At Google, we believe in the potential of technology to help businesses grow. Today, anyone can become an entrepreneur, launch and grow a new business and reach millions of new customers. In recognition and celebration of the most promising European entrepreneurs we are proud to be joining forces with McKinsey and Rocket Internet to launch the Digital Top 50 Awards.
Companies from across Europe are encouraged to apply before October 1st, 2016. A jury of leading figures in technology, business and academia will then shortlist the top 50, each of which will be invited to Slush 2016 in Helsinki where the final winners will be announced at an awards ceremony.
The winners will be invited to Google’s I/O event in California, receive valuable consulting and coaching sessions with McKinsey, as well as feedback and fundraising support from Rocket Internet. We will also award a cash prize of EUR 50,000 each for the winners of the Early Stage B2B, Early Stage B2C and Tech for Social Impact categories.
Google's products, tools and training - like Growth Engine - help entrepreneurs grow and provide economic opportunity and jobs locally and around the world. And with this new award, we are able to highlight more great examples of European entrepreneurs. If you would like to get involved, please apply here.
Posted by Torsten Schuppe, Senior Director Marketing, Google Europe, Middle East and Africa
At the end of last year, we announced that we were purchasing a whopping 842 megawatts (MW) of additional renewable energy to power our operations and take us one step closer to running 100 percent of our operations on clean energy. Today, we walked further down that path by agreeing to purchase an additional 236 MW of energy from two new wind farms in Norway and Sweden.
These new Nordic power purchase agreements complement our three other Swedish wind deals and enable us to power even more of our European operations with renewable energy. In total, we now have seven purchase agreements in Europe, totalling more than 500 MW and 18 such deals globally, which means we’ve now purchased nearly 2.5 gigawatts (GW) worldwide – the equivalent of taking over 1 million cars off the road.
As with our other power purchase agreements, we’re buying the entire production of these new wind farms, situated in two great areas for onshore wind in Europe. In Norway, power will be generated by a 50-turbine project near Stavanger, which is set to be completed in late 2017. In Sweden, we’re buying power from a 22-turbine project, near Mariestad and Töreboda, which will be completed by early 2018. In both cases, we’ve signed long-term contracts that give us price certainty and help wind farm developers secure construction financing, in these cases from companies like Blackrock and Ardian.
One of our key goals is to enable the addition of new renewable energy generation capacity to the grid, rather than drawing power from existing facilities. And thanks to Europe’s increasingly integrated energy market, we’re able to buy wind energy in Norway and Sweden, and consume it elsewhere in Europe.
We’ve known for a long time that reducing energy usage and using renewables makes good business sense - we signed our first major power purchase agreement for 114 MW of Iowa wind in 2010. Others are discovering the benefits of renewables too - in the US alone, companies bought almost 3.5 GW of renewable energy last year. We’re pleased to have played a part in stimulating the market for corporate renewable energy purchasing and doing our share in the effort to mitigate climate change.
Posted by Marc Oman, EU Energy Lead, Google Global Infrastructure
Three years ago in 2013, the Irish government recognised the originality and drive of Ireland’s social enterprises large and small and created Social Innovation Fund Ireland. Social Innovation Fund Ireland provides funds to scale social innovations that improve life outcomes and have a widespread impact on critical social problems facing Ireland.
Today Irish Government Minister Simon Coveney TD launched THINKTECH, a €1,000,000 project to support and grow ideas for a better Ireland. THINKTECH was created by Social Innovation Fund Ireland with support from Google.org and the Department of The Environment, Community and Local Government. The THINKTECH challenge, the first of its kind in Ireland, will identify innovative ideas that use technology to create positive social impact in Ireland. Social enterprises, charities, and other not-for-profits are eligible for participation in THINKTECH. Participants should be able to demonstrate how they will use both technology and innovation to make Ireland better. Proposals could involve a broad range of technologies, should have already demonstrated progress towards measurable social impact, and have the ability to scale or spread across Ireland or internationally. Successful THINKTECH participants will have access to an award fund of up to €750,000, which consists of €600,000 in grants and up to €150,000 worth of support and mentoring, plus a package of Google supports. They will also enter a five month programme with Social Innovation Fund Ireland with support from Google.org and will receive both financial and non-financial support to make their vision a reality. Social Innovation Fund Ireland, and Google.org, believe that technology has the power to transform our lives for the better and we are excited to see projects develop and grow over the months and years ahead. More information on applying can be found on the Social Innovation Fund site. Posted by Jacquelline Fuller, Director, Google.org
Ten years ago when we launched Google Translate, our goal was to break language barriers and to make the world more accessible. Languages shape our identities, culture, how we relate to others and how we communicate. They’re an additional source of cultural wealth, worthy of celebration.
