Europe Blog
Our views on the Internet and society
Powering our Finnish data center with Swedish wind energy
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
What do a Swedish wind farm developer, a German insurance company and Google’s Finnish data center have in common? As of today, a lot. We’ve just inked agreements with
O2
and
Allianz
to supply our Finnish data center with renewable energy for the next 10 years—our fourth long-term agreement to power our data centers with renewable energy worldwide, and our first in Europe.
Here’s how it works: O2, the wind farm developer, has obtained planning approval to build a new 72MW wind farm at
Maevaara
, in Övertorneå and Pajala municipality in northern Sweden, using highly efficient 3MW wind turbines. We’ve committed to buying the entire output of that wind farm for 10 years so that we can power our Finnish data center with renewable energy. That agreement has helped O2 to secure 100% financing for the construction of the wind farm from the investment arm of German insurance company Allianz, which will assume ownership when the wind farm becomes operational in early 2015.
This arrangement is possible thanks to Scandinavia’s integrated electricity market and grid system, Nord Pool. It enables us to buy the wind farm’s output in Sweden with Guarantee of Origin certification and consume an equivalent amount of power at our data center in Finland. We then “retire” the Guarantee of Origin certificates to show that we’ve actually used the energy.
As a carbon neutral company, our goal is to use as much renewable energy as possible—and by doing so, stimulate further production. The Maevaara wind farm not only allows us to make our already
highly energy-efficient
Finnish data center even more sustainable, it also meets our goal of adding new renewable energy generation capacity to the grid.
Of course, using renewable energy is good for the environment, but it also makes long term financial sense. That’s why, in addition to protecting ourselves against future increases in power prices through long-term purchasing for our operations, we also invest in new renewable energy projects that will deliver a return for our money. In recent years we’ve committed more than $1 billion to such projects in the
U.S.
,
Germany
and, just last week,
South Africa
. We’ll continue to look for similar opportunities around the globe.
Posted by Francois Sterin, Senior Manager, Global Infrastructure Team
Expanding Google Business Photos in Europe
Friday, May 31, 2013
Want to show off appealing images of your business? We've just expanded Google Maps
Business Photos program
to six new European countries including:
Belgium
,
Czech Republic
,
Germany
,
Poland
,
Russia
, and
Switzerland
.
The Business Photos program enables merchants to create 360-degree, interactive tours of their establishments. This imagery allows potential customers to look inside and explore businesses before they go.
Bohema restaurant in Szczecin, Poland
Are you a business owner?
If you are a business owner in any of these locations, joining the program is easy.
Simply hire a Trusted Photographer or Agency
to take pictures. Using Street View technology, the photographer will create panoramic images from the photo shoot and upload them. These images will be available automatically to anyone who searches for your business on Google.com, Google Maps, Google Maps for Mobile and on your Google+ page or Places for Business listing. If a local photographer isn’t yet available in your neighborhood,
let us know
and we’ll do our best to find a photographer for you.
Fat Cow Restaurant in Singapore
Photographers can sign up...
Whether you’re a professional photographer or photography agency we’d love to have you on board! We are recruiting more Trusted Photographers and Agencies. Please visit our website for
Trusted Photographers
and
Trusted Agencies
to learn more and sign up.
Posted by Deborah Schenker, Program Manager, Google Business Photos
Bringing bike directions to more of Europe
Monday, May 27, 2013
Back in 2012, we added
biking directions
to our maps for a number of countries in Europe. It proved to be a popular feature among cycling amateurs and enthusiasts. We're now delighted to announce that we are now enabling biking directions in Google Maps for Germany, France, Poland, Ireland, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein.
Like in other countries, we've added information about bike trails, lanes and recommended roads directly to the map. In some countries we’ve worked with partner organisations. In others users have added hundreds of kilometers of biking paths through Google Mapmaker.
How does it work?
I am a big tennis fan, so lets say I live in Hamburg and want to head over from my house in the suburbs to a tournament. I am able to grab my Android phone and ask Google Maps for the directions to the stadium. Google Maps will return a route that avoids busy streets and uses suitable bike paths. Time estimates for the route will be based on a complex set of variables accounting for the type of road, terrain and turns over the course of my ride. I also am able to turn by turn Navigation for my bike. I just plug earphones into my phone, switch over to Navigation and let Google Maps guide me through the city - just as from the car.
Of course, you can also use biking directions for a more challenging trip. As the season of big bike races in Europe has started, why not check what route Google suggests for a historical stage of the Tour de France? Our bicycle route for the classic stage from Biarritz to Bordeaux navigates on 206 beautiful, often car-free kilometers close to the Atlantic Ocean, compared to the rather boring 206 kilometers on the N10/A63 which is suggested for cars.
Regardless of the scope of your trip, roads and paths suitable for a bicycle are available by switching on the
biking directions legend
. This is designed to make it easy to find nearby trails for a recreational ride. Click on the widget at the top right of the map to turn on the "Bicycling” layer.
Suitable roads for riding your bicycle in Dublin, Ireland
One group of people who know where the best cycle paths are cyclists themselves! If you know about a new bike trail, please tell us. Either use the “Report a problem” link at the bottom right of the maps screen or jump into Google MapMaker and add the information to our maps.
A bike path on Google Mapmaker in Poland
We know that many avid cyclists have been awaiting this feature y, so head over to Google Maps and click ‘Get directions’ to try it. Then hop on your bike!
Posted by Kai Hansen, Product Manager, Geo, Zurich
Fostering online child safety in Germany
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Children love the web. Parents want to make sure their children surf safely. Enter a new online platform launched yesterday -
juki
.
Juki combines a video community, interactive lessons, an encyclopedia, and an animation studio, all designed with child safety in mind. It invites children from eight to 12-years-old to explore and participate. They can watch videos contributed by other kids and create and upload their own videos. The animation studio allows children to create their own animated short films. Children learn how to safely navigate the web, how to be creative while still taking care of copyright, and enjoy interactive lessons with quiz and games.
Juki is the latest initiative supported by Google in Germany to promote child safety and positive content for kids on the web. We helped the child-friendly search-engine
fragFINN
since its 2007 launch.
The juki project is part of the German government’s initiative
Ein Netz für Kinder
(A Net for Children) and is supported by the Federal Ministry for Families and Youth and the Federal Ministry Culture and Media. Other partners include the German child welfare association
DKHW
, and voluntary self-regulation organisation`s
FSF
and
FSM
.
The new platform builds in strong safety controls. Parents get involved in the registration process and are required to activate the accounts for their kids. We hope this will encourage both parents and kids to discuss and share online activities, while exploring, creating and learning on the web.
Posted by Sabine Frank, Policy Counsel, Germany
Training journalists to meet digital challenges
Friday, March 22, 2013
Much ink has been spilled about the challenges posed to the press by the digital age - but even more ought to be spilled about the opportunities of digital journalism. We are supporting
Editors’ Lab Hackdays
, a series of international workshops hosted by world-renowned newsrooms, to help fill this gap.
We recently hosted an
Editors' Lab
in Austria. German-language media groups from Austria, Germany and Switzerland were represented, including
Zeit Online
,
Der Standard
,
Neue Zurcher Zeitung
,
ORF
,
Der Spiegel
and
Vorarlberg Online
.
The theme of the Austrian
Editors’ Lab
was “Covering International Migration.” Participants were organised into teams and competed for a prize of EUR 5000 for the best new storytelling tools, applications and data journalism projects on international migration. “We want to encourage journalists, developers and designers to collaborate stories, even if they are all from different departments,” said Gerold Riedmann, CEO of Russmedia Digital and GEN Board Member.
Editors’ Lab
Austria included presentations and classes. On the opening day, Simon Rogers, Data Blog Editor at the Guardian, gave a keynote address. Adam Thomas, Founder of Hack/Hackers Berlin and Head of Communications of SourceFabric, taught a course on data journalism.
After Austria, there will be further
Editors’ Lab
Hackdays in Cairo, New York City, New Delhi, and Amsterdam. All the winners receive an invitation to the final GEN News Hackathon at the
GEN News Summit
in Paris from June 19 to 21, 2013.
Posted by Wolfgang Fasching-Kapfenberger, Communications and Public Affairs Manager
Making the web work for Germany
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
When our Vice President
Matt Brittin
first visited Berlin it was 1985 and he was a competitor in the Rowing World Championships. The city, then divided, is now reunited as the capital of one of the world’s most prosperous countries and Matt was delighted to return to give a keynote speech today in front of 700 distinguished guests at an exciting conference called
Kompetenzzentrum Wirtschaftsrat
.
