological basis for this is provided by high-performance processors from NVIDIA, which are operated in the federal government's data centers. Materna brings to the project comprehensive expertise in the development and implementation of AI-supported specialist procedures for public administration. In a first step, the seamless integration of AI into the development process and the connection to KIPITZ has already been successfully demonstrated as a proof of concept – now piloting under real conditions at ITZBund will follow.
Jens Gehres, department head at ITZBund, sees this as a great opportunity for the administration and explains: “I am looking forward to exploring and implementing the comprehensive possibilities of AI-supported software development ‘powered by KIPITZ’ at ITZBund in the coming months.”
Specifically, this means that AI models directly support developers in everyday tasks such as code generation, test case creation, error analysis, and documentation. Time-consuming research and manual routine tasks are reduced, which increases productivity and frees up time for the creative and technically demanding development of new applications.
“AI is unlocking new possibilities for public administration by automating complex tasks, improving efficiency and enhancing IT capabilities,” said Ludwig von Reiche, Managing Director, NVIDIA GmbH. “Together with ITZBund and Materna, NVIDIA is supporting the deployment of secure and sovereign AI for Germany’s public services.”
Technological partnership with perspective
The collaboration on the project is also an expression of a strategic partnership between Materna and NVIDIA, which was established in early 2025. Both companies are pooling their expertise to jointly develop high-performance and sovereign AI solutions for critical application areas – from public administration and critical infrastructure to digital twins in industry.
“NVIDIA's computing power enables us to take our AI solutions to a new level and offer our customers – especially in public administration – secure, scalable, and powerful systems,” explains Michael Hagedorn, CEO of the Materna Group. “The project with ITZBund is a perfect example of how technological sovereignty and innovative strength go hand in hand.”
