Tag Archives: Google in Europe

Helping Ukrainian teachers keep teaching

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is a tragedy, not just for now but for generations to come. As the international community response evolves, we’ve continued to look for ways to help, whether by supporting the humanitarian effort, providing timely, trusted information and promoting cybersecurity.

With millions of people forced to leave their homes, and thousands of schools affected by bombings and shelling, the Ukrainian Ministry of Education and Science predict more than 3.7 million students are learning remotely.

Providing Chromebooks to schools

For Ukraine’s teachers, creating and delivering content to their students has become increasingly difficult with the move to distance learning. To help teachers keep teaching, Google is working with the Ukrainian Ministry of Education and Science, UNESCO, and partners from around the world to provide hardware, software, content and training.

To help education continue for both remaining and displaced students, Google is giving 43,000 Chromebooks to Ukrainian teachers - helping them to connect with their students, wherever they are now based.

To ensure those devices make the best possible impact, Google is partnering with local organisations to train around 50,000 teachers - and providing our Chrome Enterprise upgrade so that schools can set-up and manage devices remotely. Through a series of workshops and online material, educators will learn how to get the best use out of their devices, and the suite of Google Workspace for Education tools we’re providing.

Google for Education will also continue to update resources such as Teach From Anywhere, a central hub of information, tips, training and tools, that was developed during the pandemic.

In the coming weeks, we’re expanding youtube.com/learning to include the Ukrainian language so that Ukrainian students aged 13-17 can discover content that supports their curriculum - wherever they are. This will include a range of subjects, aligned to the national curriculum, from Ukrainian Literature and Language studies, to Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, and more.

Supporting universities and their students

Of course, university students have been impacted by the war in Ukraine too - with many now unable to attend their classes in person or in real-time. To help support them to continue their education, we have made several of our premium Google Workspace for Education features available to Ukrainian universities free of cost until the end of the year. That will allow universities to host larger meetings for up to 250 participants, as well as to record them directly in Drive.

Continuing to help Ukrainian refugees and students

Google will continue to search for ways it can partner with Ukraine's Ministry of Education and Science, and those of bordering countries, to help those impacted by the war in Ukraine - including supporting the millions of school-age refugees to access education in this difficult and trying time.

Belonging at Google in Europe, the Middle East and Africa

Building for everyone requires vision, and constant revision. Every product we create requires continually trying new things, examining data and learning from both our successes and failures to do better every day. Our work on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) is no different. Google first published its Diversity Annual Report in 2014 and since then we’ve built on what we’ve learned to increasingly make Google a place that is truly for everyone. Last year, for the first time, the data in the report was broken down across Google’s business regions. With this year’s report we now have the opportunity to report on progress for the business region that encompasses Europe, the Middle East and Africa which we call EMEA.

I’ve led Google’s DEI programs in EMEA since 2019. I’m often asked what DEI looks like in such a diverse region. How can one approach work from Paris to Lagos and from Milan to Tel Aviv? It’s not simple, but we are committed to finding ways to make progress. Each country has different rules governing what data we can collect and what policies are permissible. Our DEI data isn’t perfect, but it’s essential for us to measure our progress as it helps keep us honest about where we are at and where we want to be.

Representation of women in EMEA

The data shows that we have increased the overall representation of women in our workforce from 32.7% to 33.8%. That might sound small, but in an organization the size of Google in EMEA (over 25,000 employees and interns) this represents a significant shift.

We continue to make progress in the hiring of women in EMEA with an overall increase of 14%. Specifically, women made up 28% of our tech hires, 49.2% of our non-tech hires and 47.1% of our Leadership hires. This is an increase year on year of 27% for non-tech and 64% for leadership hires with tech hires staying the same.

Our focus on increasing representation of women in leadership roles across EMEA is showing promising results. We saw a significant gain of 10% in the representation of women in leadership roles which now stands at 29.7%. It’s good to see progress, but there is more to do here.

