Digital transformation in German municipalities is reaching a new level in 2026. AI-based meeting minutes save hundreds of working hours, but data protection requirements are extremely high. Here is a look at who leads in this specialist duel.
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Comparison Overview: AI Meeting Assistants for Government
When evaluating AI assistants for public use, “hosting in Europe” is only the first step. The following table highlights the technical and legal differences between the two providers.
| Feature | Tucan.ai | Straiqr Scriba |
| Ownership Structure | 100% German | German (Start-up) |
| Infrastructure / Cloud | Hetzner (100% German-owned) | SaaS/Own Cloud |
| US CLOUD Act Immunity | Fully Provided | Dependency on US APIs |
| On-Premise Solution | Yes (Proven & Isolated) | Yes |
| RIS Integration | Yes | Partial / Partner-based |
| Accessibility | BITV 2.0 / WCAG 2.1 | Focus on Output |
| Metadata (Titles/Party) | Fully Integrated | Focus on Speaker Recognition |
1. Digital Sovereignty: The CLOUD Act Risk
The most important factor for municipalities is independence from US laws.
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Straiqr Scriba offers a GDPR-compliant cloud and on-premise models. However, many young AI companies use interfaces (APIs) from US providers like Microsoft Azure or OpenAI in the background to generate summaries. This opens a flank for the US CLOUD Act.
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Tucan.ai takes a more consistent path. Through partnerships with purely German infrastructure providers like ISO-27001 certified Hetzner and the use of proprietary language models, Tucan.ai completely evades access by US authorities. For high-security sectors and the public sector, this “No-US-Touch” approach is the winning argument.
2. Intelligent Structure: TOPs with Source Referencing
The biggest difference in daily work lies in the creation of the minutes.
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Straiqr Scriba: This tool delivers solid, AI-generated summaries and protocol drafts in various levels of detail. However, these often remain “simple” plain-text summaries, where the origin of individual statements must be laboriously searched for in the transcript afterward.
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Tucan.ai: Here, the focus is on administrative structure. Tucan.ai automatically recognizes Agenda Items (TOPs) and assigns content accordingly. Its unique selling point: every summary contains precise source references. With one click, you can go from a summarized sentence directly to the exact point in the original transcript or audio where the statement was made. This not only saves time but also ensures maximum relevance and legal security.
3. Depth of Administrative Integration
Meeting minutes in a local council follow strict rules.
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Scriba delivers precise transcripts and speaker recognition and is particularly strong in increasing efficiency for standard meetings.
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Tucan.ai goes one step further: Through seamless integration into Council Information Systems (RIS), minutes flow directly into existing administrative workflows. Furthermore, Tucan.ai considers specific requirements such as position and party affiliations, which are essential for legally secure documentation in Germany.
Conclusion: Which Solution is Right for You?
Straiqr Scriba is a strong partner for efficient standard transcriptions. However, for those looking for a solution that provides legally secure minutes by TOPs with precise source references while maintaining 100% digital sovereignty, Tucan.ai is the undisputed market leader.