Innovate4Good@Microsoft in Brussels will bring together over 120 young Europeans in interactive workshops and activities to discuss how they can imagine and realise leadership in today’s technology driven economy.

In terms of modernising educational systems, Commissioner Vassiliou says, “We have a long way to go” As an 18-year-old, Androulla Vassiliou had her heart set on studying fashion design in London, but her parents insisted she read law instead. Later, as Vassiliou’s legal career took off, she hoped to become a judge. But the judiciary system in her home country, Cyprus, wasn’t ready...

Cloud Computing: What IT Professionals Need to Know. Curiosity has been sparked as to what the emerging roles and skill sets IT professionals and Developers should look to acquire as we transition to the cloud! Microsoft Learning has released a paper that takes an early look at just that!

The Global Innovation Index (GII) project was launched by INSEAD business school in 2007 with the goal of determining metrics and approaches to better capture the richness of innovation in society and go beyond traditional measures of innovation such as the number of PhDs, the number of research articles produced, research centres created, patents issued, and research and development expenditures.

Cloud computing has all the ingredients of a true revolution in the way business, governments and individuals handle information. Yet, contrary to most of the revolutions that preceded it, it lacks the ability to provide a real object that would symbolize it. The invention of the printing press produced books, then came automobiles, telephones, televisions, transistors, computers. All could be seen, touched...

It’s all about inspiring breakthroughs! The objective of the Microsoft-AIESEC Tech Talent 4 Good project was to raise awareness amongst young IT students and recent graduates about the opportunities available in the non-corporate sector to implement ICT solutions that create a real and sustainable impact to support the noble mission of many NGOs.

Mapping the route ahead for cloud computing, specifically looking at the human capital investment needed to bridge the transition and the question of organizational infrastructure, was recently made relevant to both Italian and EU-level institutions as well as stakeholders at the European Parliament in Rome.

In this case study, you can read about the Lincoln Specialists Schools Group (LSSG) which is making advanced and specialised school courses available to students in Lincoln through cloud computing, and fighting the decline in student population in rural UK – with the help of an innovative SME - F1 Group.

E-skills are no longer required only for those who work in IT departments, but for everyone participating in a digitized economy. The new economy is a digital economy. It's notable that many of the goals and metrics outlined in the European Commission's new Digital Agenda – public Internet use, availability of government services over the Internet, broadband adoption among disadvantaged groups...

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

The IT Academy in perspective

In January, Microsoft participated in the largest gathering of Ministers of Education in Europe and around the world at the Education World Forum.  At the forum, discussion of ensuring our students have the right skills to compete in this global economy was top of mind.  In partnership with Cisco and Intel, with the leadership of University of Melbourne we had the opportunity to participate in two...

As part of Employment Week, Microsoft acted as main sponsors providing leadership to a series of events and awards where one of the highlights was the Skills for Employability ceremony. Organizations from all over Europe were awarded providing information, equipment and resources – both locally and on national levels – to those who wish to improve the current employment situation. These...

In this case study, you can read about how students and staff at the University of Bologna can now collaborate and learn anytime and anywhere, thanks to cloud computing.

I was one of the 26 young ladies from all over Europe invited by Avanade to get involved in the first Women in IT Career Workshop to experience, learn, and share the insights of a successful path in IT. The event took place at the Accenture office in Kronberg, Germany, led by Avanade and joined by Microsoft and Accenture. Female executives representing the three companies defined a successful and...

Are our schools and universities teaching the right skills to enable a new generation of IT practitioners to drive forward innovation? The question has to be asked, since everyone accepts that IT has a critical part to play in an innovation-based economy. It’s not just about companies selling IT products and services, but about how industries wield information technology to innovate in...

“This is not a niche group!”, “ Let’s not still be having the same discussion in 20 years!”, “Let’s get the elephant out of the room!”  were just some of the impassioned rallying cries at the Employer Forum on Accessibility in the Workplace last week.

This post is a discourse on how new technology is a key factor that induces enjoyment as an educational path to the skills of the 21st century.

Get Online Week starts today across Europe, running from the 28th February – 5th March 2011. As the name suggests, the awareness week aims to get people using the Internet and gaining the skills needed to participate in the new information-based economy. Even in this age of smartphones, wi-fi hotspots and social media, 200 million people in Europe are still without the Internet.

Take a Microsoft consultant in Madrid, add a PR Director in Kiev,  include a development tools specialist in Warsaw and an online marketing director in London. Then add to this the HR consultant in Dublin and finally throw in a very generous sprinkling of technical experts all around Europe. That’s when you start to get a sense of the cumulative value that employees at Microsoft are...

