Microsoft investe €6.1 milhões no combate à Iliteracia Digital
Lisbon, December 18th 2007 - Today, Microsoft announced an ambitious plan to boost e-Inclusion funding across Europe. Microsoft committed to investing an additional €6.1 million for 2008, to support over 100 NGOs with skills training activities, and for content and technology access opportunities to be deployed in over 2,000 Community Technology Centers across the 27 Member States of the European Union. Through this targeted strategic community investment approach, the company will support 28 projects enabling skills for jobs, and creating employability opportunities for young unemployed, as well as 11 projects on accessibility and access to information society for seniors. This adds to the more than €36.8 million already pledged by Microsoft as part of the Unlimited Potential Community Technology Skills Programme (UP CTSP) over the past four years. Microsoft is responding to the e-Inclusion and e-skills deficit, identified by the European Commission in the early December Ministerial gathering in Lisbon, and reinforced by the Council conclusions two weeks ago.
European Commissioner for Information Society and Media Viviane Reding recently announced an EU strategy on e-Inclusion, specifically focusing on the provision of e- accessibility and digital literacy. It is estimated that more than one third of Europeans are still excluded from information society. For Commissioner Reding, e-Inclusion can have a positive knock-on effect on the European economy of €35-85 billion over the next five years. This thinking helped to launch the European Campaign for e-Inclusion, which is looking at e-Accessibility legislation and is promoting targeted initiatives to educate the 30-40% of Europeans without sufficient e-skills. The opportunity-cost of inaction is that over 200 million Europeans will remain unequipped to use the internet, and thus fail to benefit from the same opportunities as their peers with IT skills. The Commission has also called on the private sector to join in a public/private effort to overcome the e-inclusion crunch.
In answer to this call for action, Microsoft is expanding its e-Inclusion and e-skills plan. Microsoft’s strategy is grounded on a three pronged approach, based on: 1-strategic investments in skills training; 2- bottom up capacity building activities like Telecentres-Europe, a coalition of NGOs to facilitate access to technology, software and know-how for e-skills; and 3- deeper partnerships with public authorities and the broader industry community. This meets Europe’s needs and policy objectives. Microsoft is working with partners like Randstad, State Street Corporation and Cisco System in the European Alliance on Skills for Employability to have a real impact on creating employability in Europe, and is working towards reaching 20 million people across Europe by 2010. Cross-sectoral multi-stakeholder partnership are identified are a sustainable and impactful way forward.
Jan Muehlfeit, Chairman of Microsoft Europe, commented: “We believe that any IT company bears a significant responsibility to help improve e-Inclusion across Europe. In today’s digital society, no IT skills means no job. Lack of access to technology and IT skills is having crippling effects on Europe, both from economic and societal points of view. Creating new opportunities for people, whether they be unemployed or under-employed youth, elderly users discovering the internet, disabled users adopting new ways to use technology, or people accessing new or better jobs, will improve Europe’s competitiveness and inclusion as a whole. Giving people these new possibilities can have a transforming effect on Europe.”
Jean-Philippe Courtois, President of Microsoft International, commented that “We look forward to a long and successful partnership with the European Commission, the Member states and all local stakeholders, working on improving e-Inclusion across Europe. Only by public and private institutions working together can we hope to address transnational issues and create the framework, infrastructure and competencies necessary for e-skills to flourish. I am confident we can create clear methods for gauging progress while identifying areas which need additional support.”
In Portugal, Microsoft has been working with CITEVE, the technological arm of the textile industry, for four years to help re-skill workers in the textile industry by empowering them by providing IT skills training, which increases employment prospects considerably.
Hélder Rosendo, President of CITEVE, commented that “We have been working on enabling the most underserved part of the community in partnership with Microsoft. Their Unlimited Potential program and assistance are invaluable in helping to train and empower thousands of people across Portugal, opening up the increasingly digital world to these textile workers, providing them with employability opportunities, digital literacy and lifestyle choices. We look forward to a long relationship with Microsoft, sharing our knowledge and resources to improve e-inclusion for this important part of our society.”
Facts on e-Inclusion in Europe:
| • | Microsoft has a long history of investing in e-skills, both in basic literacy and in advanced IT user training. |
| • | Microsoft’s Unlimited Potential – Community Technology Skills programme is a community based training initiative designed to expand IT skills and economic opportunities for disadvantaged youth and adults. |
| • | Microsoft is a founder of the European Alliance on Skills and Employability: a public private partnership supported by the European Commission, whose objective is to retrain the unemployed, recent immigrants, young people with low levels of education and workers from traditional industries under pressure from global competition. To date, the Alliance has reached 8.7 million people and the target is to reach 20 million by 2010. |
| • | Microsoft is also involved in the Industry Leadership Board (ILB), supporting the Commission Action Plan to improve ICT education in Europe. |
| • | A very important pillar of Microsoft’s work on e-inclusion is the work done with civil society across Europe. Microsoft’s strategic approach is to create an environment to nurture and enable local actors to bridge the digital divide. |
| • | At the end of November, Microsoft announced the free release of the new Accessibility Kit (AKS). The AKS provides templates, master pages, controls and Web parts to advance the accessibility of SharePoint-based web sites and applications for people with disabilities, especially those who are vision impaired. |
| • | Total investment: Since 2003, Microsoft has made a total investment of €43m (cash and product) to 400 NGO partners, covering 10,000 CTLCs in all 27 EU countries. |
| • | For more information on the European Commission’s plans on e-Inclusion, please go to: http://www.europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/07/1804&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en |
Links úteis:
Project with CITEVE
Citizenship Projects MS Portugal
Para mais informações contactar/consultar:
Carmo Só
v-carmos@microsoft.com
21 440 78 34
96 162 41 34
Site de Imprensa da Microsoft Portugal:
http://www.microsoft.com/portugal/imprensa