We know efforts to develop talent from under-represented groups need to start early. We have amplified our efforts to support gender equity in a number of countries in Africa, sponsoring and providing content for the Our Girls, Our Future conference for young women interested in the tech industry. Across Sub-Saharan Africa, we partnered with the Graca Machel Trust to provide digital skills training for more than 5,000 women entrepreneurs.

We also grew Mind the Gap, an initiative we started in Israel in 2008 that encourages women and girls to pursue STEM careers. Mind the Gap transitioned to a virtual platform at the beginning of the pandemic. In 2021, the program reached more than 60,000 students in Israel and expanded to Romania and Ghana.

Racial equity in EMEA

Last year, for the first time, we were able to report race data for our business region in the Diversity Annual Report, thanks to almost three quarters of Googlers in EMEA voluntarily providing this information.

We see White+* continue to account for the highest representation in EMEA (78.1% versus 80.4% last year). Representation of Asian+* Googlers shows the largest increase (from 10.9% to 12.1%), followed by MENA+* (from 7.3% to 7.8%), Black+* (from 2.8% to 3.2%), Latinx+ (from 3.8% to 3.9%) and Indigenous+ (no change at 0.3%).

Where we need to make better progress is in the speed at which things are changing. For example, there has been an increase in representation of MENA+ leaders (from 4.5% to 5.8%) and an increase in representation of Black+ leaders (from 3.3% to 3.8%) across EMEA - but we need to see more progress here. And representation for all racial categories except Black+ and White+ are lower in leadership than in the overall population.

Growing leadership is one of the key planks of our racial equity plans in EMEA. Here’s how we’re focusing our efforts:

  • In recruiting: In 2021, we set an aspiration to double the number of Black+ directors by 2023. Additionally, we aim to drive Black+ representation at all levels across our talent engagement, outreach initiatives and inclusive hiring commitments.
  • Baseline data: Where legally permissible, we have started to collect application data to help understand the representation of our candidates.
  • Nurturing talent: We relaunched Elevate+, a six-month-long EMEA specific program that offers one-on-one mentorship and coaching to Black+ employees. To date, nearly 200 Googlers have participated in this program.
  • Educating majority groups: We continue to engage Googlers through comprehensive anti-racism and racial equity education, such as trainings and our speaker series on racial justice. We also have a thriving community of allyship groups across EMEA.

It’s not just about supporting racial equity in our workforce — it’s also important to support the wider community. Black founders in EMEA received $63 million in ‘follow-on’ funding after they participated in our Black Founders Fund, with 95% of participants reporting a positive impact on their startup’s ability to fundraise. We announced a second fund earlier this year.

Disability in EMEA

Our recruiting teams and local HR teams work closely with our Disability Alliance group to progress our commitments to communities with disabilities, ensuring that our hiring process is accessible and our culture and managers are prepared to support and lead Googlers with disabilities.

Our talent engagement team in EMEA hosted its first ever Disability Conference (DisCo for short) for nearly 2000 students, new graduates and industry professionals with disabilities. The conference created a space for people with disabilities and allies to connect and engage with each other and Google.

We’re also fostering new connections with disability communities around the globe. Last year, our London, Dublin, Munich, Zurich, Wroclaw and Nairobi offices celebrated #PurpleLightUp, a global campaign that celebrates every employee with a disability around the world. Leaders from each office also held conversations with our employee resource group (ERG) for Googlers with disabilities.

LGBTQ+ representation in EMEA

We have incredibly active Pride and Trans employee resource groups at Google. These groups play a critical role in promoting belonging and inclusion within the LGBTQ+ community - from creating thoughtful programming for Trans Awareness week to leading Pride events activations across 26 countries, from Poland to South Africa.