To mark this important milestone, and thanks to the commitment of MEP Catherine Stihler, we organized a reception in the European Parliament earlier this month. To demonstrate how some of the tools of Google Translate work, artists Donnie Munro and Trail West performed a beautiful and melancholic love song in Scots Gaelic, which was translated into English on Google Translate for the audience of MEPs and their staff, and translators working in the European Parliament.
Donnie Munro singing in Scots Gaelic, with a translation to English on the screen
MEP Stihler stressed the importance of minority languages for local communities at the event, a sentiment shared by her colleague Jordi Sebastia (Co-Chair of the Languages Intergroup), when he said that Europe means diversity.
As our policy director Lie Junius explained, Google Translate cannot replace the essential work done by the professional translators in the European Parliament. But we do think it can be a tool that can help people understand each other, also in the most difficult of times, such as demonstrated by stories of British families opening up their homes to refugees, using Translate to start their conversations with them.
In the last decade we’ve grown from supporting two languages to 103, and from hundreds of users to more than 500 million people. And we’ll continue to improve Translate. In February 2016 we announced that we’re adding 13 new languages to Google Translate, including Scots Gaelic, Luxembourgish, and Corsican - covering every single one of the EU member states' official national languages.
Posted by: Clara Sommier, public policy and government relations analyst
When Walaa posted a picture on social media that spoke out against violence in his hometown of Jairoud, Syria, it earned him three months of violent detention. He fled the country with his family through Turkey and into Greece, where they now live in a refugee camp near the Macedonian border.
Though the Internet played a role in his flight from Syria, connectivity has played a crucial role in helping him rebuild his life in Greece. While living in Greek refugee camps, Walaa used YouTube to learn English, and his language skills are now so good that he’s served as a community advocate and translator. He says he’s far from done: next, he hopes to learn Greek.
As refugees across Europe adapt to new contexts, access to information and education are crucial to help them develop the skills they need. Last fall we encouraged you to donate to a public matching campaign to help refugees access not only basic humanitarian aid, but also resources to create a bridge to their new communities. Since then we’ve helped the International Rescue Committee build an online information hub for refugees, Mercy Corps develop Translation Cards to allow field workers to communicate across languages more easily, partner with NetHope to install low-cost WiFi in refugee camps, and support refugee education through Kiron, a nonprofit providing refugee-tailored university courses available both online and offline.
In addition to Walaa, we’ve heard from other refugees who are finding ways to adjust thanks to Internet and education access. For example, Ahmed is a former Iraqi computer science student now living in Berlin. While waiting for his work permit, he began teaching coding classes at refugee welcome centers as part of Project Reconnect, an initiative we launched with NetHope to equip NGOs with Chromebooks. Kashif, who traveled through seven countries from a small Pakistani town to Berlin, is studying online with Kiron and dreams of working as an engineer at NASA.
Ahmed giving CODE.org classes to young refugees through the Chromebooks in a refugee center in Berlin
On World Refugee Day, we hope you’ll take time to hear stories of more refugees who are working so hard to rebuild their lives.
We also want to thank everyone across the globe who donated last year, and encourage you to continue to support our partners in their critical work. Though the impact of this refugee crisis will be felt for many years to come, we’ll continue to look for ways to contribute.
Posted by Jacquelline Fuller, Director of Google.orghttps://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ya7jH9LzpcU/V2XHIvzDKQI/AAAAAAAASj8/PHTWtKB8uBAXEUPJpT6f_Q15nSiILL-zQCLcB/s1600/Reconnect_hero.jpg
Google’s ongoing research in Machine Intelligence is what powers many of the products being used by hundreds of millions of people a day - from Translate to Photo Search to SmartReply for Inbox. One of the things that enables these advances is the extensive collaboration between the Google researchers in our offices across the world, all contributing their unique knowledge and disseminating ideas in state-of-the-art Machine Learning (ML) technologies and techniques in order to develop useful tools and products.
Today, we’re excited to announce a dedicated Machine Learning research group in Europe, based in our Zurich office. Google Research, Europe, will foster an environment where software engineers and researchers specialising in ML will have the opportunity to develop products and conduct research right here in Europe, as part of the wider efforts at Google.
Zurich is already the home of Google’s largest engineering office outside the US, and is responsible for developing the engine that powers Knowledge Graph, as well as the conversation engine that powers the Google Assistant in Allo. In addition to continued collaboration with Google’s various research teams, Google Research, Europe will be focused on three key areas:
In pursuit of these areas, the team will actively research ways in which to improve ML infrastructure, broadly facilitatingresearch for the community, and enabling it to be put to practical use. Furthermore, researchers in the Zurich office will be uniquely able work closely with team linguists, advancing Natural Language Understanding in collaboration with Google Research groups across the world, all while enjoying Mountain Views of a different kind.
