Author's entries

Unleashing the powers of creativity and innovation among our youth is one of the biggest opportunities to address some of the world’s most pressing challenges and unveil the synergies and potential of youth creativity, technology, and health innovation for real impact. Empowering youth to reach their potential is a promising investment for positive change, especially in this technological day and age....

Health modernization empowers citizens to take greater control over the management of their health. Citizens are increasingly demanding personalized health information and quality care. Adopting information communication technology (ICT) in healthcare, therefore, is critical for its transformative nature that provides citizens access to personalized data which can increase levels of transparency and allow...

It has been just over a month since Windows 8 officially launched but what does this mean for vast numbers of European health workers and patients out there?

Due to challenges posed by Europe’s ageing population, we are now obliged to come up with viable solutions towards ensuring the financial stability and quality of our health systems. As we are strained by limited resources and high demands in delivering quality care and cure, we are compelled to “do new with less.”

I had the great pleasure of discussing the role of ICT in modernizing Europe’s health systems with Paul Timmers, at the time Director of ICT addressing Societal Challenges, now director of Sustainable & Secure Society DG CONNECT. Paul shared his views on how ICT can deliver better and sustainable healthcare, at times of rapidly advancing demographic changes in Europe. Paul talked about how ICT...

I am really glad every time I come across examples of technology applied to improve citizens’ lives. As recently announced, the forward looking  Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust in the United Kingdom decided to run a pilot programme of using touchless technology in the operating theatre.

The challenges posed by Europe’s ageing population are pushing policymakers to act quickly before the health systems become unsustainable. This drive for improved efficiency and cost effectiveness in healthcare systems is increasingly encouraging stakeholders to embrace technology-based health solutions.

Have you ever thought that gaming could make us live better and longer? Europe increasingly needs prevention and health promotion, integrated care, and independent living of elderly people. For this reason, the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing is seeking out creative ways to increase the average healthy lifespan of citizens by two years. One way to achieve this is...

Paving the way for new digital technologies such as the transition to the cloud requires a parallel investment in human capital.

Microsoft and athenahealth, a leading provider of web-based practice management, electronic health record (EHR), and patient communication services to medical groups, have aligned to launch an electronic health solution that will improve the connectivity and communication between hospitals, physicians and patients.

This week we had the pleasure of announcing strategic industry alliances in the United States with Dell and Royal Philips Electronics (Philips). Dell and Microsoft will collaborate to deliver a business intelligence solution to meet the needs of community hospitals. Philips and Microsoft will collaborate to streamline the workflow of radiologists as they seek to build and understand the complete...

Skills are the link to the successful economies of Europe 2020. The way in which we forecast skills demands, provide access to relevant learning tools and engage Europeans more readily in ongoing workforce development will rapidly impact the job profiles and employment opportunities seen on the European market.

The way we learn is changing. The voices of young people from across the globe are captured in this video, illustrating how they see the transition to a new culture of education empowered by technology.

Momentum is building around cloud scenarios applied to health and wellbeing. To offer clearer understanding of the possibilities offered by the cloud and to gain insight into the experiences of early adopters, we are hosting the Health Users Group European Summit in Brussels. It will take place on Monday and Tuesday, 29 and 30 November, and will bring together over 60 health customers and partners from 19...

The world's premier student technology competition celebrates this year’s winners on the 6 October! The event takes place at the European Parliament and is hosted by Polish MEP Rafal Trzaskowski.

In June the "Enterprise & Industry Magazine" of the Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry of the European Commission included an important article on e-skills.

The first ever meeting of the G20 employment ministers  set the tone for a concerted response to the current global employment challenge

Patient empowerment is key to healthcare in the future. Patients themselves are demanding it, as they want more control of their health and wellbeing than might have been the case before.

Here is our short interview of Bruce Greenstein, World Wide Managing Director for Health at Microsoft– when he passed through Brussels after a full week at Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HiMSS) Atlanta and on his way to the World of Health and IT (WoHIT) and the eHealth high level Event in Barcelona. 

We can no longer afford to discard skills and human capital if we want to meet the challenges of a knowledge-based society and to maintain European competitiveness, employment, and social inclusion.

This is an advertorial that we have produced recently with the European Commission in support of the European e-Skills Week (1-5 March 2010).

Have a look at Ade McCormack’s recent Financial Times column, which highlights the importance of e-skills to our future, the role of management within organisations, and how it all affects technologists, users and the socially excluded alike…

Yesterday I attended an MEP breakfast debate on e-skills, organized by Digital Europe.  It was an enriching debate which demonstrated the level of interest and activity that stakeholders are carrying forward to raise the profile of ICT as a key skill-set for the jobs of the future. Europe needs ICT-ready people to embrace the vision of the Digital Agenda. We need faster transition from “learning...

I wanted to share with you the fact that we joined the COCIR.  We are delighted to be joining such a distinguished, well respected and professional organization.

This video captures snapshots of the thoughts, recommendations and commentary that were sparked during the November 30th dinner debate around 'Skills for Innovation'.

As you might have read in my recent post, the IDC last week published a report sponsored by Microsoft, entitled “Post Crisis: e-skills are needed to drive Europe’s innovation society” (view PDF) which is based on the input of over 1,300 employers and training partners.

In the coming five years, only 10% of jobs will be left for those who have no ICT skills, a figure that is especially significant at a time of rising unemployment in Europe and worldwide.

We recently wrote about the Get on the Bus tour of 12 European cities by the Microsoft Born to Learn team. 

No longer confined to geeks, eSkills is everybody's business.

  Although most people will agree that eHealth is important, it remains a complex landscape which few grasp clearly. 

Dr Octavian Purcarea’s recent presentation on Innovation and Sustainable eHealth - at the Global Forum on Innovation in Bucharest - is available to view on YouTube. Octavian is Global Solution Manager of the Worldwide Health Team at Microsoft, which in layman's terms means that he is an eHealth expert!

Have a look at this interview with Jean Philippe Courtois produced by the INSEAD eLab, following the publication of a report by the European Business Summit and INSEAD proposing a Skills Pact for Europe.

As of last week the Microsoft Born to Learn team has been touring Europe on a bus and creating a lot of buzz... 

Microsoft Europe’s eHealth expert per excellence, Dr Octavian Purcarea (his real job title is Global Solution Manager, Worldwide Health Team) has written a post on the Microsoft EMEA Health Blog about the Ambient Assisted Living Forum which he recently attended in Vienna

We are glad to see that we at Microsoft are taking on challenge and the leadership to boost skills and employability in Europe especially in today's tough economic times.

In a recent Microsoft eHealth and Interoperability event, we asked various experts and thought leaders on the definition of eHealth.

Interoperability and eHealth might at first glance appear as very different concepts – but the actual relationship between the two is extremely important.