Beyond PPP

What it’s about

Germany faces a massive infrastructure and digitalization gap. Bridges, schools, and transport networks are overdue for renovation, while digital administration and platform infrastructure continue to fall behind international standards. This book develops a new understanding of public-private partnership (PPP) as a governance architecture for the 21st century — one that brings together physical infrastructure, digital infrastructure, IT, and the platform economy as a central instrument of modern statehood.

Public administration shows its strength as a competent client, director, and owner — with the market as the executor.

The book combines historical depth with current empirical evidence and a concrete reform agenda. It analyzes PPP experience from the Bridgewater Canal (1761) to the ITZBund–IONOS contract (2024), compares international models from Ontario to Estonia, and derives a program for Germany. It is written for researchers, civil servants, politicians, and policy advisors who share a common goal — building infrastructure that serves the next generations.

What’s inside

• 250 years of PPP history, through to current German case studies
• A 15-country comparison, from Estonia to Ontario
• AI and the platform economy as a new field of partnership
• A concrete reform agenda: a national infrastructure institution, a golden fiscal rule, a federal digital agency, reformed procurement law

The authors

Dr. Christoph Baron is an economist and public administration scholar. He advises ministries and public agencies on the implementation of infrastructure projects.

Arthur Wetzel is an entrepreneur, technology executive, and founder of the LangOps Institute. He has worked for more than three decades at the intersection of public administration and economics.