Google is also a founding member of We Are Open, an alliance of businesses and other organizations in Hungary that promotes diversity and inclusion at the workplace, focusing on LGBTQ+ inclusion. In line with Google’s vision to be helpful for all, including our LGBTQ+ communities and its allies, we were excited to partner with Open for Business in creating a report on LGBTQ+ inclusion in Central and Eastern Europe that was released last year.

In addition, to aid small business recovery during the pandemic, we launched a global campaign to help support and celebrate LGBTQ+ friendly spaces - from a LGBTQ+ bookstore in Sweden, to Rainbow Square in Copenhagen. Google also officially supported the Ja Für Alle campaign in the referendum for Equal Marriage rights in Switzerland.

In conclusion

It’s up to every one of us to contribute to building a more inclusive, equitable, and representative workplace, region and world where everyone feels they belong. We have a responsibility to relentlessly represent and support the rich diversity of talent in our region and to make Google a place where everyone can thrive. This work is not a one-off effort. It requires thoughtful and committed, ongoing systemic action. Only by committing to doing this work together can we make meaningful and long lasting change.

If you’d like to find out more, please take a look at this year’s Diversity Annual Report.

Milan Cathedral, up close and beautiful

There is a particular shade of pink in the marble that makes Milan Cathedral unique. It is this marble, from Candoglia quarries, that inspired Milan Cathedral Remixed to take a fresh look at the iconic Duomo.

The heart of the city

The Duomo has stood in the center of Milan for 635 years — a proud spiritual and architectural reference point for a city in constant evolution. The dream of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Lord of Milan, work began in 1386, overseen by the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo, which then took care of the conservation and enhancement of the Cathedral.

Looking at the Cathedral today, it’s as though it is in dialogue with the surrounding square and the city beyond. The large stained glass windows with their finely inlaid Biblia pauperum (literally the Bible for the poor — or those who couldn’t read), heralding modern media in their use of images to represent scripture.

The power of technology

Milan Cathedral Remixed was made possible by Google Arts & Culture technology, in partnership with the Veneranda Fabbrica. This ambitious digitization project led to the capture of more than 50 stained glass windows in high resolution, bringing the Google Art Camera to a dizzying height of 30 meters. This captured the details of more than 2,000 stained glass window panels, many of which can’t be seen from ground level. With Street View, we can now see every corner of the Cathedral in 360°, from the highest peak, the Madonnina, down to the Crypt — an underground place of meditation and prayer.

Discover, learn and play with Milan Cathedral Remixed

Read the Biblical stories and find out about the Cathedral’s modern and contemporary art from the 80 narratives that link ancient with contemporary inside the Duomo.

One of these narratives, “Lux fuit” (literally, there was light) takes a close up look at the Cathedral’s windows, the stories they depict and the light flooding through.

These extraordinary stained-glass windows have aroused wonder across the centuries. Many celebratedpoets and authors have written of them, and they inspired the creation of the Google Arts & Culture Coloring Book and Puzzle Party. It is this heritage that Veneranda Fabbrica preserves for us all, and for our descendants.

Visit g.co/milancathedral or download Google Arts & Culture’s Android or iOS app to continue learning and having fun.

  • A view of the central nave and main altar. At the back, a majestic stained-glass decoration.

    The Central Nave is the solemn entrance of this gothic masterpiece. Note the astonishing marble floors and ceiling that stretches up to 45 meters.

  • A panel showing the creation of the stars and the sky, as told in the Old Testament.

    Zoom in on the panels and see the colors and extraordinary details of 38 stained-glass windows, digitized in super high-resolution with Google Art Camera.

  • On the terrace of the Cathedral rooftop, at sunset, a contemporary art exhibit contrasts with the ancient Gothic spires.

    From top to bottom, take a tour of the Cathedral up to the terraces that overlook the city center.

  • This 15th-century stained-glass depicts the Visitation, as told in the Gospel of Luke, where Mary hugs her cousin Elizabeth

    The Visitation, a 15-century hug, on one the Cathedral’s oldest stained-glass windows.