Europe is home to some of the world’s premier technical universities, making it an ideal place to build a top-notch research team. We look forward to collaborating with all the the excellent Computer Science research that is coming from the region, and hope to contribute towards the wider academic community through our publications and academic support.
Posted by Emmanuel Mogenet, Head of Google Research, Europe
Succeeding online shouldn’t just be for the privileged few. We want all Europeans to benefit - and digital skills play a big role in this. Today, the European Commission launched its proposals for a new skills agenda and we welcome their plans. Digital skills, one focus area of the plans, make people more employable, are indispensable for many new jobs being created, and fuel economic growth.
At Google, we’re committed to ensuring Europeans have the right skills for this digital age. The process starts with projects like Digital Active in France, aimed at training young people looking for jobs. And we’ve partnered with more than 50 European universities to train students. Our initiatives across 25 European countries result in stories like the Italian Levaggi brothers, who have been making handcrafted chairs for over half a century and increased overseas exports by 30% in major markets after completing our digital skills training.
We’ve made a commitment to train 2 million Europeans in digital skills and are a proud member of the European Commission’s Grand Coalition for Digital Jobs. A rounded education should prepare young people for online life -- it's as essential as literacy and numeracy. And it should be accessible to everyone: we’re particularly pleased that more than 40% of participants in our online workshops so far have been women. And it’s not just for the young - for instance in The Netherlands, of the thousands of people that attended training sessions in Dutch cities, over half are older than 45 years.
We believe all this dovetails with the aims set out by the European Commission. Europe is looking to the future, and good digital skills give people the tools to excel in their jobs, start their own businesses and fully participate in contemporary life.
As emphasized in this recent report by BCG, we need to get better at matching the skills of the workforce with the skills required in new jobs. That is key to making the most out of the digital opportunity. We want to contribute to more stories like the ones above, and are creating various programmes to nurture them. We welcome the Commission's proposals and look forward to working with the next generation of digitally-skilled Europeans.
Lie Junius, Public Policy Director for Google Brussels
Over a thousand photos, videos, manuscripts, texts, paintings and virtual tours make up“The Routes of Cervantes”, one of the most comprehensive virtual exhibitions about Cervantes to date, presented today by Google in collaboration with the Spanish Ministry for Education, Culture and Sport. It is the first time that 8 leading cultural institutions from around Spain collaborated with the Google Cultural Institute to bring a writer’s legacy to new life online.
In just a few taps, users can find themselves in the fascinating world of Cervantes. You are invited to step into the home of the Spanish author and go on virtual tours through the most important places in his life, like Casa Natal, the house where he was born, orCasa de Valladolid, the house where it is believed that the writer penned the last lines of the Quixote.
Virtual tours of the houses where Cervantes lived:Casa Natal in Alcalá de Henares andCasa de Cervantesin Valladolid
You can now take a close look at the the oldest survivingautograph of the literary genius and explore the famous portrait of Cervantes - a mystery in itself. Painted based on Cervantes' written description of himself, researchers have since not been able to confirm with certainty who painted the piece and whether it was indeed painted in the author’s lifetime.
Or join renowned historian Alfredo Alvar Ezquerra, the curator of this project and member of the Spanish Royal Academy of History on an interactive experience built with the support of Google’s specialists, that takes viewers to through an outstanding selection of manuscripts and paintings.
Cervantes’ influence extends well beyond his home and the Hispanic culture. Trace his impact on global art and culture through a wide collection of lithographs byGustave Doré andWilliam Hogarth, paintings by international artists inspired by the work of the famous author anda photo collection from Agencia EFE, which shows the influence of Cervantes today and across the world.
Discover the era, life and work of Miguel de Cervantes by exploring anoutstanding selection of manuscripts, paintings and extracts from his texts. All brought together for the occasion and providing a unique experience that follows the footprints of the extraordinary writer.
The exhibition is available online for everyone online at g.co/LasRutasDeCervantes as well as through the Google Arts and Culture mobile app for iOS andAndroid.
In February, we shared the first 128 recipients of the Digital News Initiative Innovation Fund, our €150 million commitment over the next three years to supporting innovation in the European news industry, and we’re excited to see those projects get underway this summer. Today, we’re thrilled to open the Fund for a second round of applications which will be accepted through July 11th.
The goal of the Fund is simple--of ambitious: to spark new thinking, which could come from anywhere in the news ecosystem, to give news organisations - of all sizes - the space to try some new things with no-strings-attached awards.
