I have to disagree with all points.
1) Maybe true - but lots of exceptions exist as far as I'm aware (based on friends/social circle). Yes, there's some overhead, but not staggeringly so.
2) Oh my god.. Sure.. That would _certainly_ increase productivity. Give me Mail over Something-Like-IRC-But-Worse any day. Yammer seems popular around here right now and is shit, plain and simple. Slack has no value for me. If these tools are missing I'd say that's something Germany does right?
3) Fiber optics are uncommon unless you're lucky (say, Cologne has decent options). But broadband is very common. Falling at innovation seems a tad exaggerated.
4) We have good CS programs. Schools tend to be worse (sometimes far so) as far as I experienced and heard, but universities are quite okay. Otherwise .. this is basically the general "big market, not enough people" problem that HN confirms for more or less any country as soon as the "Working in $country" comes up.
Seems .. not just an opinion piece, it seems wildly inaccurate to me. Or to put it more politely: The author's and my ideas of digital innovation or failure thereof don't quiiiite align.