Posted by Paul Timmers,  Director for “ICT addressing societal challenges”, DG Information Society and Media, European Commission

The economic crisis is challenging the European social model.  In his ” State of the Union”  President Barroso pointed out: ” …growth in the future will depend more and more on harnessing information technology… In a competitive world we must be also well-educated with skills to face these new challenges.”

Good points, but how exactly can ICT help to contain the economic crisis and speed up recovery and jobs creation?

This is the central question that will be addressed next week, on October 5^th-7^th, when Gdansk will host the European conference “Innovation for Digital Inclusion”.

The conference includes three intense days of debate on the innovative usage of ICT and its importance  for  e-Inclusion in Europe.  For example… Read the full entry

Number of views: 979

Posted by Detlef Eckert,  European Commission, Director at DG Information Society and Media, Digital Agenda ambassador for Poland

According to official Polish statistics, the Polish society is quite polarised when it comes to using the internet – while 93% of Polish citizens between 18 and 24 years old take advantage of the potential of the internet, most of the elderly people do not use it at all.

After the first Going Local event to Poland this year, my feeling is that things are going to change for the better, as far as the e-inclusion and other aspects of the Digital Agenda are concerned.

During a 2-day visit to Warsaw, I had the opportunity to speak to a wide range of stakeholders who perceive the Digital Agenda as one of the key factors for the socio-economic development of Poland:

1. At the meeting with Minister Michal Boni, chief of strategic advisors to the Polish Prime Minister, I learnt about the plans to reform Polish educational system. The objective is to offer more e-skills to pupils and students and therefore, prepare them better to the demands of the labour market of the XXI century… (read more) Read the full entry

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— Posted by Katarzyna Balucka-Debska, DG INFSO, Project Officer ICT for Inclusion, Workshop organiser at the Digital Agenda Assembly

If you are reading this message, this means you are digitally literate. Congratulations! You not only have access to a computer and an Internet connection, but also possess the skills to find the information that you need and to participate actively in the digital world. You most likely use those skills at your job, or can use them to find one. In short, you belong to the 70% of the people in Europe, who are “e-Included”.

But have you ever thought about the people who will not read this paragraph, who don’t stay in touch through e-mail, who don’t know there might be jobs advertised online for them, don’t buy cheaper their children clothes…and all of the other tools that help you make your life better? But why would you care anyway? Because Information Society can really mean that everybody has a better chance. Because digitally driven economy can only function well if all customers know and buy smart services. Read the full entry

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— Posted by François Junique, DG INFSO, Project Officer ICT for Inclusion, Workshop organiser at the Digital Agenda Assembly

eAccessibility is a part of EU policy development for inclusion such as Pillar 6 of Digital Agenda for Europe (DAE), the European Disability action plan 2010-2020 and the recently ratified UN convention on the rights of the persons with disabilities. In parallel, there are several initiatives in Europe run by communities for persons with disabilities that aim to contribute in achieving more accessible services.

Examples of such initiatives include the identification of problems on websites in order to allow their rapid fixing by the site owners, the creation of navigation maps enriched with accessibility information, the creation of subtitles audiovisual content and even the policy making in respect to accessibility. Several of them will be presented in  workshop 9 at the Digital Agenda Assembly on 16th June. Read the full entry

Number of views: 6330