The Digital News Initiative, which began as a partnership between Google and a small handful of European news organisations, has grown into an ecosystem of more than 150 now working together to support high quality journalism through technology and innovation, including the open-sourced Accelerated Mobile Pages Project. Today in Germany, France, Russia, Italy and the U.K., the AMP carousel will appear in Google News searches on mobile devices, making the mobile news experience even quicker. The DNI initiative is open to anyone involved in Europe’s digital news industry, large or small, established or newcomer. We were blown away by the number of applications we received last fall--when more than 1,000 projects from 30 European countries were submitted for review. This season’s application round will be open for the next six weeks, ending 11th July. Additional details can be found on the DNI Fund website.
Here’s a quick reminder of how the Fund works:
Projects
We’re looking for projects that demonstrate new thinking in the practice of digital journalism; that support the development of new business models, or maybe even change the way users consume digital news. Projects can be highly experimental, but must have well-defined goals and have a significant digital component. There is no requirement to use any Google products. Successful projects will show innovation and have a positive impact on the production of original digital journalism and on the future sustainability of the news business.
Eligibility
The Fund is open to established publishers, online-only players, news start-ups, collaborative partnerships and individuals based in the EU and EFTA countries.
Funding
There are three categories of funding available:
Prototype projects: open to organisations - and to individuals - that meet the eligibility criteria, and require up to €50k of funding. These projects should be very early stage, with ideas yet to be designed and assumptions yet to be tested. We will fast-track such projects and will fund 100% of the total cost.
Medium projects: open to organisations that meet the eligibility criteria and require up to €300k of funding. We will accept funding requests up to 70% of the total cost of the project.
Large projects: open to organisations that meet the eligibility criteria and require more than €300k of funding. We will accept funding requests up to 70% of the total cost of the project. Funding is capped at €1 million.
Exceptions to the €1 million cap are possible for large projects that are collaborative (e.g., international, sector-wide, involving multiple organisations) or that significantly benefit the broad news ecosystem.
How to apply
Visit the Digital News Initiative website for full details, including eligibility criteria, terms and conditions, and application forms. Applications must be made in English and the submission deadline for the first round of funding is 11th July 2016.
Governance
We’ve consulted widely to ensure that the Fund has inclusive and transparent application and selection processes. Confidentiality is critical; applicants should not share business-sensitive or highly confidential information. Full details can be found on the DNI website.
Initial selection of projects will be done by a Project team, composed of a mix of experienced industry figures and Google staff, who will review all applications for eligibility, innovation and impact. They’ll make recommendations on funding for Prototype and Medium projects to the Fund’s Council, which will have oversight of the Fund’s selection process. The Council will vote on Large projects.
Council members:
Joao Palmeiro, President of the Portuguese publishers association and Chair of the DNI Innovation Fund Council
Alexander Asseily, Founder & CEO of State, Founder of Jawbone
Arianna Ciccone, Co-Founder and Director of the Perugia International Journalism Festival
Bartosz Hojka, CEO of Agora S.A.
Katharina Borchert, Chief Innovation Officer, Mozilla
Veit Dengler, CEO, Neue Zürcher Zeitung
Rosalia Lloret, Head of Institutional Relations, Online Publishers’ Association Europe
Bruno Patino, Dean of Sciences-Po Journalism School
Murdoch MacLennan, CEO of the Telegraph Media Group
Madhav Chinnappa, Head of Strategic Relations, News and Publishers, Google
Torsten Schuppe, Director of Marketing EMEA, Google
Ronan Harris, Vice President, Google
We will announce the next recipients of these awards before the winter holidays. We look forward to receiving your applications! Posted by Ludovic Blecher on behalf of the DNI Fund Team
In the offline world, it’s usually clear what is acceptable behaviour and what is not. Those boundaries are just as important online, which is why today, together with the European Commission, Facebook, Microsoft and Twitter we signed a Code of Conduct which will help combat the spread of illegal hate speech online in Europe.
We’re committed to tackling this important issue. We have always prohibited illegal hate speech on our platforms, and we have Community Guidelines that set the rules of the road on YouTube, including prohibitions on hate speech, terrorist recruitment and incitement to violence.
European Justice Commissioner Vĕra Jourová (centre), signed the Code of Conduct, as did representatives from (l to r) Twitter, Facebook, Microsoft and Google
We’ve built efficient systems to review the majority of valid notifications in less than 24 hours, and to remove illegal content. We also cooperate with legal process so that governments are able to do their investigatory work and request removal of information that may violate local law. Beyond review processes, we also support NGOs working on counterspeech initiatives.
We welcome the Commission’s commitment to developing self-regulatory approaches to fighting hate speech online. We look forward to working with them and civil society groups to fight illegal content online, improve the experience online for our users, and ensure that there is no space on our platforms for hateful content.
Posted by Lie Junius, Public Policy Director, Google Brussels
