Putting technology in the hands of individuals who make a difference, is always inspiring. Alfred Nobel, himself would have been impressed to hear the youth gathered in his home town of Stockholm recently to share their innovative, change-making ideas to take on some of society’s tougher issues. Microsoft Innovate4Good is a global initiative that aims to empower youth to change their world and...

Students report that the operating system makes it easy to view information without opening applications. The Microsoft in Education team talks with Heiki Tähis, Head of IT and CIO of the Tallinn Polytechnic School in Estonia, about the school’s adoption of the Windows 8 operating system.

If you were an employer looking for a young person to recruit, would you rather hire someone with impeccable academic credentials or someone who you knew can communicate effectively, has good organizational skills, can take decisions independently, bring the best from others to achieve common goals?

Why are there so few women technology entrepreneurs? There are numerous research projects and opinion polls that have looked into the issue, but we decided to go straight to the source and ask some of the leading female Start-ups working with Microsoft in Europe what they think.

Europe is at risk of being left behind by countries such as India, which is reshaping its future with new entrepreneurial creativity and social policy innovation. Currently the EU member states lose €153 billion every year by not being able to reconcile a quality transition and easier access to the labour market for the 14 million out-of-work, disengaged young Europeans.

The Grand Coalition for Digital Jobs was launched last week to address the shortfall of Europeans with digital professional skills and to exploit the employment potential of ICT. The EU's competitiveness is "under threat" according to Neelie Kroes, Vice President of the European Commission, if it cannot fill the expertise gap. 

Can you develop an educational app in twenty four hours? That was the challenge about twenty teachers took on during the Appathon in London. Prior to the Appathon, they attended three virtual universities to get to know the TouchDevelop programming platform and thought up an educational app.

In the presence of the Ireland Chief of Government, M. Enda Kenny, T.D., Microsoft announced today details of its YouthSpark programme in Ireland with an investment of €6 million by the company, and a target to empower 30,000 youth to change their future over the next three years. The programme includes a range of educational initiatives, software donations for youth focused non-profit organisations as...

In this high level event we plan on gathering 100 young Spaniards, Startups and SMEs with the objective of establishing a forum for dialogue in which the young generation, civil society leaders, government elites, MEPs and entrepreneurs will discuss the role of youth as the key to the future in Spain’s competitiveness, in three of the areas that have been set as priorities: development of ICT skills,...

The local economies that are recovering the quickest following the recent downturn are those that have a labour force that is adaptable to external trends and shocks. As the recent OECD Skills Strategy has highlighted, skills are the new global currency of the 21st century, with governments increasingly focusing on the need to boost skills as a means of returning to growth and supporting social...

Demand for “cloud-ready” IT workers will grow by 26 percent annually through 2015, with as many as 7 million cloud-related jobs available worldwide, according to an IDC White Paper sponsored by Microsoft Corporation and released today. Research projects as many as 7 million new cloud-related IT jobs globally by 2015, with fewer qualified candidates to fill open roles, according to global...

Recommendations for education systems to support an improved workforce in the 21st century. Education systems need to be reformed in order to provide the workforce of the future with ‘updated’ skills.

The Partners in Learning Global Forum 2012 was a unique experience in my career, summarising in two words: Life Changing! I was able to be connected with brilliant personalities and projects and I felt that I wasn't alone on this journey.

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