Last month, people from around the world gathered at two education events in London – the Education World Forum (EWF) and the BETT trade show, one of the largest ICT in education conferences worldwide – to discuss how technology can help improve the state of education globally. Interestingly, The New York Times recently reported on the modern day skills students need to excel and succeed in...

Since its launch in 2003, Microsoft’s Unlimited Potential (UP) community technology skills program has reached more than 50,000 community organizations across the world in bringing technology access and skills training to more than 170 million individuals.

Microsoft’s more than 16,000 employees in Europe possess a great wealth of talent and skills, not only in software engineering, development and deployment but also in many non-IT fields that are essential for all successful organizations -- from marketing and public relations to customer relationship management and key corporate functions such as financial and human resources strategy and...

Between them, Microsoft technology specialists Artur Żarski, Carlos de Huerta Mezquita and John Arnold have spent more than 40 years at the forefront of the IT revolution. As Microsoft technology volunteers, they also share this wealth of expertise with their local communities. And as finalists in Microsoft Europe’s 2010 European Volunteering Awards, Artur, Carlos and John provide inspiring examples...

Imagine walking out to compete at the world-famous marble stadium where athletes gathered for the Panathenaic Games in ancient times and the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, and where the 2004 Olympic marathons finished. That’s the dream of thousands of Special Olympics participants around the world who are striving towards the 2011 Special Olympics Summer World Games, in Athens, Greece. 

Microsoft has recently launched Imagine Cup Solve This, a new program to provide inspiration for students looking to help solve the world’s toughest problems whilst giving them a platform to narrow their skills gap.

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.

The ‘European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion' is drawing to a close. This should make us wonder why we still see an unacceptably high number of Europeans enduring both poverty and social exclusion. Both are being heightened by the economic crisis, but the headlines often focus on the immediate casualties of the crisis – those whose jobs and benefits come first in the firing...

Many of the jobs in the next two decades simply do not exist today. Regardless of economic sector - retail, automotive, logistics, tourism, manufacturing or telecom- the transformation of industrial processes is upon us! However- are Europeans equipped and in the right skills ‘gear’ for a more digitally driven economy?

Talent has no age. Talent has no passport. Talent has no gender; but opportunity has all three. Indeed, it is people that are the world's greatest untapped resource.

Global dimensions are changing. To name a few: the shift to a low carbon economy, globalization, technological change, accessible education and an ageing population have all sparked a change in the skills, knowledge base and competencies that the labour market demands. 

I want to share my reflections on the recent announcement of the “Youth on The Move” initiative launched by the European Commission.  First of all, I was very pleased to see how much this initiative recognizes that opening doors to employability is at the heart of Europe’s success in 2020.  Microsoft is a partner in this journey.

What Commissioner Geoghegan-Quinn released today should not be seen as business as usual to innovation in Europe, but exactly the opposite. The new flagship of the Europe 2020 strategy is a strong signal by the Commission to challenge the way research and development (R&D) is done  and an injection of new excitement to put us in Europe on the global and competitive stage.  

At the end of 2009, you may have seen news of a pilot project on Microsoft.eu that aimed to help remove barriers to job mobility. CITEVE for unemployed people video was posted describing how Microsoft and CITEVE joined forces in Portugal to bring technology skills to unemployed textile workers in the country.  

In Europe we have education placed high on the political agenda, indeed the first single EU-level strategy embracing both education and employment ‘Youth on the Move’ has recently been launched as a key facet of the Europe 2020 agenda!

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.

Innovation in technology has changed the way we access and consume knowledge! With this in mind there can be no greater impact than that on the delivery of education and the creation of an attractive learning path for students both young and old. 

Caritas and Microsoft are working together to help disadvantaged people in Europe find employment, escape poverty and overcome exclusion through access to computer skills training.  

The European Union has singled education and training as one of its priorities with the adoption of the Lisbon Strategy, its overarching program focusing on growth and jobs.

No matter where I am, there’s one thing we hear that’s always the same: educators the world over want access to affordable, secure, and easy-to-use technology that gives them the tools to increase quality and variety in delivering their curriculum.

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.

An innovative partnership in Portugal that helps unemployed textile workers gain essential ICT skills and jobs is being extended to other industries.

Innovation isn't just what scientists and engineers do: it's also a feature of many community-based organisations and social entrepreneurs. But the result is the same: new ways of doing things and new products and services that enable people to change their lives.