  • In a dark room of the museum, light brings to life the colors and stories of the stained-glass.

    People from all over the world can now discover details invisible to in person visitors.

Seniors search what they see, using a new Lens

Technology shines when it helps us get things done in our daily lives, and that’s exactly why a group of around 100 very eager seniors gathered in Odense, Denmark. All older than 65, many up to 85, they decided to stay on top of the latest technological tricks and tools. On this March day, the eye-opener was the often overlooked potential in searching for information using visual tools, like Google Lens.

So now the seniors searched their surroundings directly: Scanned trees, plants, animals and buildings, used Translate to get hold of Turkish language menu cards or Japanese sayings, and found product declarations through barcode scanning.

The group was taking part in a training set up by Faglige Seniorer, which organizes 300,000 seniors in total. They first partnered with Google back in 2019 to train seniors in using voice to search, and now the time had come to use live images.

  • A room full of people seated at large tables listening to a woman speak.

    Around 100 seniors gathered in Odense, Denmark to learn more about Google Lens.

  • Two older people looking at cell phones near models of birds.

    Participants used smartphones to scan images of animals like birds.

  • An older person stands next to a model of a bird.

    The group was taking part in a training set up by Faglige Seniorer, which organizes 300,000 seniors in total.

“Often, when I go for a walk, I stumble upon an unknown flower or a tree. Now I can just take a picture to discover what kind of plant I am standing before,” Verner Madsen, one of the participants, remarked. “I don’t need to bring my encyclopedia. It is really smart and helpful.”

Seniors in a country like Denmark are generally very tech savvy, but with digitization constantly advancing — accelerating even faster during two years of COVID-19 — some seniors risk being left behind, creating gaps between generations. During worldwide lockdowns, technological tools have helped seniors stay connected with their family and friends, and smartphone features have helped improve everyday life. One key element of that is delivering accurate and useful information when needed. And for that, typed words on a smartphone keyboard can often be substituted with a visual search, using a single tap on the screen.

Being able to "search what you see" in this way was an eye-opener to many. As the day ended, another avid participant, Henrik Rasmussen, declared he was heading straight home to continue his practice.

“I thought I was up to speed on digital developments, but after today I realize that I still have a lot to learn and discover,” he said.

Google licenses content from news publishers under the EU copyright Directive

For many years, Google has helped people find information by linking to news and other websites, and supported publishers and journalists through products, advertising technology and funding. Over the past year, we have also launched a licensing programme called Google News Showcase, working with more than 750 publications across Europe.

Alongside these efforts, we have been negotiating with news publishers to license content under the European Copyright Directive, which EU countries are in the process of implementing into national law. So far, we have agreements that cover more than 300 national, local and specialist news publications in Germany, Hungary, France, Austria, the Netherlands and Ireland, with many more discussions ongoing.

We are now announcing the launch of a new tool to make offers to thousands more news publishers, starting in Germany and Hungary, and rolling out to other EU countries over the coming months.

How it works

The Directive allows search engines like Google to freely link to, and use “very short extracts” of press publishers' content. The law also creates new rights for publishers when longer previews of their content are used online - but without defining what exactly a short extract or a longer preview is.

Despite this uncertainty, we announced last year that we will pay news publishers for content which goes beyond links and short extracts, as we are already doing in countries such as Germany.

Through this new tool, which will be available via the Search Console, publishers will be offered an Extended News Preview (ENP) agreement with Google for this content. This will include information about what the offer is for, how to sign up and how to provide feedback.

All offers are based on consistent criteria which respect the law and existing copyright guidance, including how often a news website is displayed and how much ad revenue is generated on pages that also display previews of news content.

As always, publishers continue to have full control over whether or not their content appears in Google Search and how that content can be previewed. Publishers can change their preferences and enroll in the ENP program at any time.

Alongside our negotiations, we will continue to invest in products and programs to provide even more support for journalism in Europe and around the world. We recently announced the Innovation Challenge for Europe and the Google News Initiative Subscriptions Academy which provides publishers with an intense 8-month program focused on digital growth. We look forward to working with publishers and journalists on all these efforts in the coming months, building on our long track record of support for journalism.

Critical information for those impacted by the war in Ukraine

Pictured above: David Miliband, CEO and President of the International Rescue Committee visited the Google office in Berlin today, where he met with United for Ukraine’s founders and Google executives.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is a tragedy with a huge human cost. It’s heartbreaking to see all that the people of Ukraine are going through, and it weighs heavily across Europe, particularly for those with family, friends and colleagues in the region.

We’re committed to doing all we can to help. From the beginning of the war, our teams have been working around the clock to support the humanitarian effort, provide trustworthy information and promote cybersecurity.

United for Ukraine — providing critical information for refugees

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees has estimated that more than 5 million refugees have already fled Ukraine into neighboring countries, with a further 13 million living in Ukrainian territory and in need of vital aid.

For those leaving Ukraine and settling for now in a new country, finding authoritative information and trusted services can be challenging and time-consuming. To help make it easier, Google.org is providing a $1.5 million grant to the International Rescue Committee (IRC), along with a team of Google.org Fellows, to expand access to critical information for those impacted by the war in Ukraine.

The money and expertise will help the IRC support unitedforukraine.org, an informative website and civil society effort that helps displaced people to find housing, legal aid and psychological support. The platform was launched by United for Ukraine, a non profit organization founded in February 2022 by two Ukrainian friends — Olga Hamama, CEO of venture development platform Planet FC, and Nina Levchuk, who happens to work for Google.

Gif of Ukraine

Unitedforukraine.org supports Ukrainian refugees through a network of over 400 legal experts and psychological support professionals from more than 30 countries. It will be part of the IRC’s Signpost Project, a global humanitarian technology program that helps refugees find resources to meet their urgent needs. Google has supported the IRC in its important work since 2015, providing $8 million in grant funding and more than 10,000 hours of pro bono support.

Over the course of six months, a Fellowship team of 13 Google employees will work full time and pro-bono with the IRC to help expand unitedforukraine.org and Signpost globally. The goal is to create a trusted place for displaced people to easily find both urgent support and long-term solutions, though of course we hope they will be able to return to a safe and secure Ukraine very soon.

Supporting frontline humanitarian work

This grant is the latest in our work to support humanitarian aid and refugee support groups in Ukraine and the surrounding countries.

Through Google.org and Googlers, we have already committed over $35 million in funding and in-kind support to aid relief efforts for those affected by the war in Ukraine. Many Googlers in the region are themselves hosting Ukrainian refugees in their homes, helping in local reception centers or at the border.

Tomorrow (5 May 2022), at the Donors Conference in Warsaw, I will announce a further commitment of $10 million in humanitarian support, which includes cash grants and in-kind donations, from Google.org and Google to help people in Ukraine. This will bring our total commitment from Google.org and Googlers to over $45 million in funding and in-kind support.

Helping through our products and tools

In times of war, accurate and timely information can save lives. We have been working to make our tools as helpful as possible to people affected by the war in Ukraine.

In Ukraine, we have worked closely with the government to send rapid air raid alerts to Android mobile phones in endangered areas, and feature information on shelter and aid points in Search and Maps.

We’re also working to protect those in the region against cyber attacks — increasing online protections for everyone, while Project Shield, our free protection against DDoS attacks, is already defending over 200 Ukrainian news, government and humanitarian organization websites. On top of this, Google's Threat Analysis Group (TAG) has been closely monitoring cybersecurity activity in Eastern Europe, providing regular updates and sharing information to help others detect and respond to activity.

Globally, Google is elevating trusted news sources in response to searches about the war — and shutting down harmful content and misinformation. Since the war started, YouTube has removed more than 8,000 channels and 60,000 videos for misinformation, hate speech or graphic violence related to the war in Ukraine.

Throughout, we’ve worked to ensure that our efforts provide meaningful support to the people and businesses affected by the war – and we intend to keep focused on that goal, whatever the future may hold.

Humans Behind Search: Hadas, software engineer and trends expert

Hadas Jacobi is a software engineer working in Search on Google Trends. Hadas has been with Google, based in Tel Aviv since February 2019. She spoke to The Keyword about how Trends has developed over the years and what may lie ahead for the popular Search feature.

Can you tell us a bit about how Google Trends works?

What Google Trends does is take a sample of the searches people make on Google to figure out how high the search interest for a given keyword is at any given time — relative to the total amount of searches. For example, after the now infamous Will Smith Oscars incident, we saw searches for “Will Smith Oscars” increased by 500 times.

We also make an educated guess about where the searches are coming from, and that’s how we are able to display a map of search interest in different places. We do this based on the data flowing through Google Search day in and day out — so we’re able to see the search interest from 2004 all the way up to just a few minutes ago. This is really helpful in understanding how the interest in different topics changes over time and in different places.

A lot of researchers and journalists use Trends as sort of an anthropological tool to give them a view into what interests people in private, but may not be in the collective consciousness. For example, you can use Google Trends to help detect local disease outbreaks long before disease control centers detect them, simply by looking at where people were using Google to look up their symptoms.

What excites you about the future of Trends?

We’re working a lot on how Google Trends can help the world of journalism. As I mentioned earlier, it gives us this unique view into what interests people. We know journalists use Trends to research their stories, but the tool also gives them insight into what topics people are currently interested in, which allows them to tailor their content to their readers' interests.

We’re really working on figuring out ways to help journalists enhance their storytelling by making the data more relevant to their needs, exploring ways to make things better, faster and more useful for local journalists.

What were people searching most for last year?

First up, “feta pasta.” It was a huge trend last year — and I even made some myself at one point — but seeing that it made the list of top trending five food searches globally did shock me. It can be surprising to see some of your own searches there. There were also a lot of cryptocurrency terms among the top trending searches — things like “ethereum” and “dogecoin.”

What are the challenges of running a product like Trends?

Trends is huge in terms of the scale of data that runs through it. We process a sample of the billions of searches that are made every day around the world, and the amount of daily searches just keeps on growing. We also have to be able to make all of this available to Trends users so that they can look up whatever keywords they want for any time and any place.

It’s pretty crazy the amount of engineering work that has gone into making all this run smoothly over the years — the amount of data grows faster and faster because people are searching more on Google every year. It always amazes me that of the trillions of searches we see every year, 15% are brand new every day.

Looking at Search as a whole, what direction do you see the product taking in the future?

I can certainly talk about what I’d like to see. I love it when it feels like the technology just gets me and knows what I’d like to do next. For example, when searching for a TV show, Search brings up the cast because it just knows that it’s something I might instinctually be interested in.

I’d like to see this mature into other areas. For example, Search could suggest related topics or other things I might be interested in based on my habits and what I just searched. Essentially anything that helps me to continue exploring my curiosities around a particular search I would love.

So if I searched for “weekend hike” it would suggest “local wildlife field guide” and then “baby deer season” because it’s possible I might be interested in that without even knowing that I was. So for me, I’d love to see a continuation of timely, topical suggestions as you go.

