The German tech market will inch up by 0.

1% to reach 86 billion in 2013, according to Forrester's latest ICT spending forecast out today. While German nominal GDP will grow by 2.4%, German firms are acting as if it were in recession and will limit their tech buying in 2013. Computer equipment, communications equipment, and IT outsourcing (including hardware maintenance) will have the biggest decreases of 1%, 2%, and 3%, respectively. Software purchases and IT consulting services will rise by 2%, and telecoms services will be up 1%. Forrester analyst Andrew Bartels writes: "German governments and businesses on average spend less on technology and particularly software than their counterparts in the UK, the Netherlands, Switzerland, or the Nordics. They also tend to be very cautious in their spending plans. The result is that German firms in 2013 are cutting back on their tech spending despite a German economy that is still growing, albeit modestly." Looking across Europe, Forrester expects tech purchases (in euros) to decline by 1.7% in 2013 after a slighter decline of 0.2% in 2012, as the economic recession extends at least through 2013. The report projects a modest upturn of 3.9% in 2014, but cautions this may again prove to be too optimistic. Globally, Forrester's ICT spending outlook (in dollars) is less bleak and expects a 2.3% growth in 2013, down from the 3.3% forecast in January, and stronger growth of 5.4% in 2014. Bartels: "European CIOs will do what CIOs always do in recessions or downturns: cut back on capital investment in computer equipment, communications equipment, and licensed software, and pare their new project portfolios. However, to be competitive in the future, European CIOs should push harder to cut other areas of cost like maintenance and outsourcing." Other findings from the European tech spending forecast for Germany include: -- Forrester's Forrsights data for total German IT budget spending (including IT staff) shows IT staff costs will represent 31% of German IT budgets in 2013, with hardware infrastructures and software (without SaaS) being the next largest categories of IT budgets at 15% and 14%, respectively. -- German firms are aggressive adopters of mobile technologies like smartphones, tablets, and mobile apps (with 74% on average having implemented or planning to implement them), but less interested in cloud computing technologies (45% implemented). -- Utilities/telcos and financial services firms are leaders in mobile technology adoption. Retail and wholesale and utilities and telcos are big users of smart computing technologies like big data and realtime analytics as well as cloud computing technologies. Other findings from the European tech spending forecast include: -- Europes ICT market slips further behind those of the Americas and Asia Pacific. Measuring in euros in deference to the most common currency in this region, Western and Central Europes ICT market in 2013 will be 460 billion, compared to the 960 billion ICT market of the Americas and Asia Pacifics 493 billion. -- The big three markets in Europe, the UK, France, and Germany, will be flat or down 1%. Germanys 2013 ICT purchases of 86 billion will rise by 0.1% from 2012; the UKs 80 billion market will inch up by a similar amount; and Frances 70 billion market will be off by 1.1%. -- Whilst spending in most tech categories in Europe will be flat or down in 2013, Software - especially for mobile apps and analytics - will do the best, with an increase of 2.2%. IT consulting and systems integration services will decline, but only by 0.2%. Purchases of communications equipment across Europe will fall by 4.3%; IT outsourcing by 4.4%; telecommunications services by 4.5%; and computer equipment by 1.6%. Find more comment from Andrew in his blog post on the new reports here. Media review copies of the new European and global tech spending forecasts from Forrester are available for you to download, using the link + password below: