European Public Policy Blog

Explore the mysteries of the universe on Google+ & YouTube

2012-02-23T16:35:00.001+01:00

2012 is set to be a big year in particle physics, perhaps the most important for decades. At the European Organisation for Nuclear Research at CERN, the hunt for the famous Higgs Boson particle is in full swing, and experiments which create, trap and measure elusive anti-matter are reaching a dramatic stage.

To make things even more exciting, you can now follow the scientists’ progress, share in their discoveries and interact with them via the new CERN People Google+ Page and YouTube channel.

CERN People is a feature-length film project by the award-winning documentary-maker Films of Record. The documentary will explore the motivations, hopes and fears of the particle physicists as they explore the origins of the universe. The film will be released in 2013.

But instead of having to wait until then to see it, they are using Google+ and YouTube to tell this fascinating story, and invite everyone to get involved, as they go along. Here’s a taste:

A series of short films featuring the personalities behind the experiments will be posted on the CERN People Google+ Page and YouTube every month, and anyone from professional scientists to interested amateurs will be able to interact directly with CERN’s physicists via comments and Google+ Hangouts, a live video chat with up to 10 people.

As you can see from the videos, the scientists at CERN are pretty excited about what lies ahead. We are too.

Posted by Peter Barron, Director of External Relations, EMEA

Testing skills in the Project Passion contest

2012-02-17T16:52:00.000+01:00

In these tough times, it’s crucial for young people to enter a tight job market with the right skills, particularly Internet skills. We’re teaming up with the European Commission to support a fun way to meet the challenge - the Project Passion contest for young people between the ages of 18 and 26.

Tell a story about how e-Skills can help get a job. Video, digital art, or just plain words are welcome. Submit entries here.

Winners will get a top cash prize of EUR2,150 euros. Travel and accommodation will be paid to winners and runners up to attend the e-Skills Week Closing Event in Copenhagen on March 30.

The contest is part of the Commission’s E-skills Week. Check out the website to find information - and other suggestions of how the Internet can help provide the jobs of tomorrow.

Posted by Angela Steen, Policy Analyst, Brussels

Our thoughts on the right to be forgotten

2012-02-16T12:59:00.000+01:00

One of the most talked about concepts in the European Commission’s new Data Protection Regulation proposal is the right to be forgotten. It is, at least in part, a continuation of the rights of access and objection that web users were granted in the 1995 Data Protection Directive. It also goes further, including other concepts that we have already embedded in our privacy principles and practices like improved transparency, providing clear information to people and giving them fine-grained privacy choices - including the ability to remove data they uploaded to our services.

Today, more and more people are entrusting their data to online hosting platforms and using social networks and search engines to find information on the Web - and there are no signs of web usage slowing. So it’s vitally important that both those who provide online services and those who use them have a clear understanding of how a concept such as the right to be forgotten might apply.

For providers of online services, we think there are some important distinctions that need to be made between services that host content created by people (such as Facebook and YouTube) and services that point people to content that exists elsewhere (for example, search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo!).

Hosting Platforms:

Users’ Rights: At the core of the right to be forgotten is the idea that a person using a hosting platform should have full control over, including the ability to delete, data he or she published intentionally. That means that a user should be able to delete an individual post, photo or video that he or she stored with the hosting platform. The user should also be able to delete his or her entire account with a given hosting platform, thereby deleting all the materials he or she had published and which was stored in that account.

Hosting Platforms’ Obligations: Hosting platforms, for their part, should respect deletion requests made by a user regarding content placed there by that user, and carry them out in a timely way. That does not necessarily mean that deletion should be instantaneous; there are practical reasons why some delay should be permitted, for example to prevent the abusive deletion of content when an account has been compromised. Other limits, including legal or contractual obligations, may also legitimately delay deletion in certain circumstances.

Understanding the practical limits on what hosting platforms can do: There are practical and legal limits to what can be expected of hosting platforms.

First, it is possible for any material published online to be copied and re-published elsewhere. A hosting platform can and should delete copies of material that they store on behalf of a user upon his or her request, but it cannot be expected to maintain control over other copies of the material published elsewhere online, as these are outside of the control of the hosting platform.
Second, it is important that hosting platforms not be obliged to delete materials when doing so would be likely to undermine the security of the service or allow for fraud.
Third, hosting platforms cannot be expected to delete materials created collaboratively at the unilateral request of a single contributor. Where a clear ownership of a collaborative document has been assigned, responsibility for deletion should lie with that owner. In cases where ownership of a collaborative document is not clear - as in the case of wikis or usenet posts - the questions are more complex, and a clear solution is not currently obvious.
Fourth, in the same way postal services are not expected to monitor what is in the letters they carry, Internet hosting platforms should not be expected to exercise control over materials published by third parties. Fundamental responsibility for information available online must rest with the party that put that particular copy online, rather than with the hosting platform. This is consistent with the premise of existing European law, namely, the eCommerce Directive.

Search engines:

Search engines serve an important function online, and the right to be forgotten should not interfere with their ability to point consumers to information published elsewhere.
For their part, search engines should respect the standard ways in which websites instruct search engines whether to crawl and index particular pages, such as header meta tags and robots.txt files
When, in the course of crawling the web, a search engine discovers that a page or site is no longer available online, it should update its search index to reflect these changes in a timely way.
Search engines should also provide a means for webmasters to accelerate removal of their site from search results. As with hosting platforms, the fundamental responsibility for information available online must rest with the publisher of that information, rather than with a search engine or other similar intermediary.

Ultimately, responsibility for deleting content published online should lie with the person or entity who published it. Host providers store this information on behalf of the content provider and so have no original right to delete the data. Similarly, search engines index any publicly available information to make it searchable. They too have no direct relationship with the original content.

We’re supportive of the principles behind the right to be forgotten - and believe that it’s possible to implement this concept in a way that not only enhances privacy online, but also fosters free expression for all.

Posted by Peter Fleischer, Global Privacy Counsel

Helping a Greek tourism revival

2012-02-14T09:27:00.000+01:00

Amid Greece’s gloom and doom, one sector is thriving - tourism. Both tourist receipts and the number of visitors rose by about 10 percent last year, even as the country’s overall economy shrank by more than five percent. Tourism now accounts for one in five jobs and 16 percent of the entire Greek economy, and the Internet is playing a key role in its success, without relying on scarce government funds.

Many moves are responsible for the tourist bright spot. Taxes on ferry tickets and hotel rooms have been slashed. Low cost airlines are adding flights to the country and visa restrictions have been simplified for non-EU citizens from Turkey, China and India. Most of these rising number of visitors are using the Internet to book their flights and accommodations: the Tourist Board’s VisitGreece.gr webside attracted 2.2 million visitors last year, up from a mere 200,000 in 2009.

At the first ever Google Travel Forum in Greece, more than 2000 visitors showed up to hear the Tourism Minister, Pavlos Yeroulanos, describe the government’s “strategic shift towards online marketing and social media to grow tourism.” The Forum showcased how the Internet allows the smallest b&b on the most idyllic Greek island to reach potential visitors anywhere in the world, and at the same time, allows the country’s largest travel operators to compete effectively against multinationals.

The Forum’s closing session featured a one on one discussion between the Greek Tourism Minister Yeroulanos, and the Google Country Manager Stefanos Loukakos, The Minister concluded by tweeting how “internet and social media can help SMEs.” We couldn’t agree more - and will continue helping the Greek tourism industry and the Greek economy as a whole grow its way out of its current crisis.

Posted by Dionisis Kolokotsas, Public Policy manager Greece

European Commission clears Motorola deal

2012-02-13T19:20:00.001+01:00

Cross-posted on the Official Google Blog

We’re happy that today the European Commission approved our proposed acquisition of Motorola Mobility, which we announced in August. This is an important milestone in the approval process and it moves us closer to closing the deal. We are now just waiting for decisions from a few other jurisdictions before we can close this transaction.

As we outlined in August, the combination of Google and Motorola Mobility will help supercharge Android. It will also enhance competition and offer consumers faster innovation, greater choice and wonderful user experiences.

Posted by Don Harrison, Vice President and Deputy Counsel

Paris names Google its Foreign Investor of the Year

2012-02-13T09:57:00.000+01:00

Over the past few years, we have made extensive investments in France, recognizing how the country’s Internet economy is booming. Our Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt recently inaugurated, in the presence of President Nicolas Sarkozy, a new 10,000-square meter office in a refurbished 19th century Second Empire building near the St. Lazare Train Station.

In recognition of these moves, the Greater Paris Investment Agency this month awarded Google its prize of the international investor of the year. Valérie Pécresse, Minister for the Budget, Public Accounts and State Reform presented the prize to Susan Pointer, Director of Public Policy and Government Relations, Southern & Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Our efforts in France go far beyond new buildings. We’re encouraging French start-ups by creating a Startup Café, an online platform offering information and tools required by entrepreneurs to launch a business. We’re investing in French startups, creating a platform for content and tools.expanding our engineering presence to take advantage of France’s strong engineering talent pool and are making significant academic investments, including a partnership with the French national research center CNRS and the creation of a Google Chair at HEC.

The new Paris headquarters houses a cultural institute which aims to leverage digital technologies to expand access to cultural treasures around the world. Last year, the number of Googlers in France has doubled to nearly 400 employees, and we are continuing to hire. In the future, more and more products will Google "made in France"!

All of this is just the beginning of what we are sure will be a long love affair with France and its capital.

Posted by Elisabeth Bargès, Public Policy and Government Affairs, Google France

Working with Le Monde to aid Tunisian journalism

2012-02-10T10:47:00.000+01:00

Update, February 16. Google France welcomed five of the six Tunisian journalists at its offices for a lunch to hear about their experiences in Paris and to discuss progress of freedom of expression in their homeland.

In a single, magnificent moment, journalists in Tunisia liberated themselves from the shackles of censorship. They no longer were forced to regurgitate government propaganda and finally could write what they wanted. Instead, they were confronted with the challenges of freedom.

We are teaming up with the prestigious French newspaper Le Monde to help tackle this crucial challenge. Six Tunisian journalists are coming to Paris to work for three months in the Le Monde newsroom. As the paper explained, the journalists will help cover daily news and the upcoming French Presidential election. Our hope is that they then will return home with new skills that will serve to construct a new, free but responsible professional press in Tunisia.

The six winners of the Google internship are:

Radhouane Somai, a political reporter for the Business News website.
Hajer Ben Arjroudi, an an investigative reporter for the Express FM radio station.
Thameur Mekki contributes to three online webzines, specializing in digital culture.
Zbiss Hanene, the editor of the culture section for Realities magazine.
Hajer Jeridi, the editor-in-chief of the www.gnet.tn news site.
Nacer Talel, a freelance photographer

At Google, we are aware of the need to work with publishers to smooth the transition not only from oppression to freedom, but from analogue to digital distribution. We are sponsoring a series of digital journalism prizes with Institut de Sciences Politiques, the International Press Institute in Vienna and the Global Editors Network in Paris. We also are the proud backer of Reporters Without Borders’ annual Netizen of the Year award. In addition, we have come up with a series of products such as Adsense to split online ad revenues with publishers.

The collaboration with Le Monde marks a significant step forward in our engagement. We are working hard to support free elections in the countries of North Africa and the Middle East, building a series of new Internet tools that allow politicians to reach voters and voters to have their voice heard by politicians.

A special thanks goes out to Le Monde’s Sylvie Kauffmann for this project. Sylvie covered Central Europe for Le Monde when it the communist imposed countries of the Soviet empire freed themselves. Sylvie continued to become the Le Monde’s first female editor-in-chief. She travelled to Tunis and personally interviewed and chose all the candidates. For her, and for Le Monde, strong journalism represents a key building block for free societies.

Posted by William Echikson, External Relations, Head of Free Expression, Europe, Middle East and Africa

Searching for creative young minds

2012-02-09T12:58:00.001+01:00

Are you between 18 and 24 years old and have done something to make an impact in the world? Do you fancy the opportunity to come to the UK and meet some of the great minds of our time?

If so, apply by March 19 to Google's youth challenge, Zeitgeist Young Minds, by uploading a short video telling your story, what matters to you and how you’re making a positive impact on your world. We want to find the most exceptional and inspiring young people who are helping others through science, the arts, education, leadership or innovation.

Winners will meet the leaders attending 2012 Zeitgeist. Previous Zeitgeist speakers have included Archbishop Desmond Tutu, The Black Eyed Peas’ will.I.am, Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts, and Google CEO Larry Page.

The inaugural ‘Young Minds’ competition rewarded a series of pathbreakers, ranging from a student who launched free hip-hop dance classes for high-risk youth to a South African AIDS activist to a student who founded an organization offering IT education. A full list of last year's winning projects are found here.

Events agency Livity is managing the contest and will pick the winners. Zeitgeist Young Minds is open to all young people ages 18-24 who are residents of South Africa, Algeria, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Belgium, Egypt, Spain, France, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Uganda, Holland, Poland, Czech Republic, United Kingdom, Russia , Sweden, Tunisia, and Yemen.

Posted by Elizabeth Dupuy, Event Manager, External Relations

Supporting safety online

2012-02-07T10:13:00.000+01:00

Telefono Azzurro, one of Italy’s main child protection NGOs, does amazing work on behalf of missing and sexually exploited children and their families. Last year, we donated a Google Search Appliance - essentially the Google ‘search engine in a box’ - to improve information retrieval on their internal network and make it easier to search on their public website.

Today, on Safer Internet Day 2012, we’re happy to announce that this collaboration is expanding. Telefono Azzuro will share its Search Appliance with all of the members of Missing Children Europe (MCE), the federation of national NGOs responsible for the European 116.000 phone hotline, who will use Google's search technology on their public websites. Eventually, the Search Appliance will also be linked to MCE’s interconnected European database of missing children (currently under construction), enabling each member NGO to better organise its own case files and conduct secure searches on its internal network.

This is just one example of how seriously we take the challenge of increasing safety on the web, but on Safer Internet Day, we’re also involved in a whole host of initiatives all over Europe, including:

Digital literacy education / workshops

Italy: we’re running online safety workshops with Telefono Azzurro / Sicuri in Rete and with the Italian Postal and Communications Police (at more than 100 schools); and we’re distributing online safety information to parents together with the Italian Association of Paediatricians.
Portugal: we’re launching the Google Family Safety Center at an event chaired by the President of National Commission for Support for Children.
Russia: We’re partnering with Net Literacy to engage over 200 Russian journalism students in digital literacy campaigning in schools and communities

Events

UK: we’re hosting online safety events with CEOP, the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, and Raceonline; we’re also participating in workshops organised by the UK Safer Internet Centre.
Russia: we’re working with the Russia Safe Internet Centre and Russian Association of Electronic Communications to run a series of international expert panels at the Safer Internet Forum.
Germany: Wieland Holfelder, Google Engineering Director, is keynoting a session on the platform for safe internet use at the Safer Internet Event in Germany, organized by Bitkom and the Ministry of Consumer Protection (BMELV).

Research

UK: we're launching, together with YAW-CRC, new research funded by Google into how parents can keep their families safe online, and become more digitally literate themselves.

Technology

France: we’re supporting the work of e-Enfance.org on a new Google Chrome browser extension called NetEcoute, which will make it easy for youngsters to start an online discussion with a helpline counselor.

These initiatives are part of our global outreach on Safer Internet Day - but we hope that each of them will - in their own way - be a step forward for online safety education.

Posted by Laura Bononcini, Senior Policy Analyst, Google

More information on our privacy policy changes

2012-02-03T16:47:00.004+01:00

Last night we received a letter from the Jacob Kohnstamm, Chairman of the Europe's Article 29 Working Party, asking for additional information about the changes to our privacy policy.

We briefed most of the members of the working party in the weeks leading up to our announcement. None of them expressed substantial concerns at the time, but of course we're happy to speak with any data protection authority that has questions.

We have responded to Mr Kohnstamm with further information, which you can read here.

As we’ve said several times over the past week, while our privacy policies will change on 1st March, our commitment to our privacy principles is as strong as ever.

Posted by Peter Fleischer, Global Privacy Counsel

German Office of Information Security recommends Chrome

2012-02-03T15:32:00.000+01:00

Last month, we published the core principles around Chrome security. This included commitments such as working with the internet community to help increase security for all web browsers, and continuing to design Chrome to offer multiple layers of defence against cyber attacks.

Today, we’re honoured that the BSI, Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security, has highlighted several of Chrome’s security features in a best-practice guide for Windows users. The report is part of the BSI’s ongoing efforts to improve cyber security.

According to the report, the browser is the central component for accessing any online service on the web, and a common entry point for cyber attacks. In order to reduce the risk, the BSI recommends that users install a browser with sandbox technology.

“The browser that currently most consistently implements this protection is Google Chrome,” the report states. “Comparable mechanisms in other browsers are either weaker, or non-existent. By using Google Chrome...you can significantly reduce the risk of a successful IT attack.”

In addition to Chrome’s sandbox, the guide also points to the importance of Chrome’s auto-update feature.

“Equally positive is the auto-update functionality of Google Chrome, which includes a bundled version of the Adobe Flash Player,” the report continues. “By bundling it with Chrome, the Adobe Flash Player will also always be kept up to date.”

We hope our efforts to improve the security and privacy of our users continue to help make the web a better place.

Posted by Dr. Wieland Holfelder, Engineering Director Google Germany, and Travis McCoy, Chrome Security Team

Mind the Gap: Encouraging women to study engineering

2012-02-02T11:46:00.000+01:00

Women make up more than half the global population, but hold fewer than a third of the world’s engineering jobs. In the U.S., female students comprise fewer than 15 percent of all Advanced Placement computer science test takers. Even in high-tech Israel, few girls choose computer science. Not only is this a loss to companies like Google and everyone who benefits from a continually developing web; it's also a lost opportunity for girls.

Beginning in 2008, a group of female engineers at Google in Israel decided to tackle this problem. We established the “Mind the Gap!” program, aimed at encouraging girls to pursue math, science and technology education. In collaboration with the Israeli National Center for Computer Science Teachers, we began organizing monthly school visits for different groups of girls to the Google office and annual tech conferences at local universities and institutes. The girls learn about computer science and technology and get excited about its applications, as well as have a chance to talk with female engineers in an informal setting and see what the working environment is like for them.

Since we started this program over three years ago, we’ve hosted more than 1,100 teenage girls at our office, and an additional 1,400 girls at three annual conferences held in leading universities. These 2,500 students represent 100 schools from all sectors and from all over the country: Tel Aviv, Haifa, Tira, Beer-Sheva, Jerusalem, Nazareth and more; what they have in common is the potential to become great computer scientists.

The results are encouraging. For instance, some 40 percent of the girls who participated in last year’s conference later chose computer science as a high school major.

We encourage people in other countries, at other companies and in other scientific disciplines to see how they could replicate this program. You can read more at the project site. Currently, we are working with the Google in Education group to expand the program to more offices globally and get even more young women excited about computer science. The difference we can make is real: At one of our first visits three years ago, we met a 10th grade student named Keren who enjoyed math but had never considered computer science as a high school major. Last month, Keren informed us that the visit made such an impact on her, she decided to change her major to computer science. “Talking to women in the field helped me change my mind,” she said.

Posted by Michal Segalov, Software Engineer at Google’s R&D Center, Israel

2012 global award winners RISE to the top

2012-02-02T11:39:00.001+01:00

Cross-posted from the Official Google Blog

Our business at Google is rooted in science education so we’re passionate about supporting organizations that are expanding access to these fields, especially for students who might not have the opportunity otherwise. The annual Google Roots in Science and Engineering (RISE) program supports organizations running innovative STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) and CS (computer science) enrichment programs for K-12 and university students around the world.

This year, the Google in Education group received a record number of inspiring applications for RISE. We expanded the awards to include Sub-Saharan Africa, and in total, we’re awarding more than $340,000 in funding to 13 U.S., eight European and five African organizations.

Our recipients are diverse, ranging from girls robotics teams building high-tech machinery in Nairobi to after-school programs that have students configuring cluster computers in Salt Lake City. Below are just a few of the outstanding organizations receiving RISE awards this year for their efforts in advancing CS and STEM education:

Europe

Frauennetzwerk Informatik at Universität Passau, Passau, Germany. University students from Passau act as ambassadors for computer science, engineering and math by reaching out to juniors and seniors at their former high schools and running workshops on topics like robotics and mobile app development. Ambassadors go on to serve as mentors to the students throughout their high school and college careers.
The Centre for Academic Achievement, Dublin, Ireland. This center runs free after school educational classes in a university setting for bright primary school students from disadvantaged areas. Each term, students from 32 local primary schools have the opportunity to study science, math and engineering subjects and are encouraged to pursue college degrees in the future.

Sub Saharan Africa

Savana Signatures, Tamale, Ghana. Savana Signatures educates youth and women, building their capacity to access information for the benefit of Ghana’s social and economic development.
Fundi Bots, Kampala, Uganda. Fundi Bots is a technology outreach program for students in high school and university that uses robotics to introduce young children to the endless possibilities of technology in both their day-to-day lives and potential careers.

United States

Santa Clara Valley Society of Women Engineers, San Jose, California. GetSET is a program created for underrepresented ethnic minority girls in the San Francisco Bay Area to expose them to engineering while building self confidence through leadership workshops, tours of technology companies and participation in team-building exercises.
Saturday Academy, Portland, Oregon. Saturday Academy serves 2nd-12th grade students from Oregon and SW Washington with high quality and creative learning opportunities taught by STEM experts, including hands-on, real world activities that create meaningful connections between academic content and practical application.

Organizations interested in applying for 2013 funding can sign up for more information here. We look forward to hearing about all the great work being done in CS and STEM education.

Posted by Roxana Shirkhoda, K-12 Education Outreach

Supporting Information Age Art in Germany

2012-01-31T11:09:00.000+01:00

For the past quarter century, some of the world’s most innovative multi-media art is displayed at the Berlin “Transmediale.” This year’s event opens today and Google is proud to sponsor a supporting a specific installation - the Joshua Light Show.

transmediale 2k+12 in/compatible trailer from transmediale on Vimeo.

Joshua Light illustrated psychedelic music from The Doors, The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa just to name a few. Its first emerged back in 1967 in New York. For its comeback at Transmediale, founder Joshua White will be in Berlin and will direct his orchestra of lights on three night-sessions in Berlin.

Why are we involved? The Joshua Light Show exemplifies the art that arose at the beginning of today's information age, which mixed sound and light in new ways. As Transmediale’s organizers, say, "before YouTube there was the light-show - a creative meeting between the past and future of art in the age of information freedom."

The 1960's stood on the cusp of our modern global information society. It was a era with a rich counter-culture that connected the wild imagination of scientists and artists. In many cases, the artistic imagination was ahead of technology: inspired by new technologies it presaged an integration of data and audiovisual forms. Its ultimate form was the psychedelic light-show, fusing the latest projection

In their upcoming Berlin performances, today’s Joshua Light Show connects the analogue light show to the latest VJ technologies, fusing old and new and bringing a young audience to reflect on the heritage of today's global audiovisual flows. White ill direct his light-orchestra for three nights at the House of World Cultures Auditorium, each night appearing with new musicians.

Either way, enjoy.

Posted by Ralf Bremmer, Senior Communications Manager, Berlin

Reigniting the global economy

2012-01-27T14:47:00.000+01:00

In Davos, leaders are attempting to find ways to restart the sputtering global economy. Two new studies released today at the World Economic Forum offer an answer: open up an Internet browser on our laptop, mobile phone or tablet and encourage the Internet.

The Boston Consulting group’s “Digital Manifesto” predicts that the value of the Internet economy in of the world's top 20 economies will boom to $4.2 trillion in 2016—nearly double 2010’s number. One of the biggest drivers will be the huge increase in the number of people accessing the web. In four years, the report predicts three billion people will be using the internet, or nearly 50% of the world's population.

The Internet does not just benefit the developed world, either. It contributes an average of 1.9 percent of GDP across 30 countries in the developing world and generated 1.9 million jobs alone in six countries: Hungary, Malaysia, Mexico, Taiwan, Turkey, and Vietnam, according to the new McKinsey & Co. report, also released today in Davos.

Both the McKinsey and BCG reports are the latest chapter in more than a year of work by the two consultancies and others on the Internet’s growing economic impact. Full disclosure: Google funded this joint research effort, though the reports were conducted independently. Until now, the research focused largely on Europe. For example, the BCG’s “Connected Kingdom” report published in the U.K. in October 2010 found (amongst other things) that the Internet contributed £100bn, or 7.2% of GDP, and forecasted that the figure will rise to 10% of GDP by 2015. You can see the full range of all these country reports on a new website.

Understanding the economic potential of the web is crucial, especially given Europe's current economic challenges. In Brussels this week, on the same day European Finance ministers were meeting to discuss the situation in Greece, we hosted an event to illustrate how countries and companies are able to reap the rewards of the Internet. Google, BCG and McKinsey are well known international businesses, but the the message of all our work is that small businesses going online will drive the majority of growth of the Internet economy in the future.

Posted by William Echikson, External Relations, Brussels

Promoting small businesses and economic growth in Europe

2012-01-24T17:43:00.000+01:00

As European Finance Ministers gathered in Brussels to address the Euro crisis, we wanted to share our belief that small businesses and entrepreneurs can be at the heart of Europe’s strategy for economic growth. In our view, the key that will unlock this much needed growth is the Internet.

In order to demonstrate this important opportunity, we organised an event today in Brussels bringing together small businesses, European Commission officials, European parliamentarians, business associations and others to discuss how the Internet can drive growth and jobs. Commission Vice President Antonio Tajani keynoted the event, and picked up on the themes of an important manifesto, published last week by the Commission, that is designed to build trust in the Digital Single Market.

The Commissioner said Europe must put the Internet at the heart of its economic strategy. “I think of the third industrial revolution – information technologies are at its heart,” he said. Instead of “destroying” jobs, he insisted that it powers employment, saying that for each position displaced, the Internet creates another 2.6 new positions. Companies with websites grow twice as fast as companies that stay offline, he added. “Our goal is to double the amount of commerce online by 2015,” Tajani said. “We need exponential growth” to get Europe out of its present economic crisis.

Our own European Vice President Matt Brittin announced a new collaboration between the Lisbon Council and Google. In some countries, Matt noted, the Internet already generates more than 7% of GDP - a figure that is set to grow rapidly - with much of the growth coming from small companies. “SMEs are the unsung heroes of the economy,” he said. “But the internet can give them a voice.” In order to prove the point, we assembled small business owners from 15 countries, including a Polish butcher, a Swedish sweet shop, a Dutch clog seller, a Spanish baby clothes retailer, and a Greek travel agent. All power their businesses by leveraging the Internet.

The focus of the event then turned to the platforms (generally large companies) that support online commerce. Martin Tidell, Telenor’s Head of Business Management for SMEs, joined by Google+ hangout from Stockholm and said that the Internet is not just for high tech businesses. “I cannot think of one business that wouldn’t benefit by going online,” he said.

Back in Brussels, Frank Jahn, the Managing Director of Parcels at Belgium’s post office said his company was bracing for a transformation. “We are now a mail company with a parcels operation,” he said. “We need to become a parcels company with a mail operation.”

Next up were three small businesses who shared their experiences of growing online and selling in both domestic markets and across the Single Market. Their panel session also highlighted the "Getting business online” initiative, which has helped more than 250,000 businesses get a website over the last two years.

The final panel of the day, hosted by European Voice, focused on the policy conclusions that the European Commission, European Parliament and the key stakeholder - Europe’s consumers - draw from the debate. And all agreed that the Internet opportunity for businesses is big - and growing.

Posted by Al Verney, Communications Manager, Brussels

Supporting a new Oxford free speech initiative

2012-01-24T09:09:00.000+01:00

As the debate over free expression online grows ever louder, Oxford University has launched an innovative interactive forum in 13 languages called freespeechdebate.com. We’re proud to support the initiative with both funds and technology, including Google Translate.

Timothy Garton Ash - a professor and journalist who has analyzed social movements from the rise of the Solidarity free trade union to the tumult of the Arab Spring - is leading the exciting project. At the event’s launch last week in Oxford, Garton Ash interviewed Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales. Just the day before, Wikipedia had gone black in protest of two proposed U.S. laws threatening Internet freedom, helping force the U.S. Congress to pull back from a vote on the bills. “On a normal day 25 million people see Wikipedia; yesterday, 162 million saw it and I heard that we even crashed the House of Representatives phone system,” an ebullient Wales said. “Congress saw that there is a passionate community out there ready to defend the Internet.”

The reception afterward took place in Oxford University’s Divinity School library, an appropriate setting where poet John Milton‘s censored writing were saved from being burned almost half a millennium ago. “From yesterday's Wikipedia protest to the role of social media in the Arab Spring, every day brings a free speech controversy to the headlines, Garton Ash said. “Our project aims to contribute structure, depth and detail to this global debate, as well as openness to the views of netizens from different cultures and perspectives.”

Freespeechdebate.com brings together a team of more than 30 graduate students and researchers. It publishes interviews with prominent personalities and case studies from around the globe illustrating the complexity of free speech in the Internet age. At the inauguration, the web site already presented case studies and interviews with a diverse range of free speech defenders. Nobel Peace Prize 2003 winner Shirin Ebadi said that criticism of Islam should be permitted in Iran, while arguing that insults to the religion should be prohibited. Arundhati Roy, the award-winning Indian novelist, spoke about the limits to free speech in India, including government censorship through the media and "goon squads.”

The site's editorial content is translated into Arabic, Chinese, English, Farsi, French, German, Hindi, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Turkish and Urdu. “Freespeechdebate.com will continue producing material for the coming six months, and everyone is encouraged to participate. Members of the public are invited to register online to join the debate. Details on how to participate are found here. The debate will be digitally archived by Oxford’s Bodleian Libraries and become an online educational resource.

Posted by William Echikson, Head of Free Expression, Europe, Middle East and Africa

News Innovation contest opens for applications

2012-01-23T18:03:00.001+01:00

We are eager to see journalism flourish in the digital age. Last week, we announced our support of the Global Editor Network’s data journalism prize. Today, we’re happy to see that the International Press Institute has begun accepting applications for the second round of Google-funded media innovation prizes.

Click here for more information and to enter. Applicants are eligible from anywhere in Europe, Middle East and Africa.

The Vienna-based International Press Institute is our European partner for Google’s ambitious $5 million global program announced in 2010 to help journalism create new ways of reaching readers online. As media organizations globally continue to broaden their presence online, we’re eager to play our part on the technology side—experimenting with new ways of presenting news online; providing tools like Google Maps and YouTube Direct to make websites more engaging for readers. But while we’re mostly focused on working with news organizations to develop better products for users, we also believe it’s crucial to encourage innovation at the grassroots level. Our grants to non-profit organizations are designed to benefit news publishers of all sizes.

More than 300 applications were received for the first round of International Press Institute-run Google-sponsored prizes last year; three winners were named at the end of last year.

This year’s News Innovation Contest offers prizes in two categories:

News Platforms: The International Press Institute is looking for projects that leverage online tools to enhance news gathering and delivery. It aims to encourage the creation of new online news platforms that offer new revenue models for supporting high quality journalism.

Training: Little proper training in online media exists. The Press Institute is looking for initiatives that help traditional journalists transition into online media, by improving their technology skills and familiarising them with online news models.

The contest deadline is February 23 at 15:00 Central European Time. Winners can be announced at the beginning of April.

Posted by Simon Morrison, Copyright Communications and Policy Manager.

Figuring out the value of the web

2012-01-20T14:28:00.000+01:00

Today we’re launching a website called Value of the Web to collect research that sheds new light on the economic impact of the Internet. It’s available in English, French, German, Russian and Spanish and currently features a range of studies focusing on (amongst other things) the value of cloud computing in Europe, the value of search around the world, and the Internet’s contribution to GDP - a theme highlighted just last week by the European Commission in its new strategy to build trust in the Digital Single Market.

The value of the web is also the theme of a special event we’re hosting in Brussels on Tuesday 24th January called The Single Market Opportunity - Getting Europe’s SMEs Online. European Commission Vice President Tajani, other prestigious guests and small business from 15 EU countries will join us at the event to discuss how the Internet can help drive economic growth and jobs and help lift Europe out of the economic crisis.

Even though industrial metrics like GDP can’t fully capture the Web’s contributions to our information society, these reports represent the best efforts so far to quantify the Internet’s contributions to the economy and society. The new website will highlight the broad range of value generated by the internet, including in areas such as the contribution of the firms who provide the essential hardware and software to power the Internet and the jobs

In other studies, the findings project exponential growth for economies that are already engaging in e-commerce online. The Boston Consulting Group predicts that by 2015, at least 10% of the British economy will be Internet-based. Universal broadband access and creating innovative business models that capture consumer surplus could increase the value added by the Internet by roughly £43 billion, which is just less than half what the British government spends on education today.

The reports draw on work by globally renowned economic analysts such as the Boston Consulting Group, Deloitte Access Economics, McKinsey Global Institute, Nomura Research Institute, the Sogang University Market Economy Research Institute and academic economist Federico Etro at the University of Venice.

In time, we hope the site will become a central repository for insight derived from new measurements and data that move toward a more complete understanding of the Web’s impact. We’ll continue developing the site by adding more improvements, including more languages and content. Check back frequently for updates or choose to subscribe for alerts via email.

And if you’d like to participate in Tuesday's discussion about how the Internet can help get Europe’s economy back on track, please register now to secure one of the final places available at the Single Market Opportunity event.

Posted by Patricia Wruuck, Policy Analyst, Brussels

Data Journalism Awards Now Accepting Submissions

2012-01-19T13:24:00.003+01:00

Last November, we announced our support for a new Data Journalism competition, organized by the Global Editors Network. The competition is now open to submissions and today we hosted an event at our offices in London to share details on how to compete and win a total of six prizes worth EUR 45,000. The European Journalism Centre is running the contest and Google is sponsoring.

Journalism is going through an exciting—if sometimes wrenching—transition from off to online. Google is keen to help. We see exciting possibilities of leveraging data to produce award-winning journalism. “Data journalism is a new, exciting part of the media industry, with at present only a small number of practitioners,” said Peter Barron, Google’s Director of External Relations. “We hope to see the number grow.”

In data journalism, reporters leverage numerical data and databases to gather, organize and produce news. Bertrand Pecquerie, the Global Editor Network’s CEO, believes the use of data will, in particular, revolutionize investigative reporting. “We are convinced that there is a bright future for journalism,” he said at the London event. “This is not just about developing new hardware like tablets. It is above all about producing exciting new content.”

The European Journalism Centre, a non-profit based in Maastricht, has been running data training workshops for several years. It is producing the Data Journalism Awards website and administering the prize. “This new initiative should help convince editors around the world that data journalism is not a crazy idea, but a viable part of the industry,” says Wilfried Ruetten, Director of the center.

Projects should be submitted to http://www.datajournalismawards.org. The deadline is April 10, 2012. Entries should have been published or aired between April 11, 2011 and April 10, 2012. Media companies, non-profit organisations, freelancers and individuals are eligible.

Submissions are welcomed in three categories: data-driven investigative journalism, data-driven applications and data visualisation and storytelling. National and international projects will be judged separately from local and regional ones. “We wanted to encourage not only the New York Times’s of the world to participate, but media outlets of all sizes,” says Pecquerie. “Journalism students are also invited to enter, provided their work has been published.”

An all-star jury has been assembled of journalists from prestigious international media companies including the New York Times, the Guardian, and Les Echos. Paul Steiger, the former editor-in-chief of the Wall Street Journal and founder of the Pulitzer Prize-winning ProPublica, will serve as president.

Winners will be announced at the Global News Network’s World Summit in Paris on May 31, 2012.

Posted by William Echikson, External Relations

A Computer Star Visits Zurich

2012-01-18T16:11:00.001+01:00

For Google engineers, Donald Knuth is a true hero. The 74-year old Knuth, a professor emeritis at Stanford, is one of the pioneers of computer science, best known for his multi-volumed work “The Art of Computer Programming.” He is also recognized as the “father” of the field of analysis of algorithms, and of course, algorithms are central to much of what we do here at Google.

When the professor visited our offices in Zurich recently, more than 350 engineers packed the conference hall for a question and answer session. While many of the queries were technical, many were pertinent to all of us.

In Europe, Google has made a priority of promoting science education, so naturally a number of questions focused on this subject. How should a beginner programming get started? A bottom-up education is best, Knuth suggested, explaining that in his analogue era, some people became interested in science in order to build radios by themselves. In the Internet age, he said it was crucial to give aspiring programmers simple tools to learn coding from the ground up.

Another question was whether “programming is more of an art than a science?” Could programming progress in the same way as, say medieval Christians progressed the building of their soaring Gothic cathedrals from a try-and-see art to a mature engineering discipline?” It is only a matter of time that computing takes the same path, Knuth agreed. Many things start as art (even cathedral building), and systematic, scientific methods evolve. In this way, art feeds science and science nurtures art in a virtuous circle.

Knuth signed books that engineers had brought with them, inscribing each book with the message suggested by each engineer. One engineer brought their copy of “The Art of Computing Programming” in Russian to be signed. Before leaving, we presented him with a plaque showing a fragment of the code describing the Google Search page including “I’m feeling lucky!” We felt the same way about his visit.

Posted by David Harper, Head University Relations, Europe, Middle East and Africa

Ask your question in the 2012 Google Science Fair

2012-01-15T12:25:00.000+01:00

Are human beings born curious, or can curiosity be nurtured through environment, competition or a good teacher? Everyone’s got a question—that’s ours. But we’re sure you’ve got tons of questions, too. Today, we’re inviting students around the world to pose their most pressing questions about the world around them and answer those questions through scientific inquiry.

Along with our partners CERN, The LEGO Group, National Geographic and Scientific American, today we’re launching the second annual Google Science Fair, the largest online science competition in the world, open globally to students ages 13-18. Either individually or in teams of up to three people, students pose a question, develop a hypothesis and conduct science experiments to test it. The entire process is detailed and submitted online, via a website template participants fill out themselves, so all you need to participate is curiosity, an Internet connection and a browser.

Last year, we received entries that strove to solve a wide variety of needs, from “How can I cure cancer?” to “Can I teach a robot to learn English?” to “Can I build a faster sailboat?” The breadth and depth of these projects was incredibly impressive, and this year we hope to see even more entries from the next generation of brilliant young scientists.

This year’s fair will be even more global than the last: We’re now accepting submissions in 13 languages (Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, English, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Spanish and Russia). We will also be recognizing 90 regional finalists (30 from the Americas, 30 from the Asia Pacific and 30 from Europe/Middle East/Africa). From these 90, to be announced in May, our judges will select the top 15 finalists, who will be flown to Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. for our live Google Science Fair final event on July 23, 2012. At the finals, a panel of distinguished international judges (like Vint Cerf, Sylvia Earle and Nobel Laureates David Gross and Ada Yonath) will select top winners in each age category (13-14, 15-16, 17-18).

We’re also introducing a new category for this year’s competition—the Scientific American Science in Action award. We were so inspired by 2011 finalist Harine Ravichandran’s project, which attempted to solve energy surges in rural villages, that we decided to recognize an outstanding project that addresses a social, environmental or health need to make a difference in the lives of a group or community, as Harine’s project did for her grandparents’ village in India. The winner will also be flown to Mountain View for the finalist event in July.

The Google Science Fair opens today, January 12, worldwide, and we’ll accept submissions until Sunday, April 1 at 11:59pm GMT (or 6:59pm ET/3:59pm PT). In addition to satisfying your curious mind, your brilliant project can also help to win you some pretty cool prizes, like a $50,000 college scholarship from Google, a 10-day trip to the Galapagos Islands with a National Geographic Explorer or an internship at Google or any one of our partners. Our Scientific American Science in Action award winner will earn $50,000 and year-long mentorship to make their project goal a reality.

The winners of last year’s inaugural Google Science Fair became something like scientific rock stars. Shree Bose, Naomi Shah and Lauren Hodge met with President Obama, were invited to speak at big events like TEDx Women and were featured in Wired magazine. Shree, our grand prize winner, was named one of Glamour magazine’s 21 Amazing Young Women of the Year. White House visits and Glamour aside, every student in the Google Science Fair has the chance to do hands-on research that can truly change the world.

Visit google.com/sciencefair and ask your most burning questions at the top of your voice for the world to hear. Google itself was founded through experimentation and with the Google Science Fair, we hope to inspire scientific exploration among the next generation of scientists and engineers, celebrate scientific talent, create scientific role models and unite students around the world in the quest for learning.

Posted by Cristin Frodella, Google Education Team

The Single Market Opportunity - Getting Europe's SMEs Online

2012-01-12T15:04:00.000+01:00

Yesterday, the European Commission announced its strategy to build trust in the Digital Single Market. On Tuesday 24th January, we’re hosting a special event - The Single Market Opportunity: Getting Europe’s SMEs Online - right here in Brussels’ European district.

We’d like to invite you to to register for this event and join us, Commission Vice President Tajani and other prestigious guests to discuss how to realise the potential of the Internet as a driver of growth and jobs across Europe’s entire economy. You’ll also hear from entrepreneurs from 15 European countries, who will showcase how they are building successful online businesses that reach far beyond their national borders.

Over the last two years, we've worked with partners in ten European countries to stimulate economic activity and the creation of jobs via the Getting Business Online initiative. By providing training, tools and resources, this initiative has helped more than 250,000 small and medium enterprises - from donkey farmers and butchers to magicians, beauticians and wedding planners - to go online for the first time.

The Internet already accounts for more than 6% of GDP in some European countries, according to research from McKinsey and the Boston Consulting Group, but did you know:

That businesses that use the Internet intensively grow twice as fast as those that don't?
That the web fuels net job creation with more than two jobs created for every one lost in a traditional sector?
That more than 20% of global GDP growth over the last five years can be directly attributed to the burgeoning Internet economy?
That over the next five years, many EU member states will see double digit growth in economic activity enabled by the Internet, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs across Europe in the process?

Secure your place at the Single Market Opportunity on Tuesday, January 24th, 2012, by registering here today.

Posted by Antoine Aubert, Head of Brussels Policy team

Europe looks to the Internet for growth and jobs

2012-01-11T13:04:00.000+01:00

Kicking off the year in which the Single Market turns twenty, the European Commission announced today its strategy to build trust in the Digital Single Market. We think this is an important announcement, because the Commission confirms the immense potential of the Internet as a driver of growth and jobs, not just in the tech sector, but throughout the entire economy. It also issues a rallying call for Europe to redouble its efforts to enact concrete, positive reforms.

The figures speak for themselves. As today’s Commission report notes (referencing work by McKinsey), “in the G8 countries plus South Korea and Sweden, the internet economy has brought about 21% of the growth in GDP in the last five years. It also generates 2.6 jobs for every job cut, and at times accounts for 25% of net employment creation.”

If Europe fails to grasp the opportunity of a true Digital Single Market, however, the Commission warns of an expensive mistake that could cost the continent “at least 4.1% of GDP between now and 2020 - EUR500 billlion or EUR1000 per citizen.”

The Commission’s communication sets out concrete plans for how it intends to help millions of European businesses - particularly small and medium enterprises - foster cross-border e-commerce.

SMEs and policy makers will be talking about these challenges and opportunities at an event we’re running on January 24, here in Brussels at the Concert Noble. Small businesses from 18 countries will present how they have succeeded in taking their businesses online. For more on this initiative, check out our blog tomorrow.

Posted by Antoine Aubert, Head of Brussels Policy Team

Israeli Web-Rangers promote online safety

2012-01-09T01:55:00.000+01:00

Rangers traditionally guard parks and other areas of natural beauty. In Israel, some modern day rangers - call them Web-Rangers - aim instead to keep the Internet safe. Since last July when Google Israel launched its Family Safety Centre, we have encouraged some 200 Israeli teenage Web-Rangers between the age of 15 and 18 to promote online child protection.

The results have been remarkable. More than 80 innovative and creative social campaigns have been launched, ranging from educational videos to tv-style quiz shows. Some Web-Rangers produced creative videos and posted them on a dedicated YouTube channel. Others have cooperated with schools, youth movements, and local municipalities to hold seminars for teenagers about online safety.

Our “Web-Rangers” project is run in partnership with two NGOs working for online safety, the Israel Internet Association and Eran. All the Web-Rangers also have participated in seminars held at Google Israel offices. These included lectures by Google representatives and our partners on digital citizenship, free speech on the net, Google online safety tools and YouTube content policies.

We recently held the graduation for our inaugural Web-Rangers "class." The Israel Ministry of Education’s Head of the Online Child Safety Division participated. She invited the Web-Rangers to take part in the Ministry’s “National Safe Internet Day” and present their projects in schools around the country.

While the Web Rangers started as a Google initiative, the young adults brought the project to life, developed it, and made it their own. The two Web-Rangers who presented the best work, Elad Yam and Yosi Klein, (both from 11th grade) will soon travel to Google’s offices in London to present their work. We look forward to continuing to learn from these creative teenagers about how to create a safe Internet.

Posted by Doron Avni, Policy Manager, Israel