Lessons from the International Journalism Festival

The International Journalism Festival in Perugia, Italy, is back after a two year hiatus due to the pandemic. As we arrived in the beautiful city, the energy was palpable as new connections were made, and familiar faces from around the world, and across the journalism community reunited. We had the privilege of hearing from reporters, news entrepreneurs and publishers of all sizes during the festival. We listened and participated in panels that discussed everything from innovation and DEI in the newsroom, to advocating for quality journalism and experimenting with new digital revenue streams. We also announced some key developments for the Google News Initiative in Europe, including:

I’ve been going to this festival since 2017 and I learn something new every time. Here are a couple of my personal takeaways this year:

Innovation is sprouting in more regions, and in new and different ways

Whether it's exploring new business models, boosting reader engagement or working with technology to transform newsrooms, news organizations across Europe are innovating. One comment that resonated is that innovation is often placed in the ‘important, but not urgent pile’ when in fact if we are to successfully adapt to uncertainty and thrive then it’s a priority.

Digital skills will enable a new wave of journalism

Learning and career development can often take a back seat when you’re a journalist writing to a deadline. However, from my own newsroom experience, I know journalists are lifelong learners. At Perugia, we met freelance and newsroom journalists who are developing the necessary digital skills to combat misinformation, engage specialist topics and experiment with different digital publishing platforms, including podcasts, newsletters, virtual events and video.

We need to better support the mental health of journalists

The psychological toll of covering the daily news agenda, along with a sense of ‘burnout’ is a pervasive issue amongst journalists. In addition to the unique pressures of being a professional journalist, the past two years have pushed many to the breaking point. New initiatives to help restore the mental health of journalists are underway, including a new expert program from HeadlinesNet and MINDCharity to create a suite of mental health resources to specifically address the needs of journalists. In short, if the role of a journalist is truly sustainable we require a renewed focus on mental health practices.

Diversity in the newsroom

Many discussions centered around the impact diversity in the newsroom has in helping to better reflect the views of underrepresented audiences. By focusing on solving problems for a specific community, news organisations are differentiating themselves and creating value for their readers.

I’m leaving Perugia inspired to experiment, to share the learnings with my team and beyond, and to try new approaches to big challenges. Thank you to the organizers of this year's event, to the countless volunteers who enabled the festival to take place, and to all the journalists and journalism students we met this year. Here’s to 2023!

Note from the Editor: If you enjoyed this post, watch this short videofeaturing Matt’s highlights from the festival

Listen to Matt’s highlights from the festival
10:25

Investing in Eastern Europe’s AI future

It was an honor and a privilege to attend a special event in the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, today to launch INSAIT, the Institute for Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence and Technology. INSAIT is a new AI and computer science research institute that will provide truly world-class facilities.

It’s fantastic to see the country where I was born leading the charge in bridging Eastern Europe to the world-stage in computer science research.

The institute is modeled on the computer science departments of renowned institutions such as MIT, UC Berkeley and the Max-Planck Institute, and is backed by the Bulgarian government with an endowment fund of nearly $100 million. Its computer science and AI research will span topics such as machine learning, quantum computing, information security, robotics and many more. Within two years, INSAIT expects faculty and students to publish papers in top conferences.

Google is investing $3 million over the next three years to provide INSAIT with cloud computing resources and access to itsTensor Processing Unit Research Cloud, a specialized infrastructure for running high-performance machine learning models. Supported with additional investment from DeepMind and Amazon Web Services, INSAIT aims to attract and develop the best researchers, engineers and top PhD and MSc students.

I know there’s no shortage of talented researchers, computer scientists and engineers in Eastern Europe – indeed, Sofia is already ranked asone of Europe’s top tech cities – but historically, the lack of local facilities, funding and support has meant limited opportunities for basic research. INSAIT has been created in partnership with two of the world’s leading technology universities, ETH Zurich and EPFL Lausanne, and its supervisory and advisory boards consist of leading researchers who are committed to help the institute achieve its ambitious goals.

INSAIT opens in September, and I know the team is particularly keen to receive applications from women and other groups that are often underrepresented in the world of tech.

Google is delighted to support these efforts, and I cannot wait to see what new innovation emerges from this promising venture.

News Showcase is launching in Slovakia

Journalists have long been committed to providing reliable information to people when they need it, with the last few weeks proving this more than ever. With products like Search and News, Google is committed to helping people find reliable and relevant information.

Today we're going further in our support for journalism in Slovakia by rolling out Google News Showcase, our product and licensing program for news publishers.

Google has signed partnerships with six Slovak publications including national news outlets, a television broadcaster and a press agency, which provide essential news coverage to people all over the country. The titles included in the News Showcase launch in Slovakia are Nový čas, Denník N, SME, TA3, Topky and Webnoviny. We’ll continue to work with other news partners in the country to add additional resources in the future. News Showcase is part of our global investment in news and reinforces our commitment to journalism in Slovakia and around the world.

This GIF shows examples of News Showcase panels from publishers in Slovakia as they scroll through Google News. Publishers appearing include Nový čas, Denník N, SME, TA3, Topky and Webnoviny.

An example of how News Showcase can look for some of our partners in Slovakia

News Showcase panels can appear on Google products, currently on News and Discover, and direct readers to the full articles on publishers’ websites, helping them deepen their relationships with readers. Panels will also include extended access to paywalled content from select participating publishers to give readers even more from their favorite sources, with the intention of leading to more subscribers for the news organization. In addition to the revenue that comes directly from these more-engaged readers, participating publishers will receive monthly licensing payments from Google.

“At SME, we realize that only high-quality and independent journalism will gain long-term support from subscribers,” says Peter Macinga, Chief Digital Officer of Petit Press, the publisher of SME and of other national and regional news titles in Slovakia. “We appreciate our partnership with Google on News Showcase, which will make our premium content available to an even larger audience.”

“Dennik N only exists thanks to the support of our subscribers, and we are therefore always looking for ways to provide them with faster and more convenient access to information,” says Lukas Fila, CEO of N Press, the first Slovak national publisher that made a move to derive the majority of their revenue from subscriptions. “Google News Showcase is a new way for our interviews, investigative journalism and analyses to reach readers. With the free access to some of our normally paywalled content, brand new audiences will be able to try out access to our paid articles.”

Since we launched News Showcase in October 2020, we’ve signed deals with more than 1,400 news publications around the world and have launched in 15 countries including India, Japan, Germany, Portugal, Brazil, Austria, the U.K., Australia, Czechia, Italy, Colombia, Argentina, Canada, Ireland and now Slovakia, bringing more in-depth, essential news coverage to Google News and Discover users.

This image shows examples of how some publishers in Slovakia will appear using News Showcase panels

An example of how News Showcase panels will look with some of our partners in Slovakia

“As one of the longest established media companies in Slovakia, we are glad to be among the first to participate in this Google project,” says Samuel Schlarmann, Digital Media director of news agency SITA, a national news outlet. “We are glad that we can develop our journalistic, analytical and digital skills in this direction. We see our partnership in Google News Showcase as an opportunity to bring our work closer to new readers, and we firmly believe that we will enrich the Google platform with quality content.”

Google News Showcase is our latest effort to support publishers and the news industry in Slovakia. We supported 12 local Slovak newsrooms through the Google News Initiative’s Journalism Emergency Relief Fund to help them continue their vital work during the COVID-19 pandemic, and provided 1.5 million euros to support six Digital News Innovation Fund experimental news projects, from titles such as SME, Denník N, Postoj and Vot. Around the world, the Google News Initiative has supported more than 7,000 news partners in over 120 countries and territories. Since 2015, the Google News Lab has trained more than 300 Slovak journalists, newsroom staff and journalism students on a range of digital tools to help them research, verify and visualize their stories.

Google also sends eight billion visits each month to European news websites from products like Search and News, which publishers can monetize with online advertising and subscriptions on their websites and apps. Our ad technologies enable news organizations to sell their ad space to millions of advertisers globally.

We’re dedicated to continuing our contribution to and collaboration with the news ecosystem, supporting the open web and continuing to provide access to information in Slovakia and elsewhere.