This year’s conference focuses on the significant economic opportunities offered by the Internet. If Germany is going to keep up with its remarkable economic record, Matt told the audience that the country will need to win on the Internet. The good news, he added, is that German business has already started to use the web well, in fact a 2011
study by Bitkom
found that 11% of German GDP and jobs depended on businesses using the web.
Matt Brittin speaks in Berlin
Matt greets German Minister of Economics and Technology Philipp Rosler
Small businesses are leading the way. a bakery from Dresden that sells Christmas cakes, has used web advertising to expand beyond its one local shop - and export to Japan, Mexico, Canada and more. Large industrial businesses are also waking up to the opportunity. Matt spoke about how he recently visited Wolfsburg, home to Volkswagen, where 2.1 million people visited its showroom last year. Around the world people searched Google for VW and their models over five billion times, and viewed the company’s videos on YouTube more than 170 million times.
German industry is also proving adept at experimenting with new business models that take advantage of digital possibilities. A good illustration is
“Drive Now”
, the car-sharing business that’s a partnership between BMW and Sixt. Berlin is now considered to be home to among the
world’s most vibrant and fastest growing startup scenes
, and no wonder when you look at some of the businesses emerging:
SoundCloud
, launched in 2008, now claims to be world’s largest online community of artists, bands, podcasters and anyone creating music and audio content.
The potential for making the web work for growth, innovation and culture are tremendous and the Internet would be a poorer place if Germany were not to take up these opportunities. We at Google have recently called for more moonshot thinking - proposals that address huge problems by suggesting radical solutions that use breakthrough technology to make it happen. With a rich history of innovation from renowned carmaker Karl Benz to telecommunications pioneer Werner von Siemens it is about time for the next moonshot made in Germany, powered by the web.
Posted by Sandro Gianella, Public Policy & Government Relations Analyst, Berlin
Promoting tolerance on YouTube in Germany
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
The Internet often is criticized for allowing violent, intolerant views to be heard, but it also can be used to teach tolerance. In just one example, we recently launched a campaign in Germany called
361° Respekt
, an online video competition in Germany that asks students 13 years old or over to create and upload YouTube videos that show what tolerance means to them.
YouTube long has promoted safety and respect on its site. Our
Safety Center
features tips, tools and advice for users, parents and educators. Viewers are encouraged to report inappropriate content by
flagging videos
that they believe are not in line with our
Community Guidelines
or that should be
age-restricted
. In addition to flagging, channels and/or comments can be reported using our
Help and Safety Tool
and last year we launched the
YouTube Digital Citizenship Curriculu
m designed for educators and students.
Many new partners have joined us in promoting this message through 361° Respekt. They range from international organizations such as
Unesco
, to youth groups such as
Jugendschutz.net
and the health insurer
Techniker Krankenkasse.
Dr. Kristina Schröder
, the Federal Minister for Youth and Family Affairs, is serving as patron for the project and posted a video on her YouTube Channel in support.
A jury will now be assembled and choose a winner at the beginning of April. The project will continue with the creation of a 361° news platform. It will publicise and report on initiatives in Germany designed to foster tolerance and respect.
Posted by Mounira Latrache, Communications and Public Affairs, Hamburg
Exploring the web at Winterakademie 2013
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
During the winter holidays, 100 kids and teens from Berlin gathered for the 8th
Winterakademie
at
Theater an der Parkaue
, one of the biggest children’s theatres in Germany.
The goal of this annual event is to provide an opportunity for young people to immerse themselves in a topic and express it through the medium of art and theatre. In previous years, attendees have explored themes such as identity, future and money. This year’s choice was “if we were the web”—a topic Google was delighted to support.
Working with drama teachers and other experts to get their creativity flowing, those attending explored many different facets of the web. For example:
A group of 8 to 11 year olds focused on the concept of an Internet of things. They constructed a model home from cardboard and fluorescent tape. On shelves, closets, tables, the dishwasher and fridge they attached
RFID tags
connected to self-recorded audio samples—presenting their visions for smart living.
A team of 16 to 20 year olds put the web to work raising money for the World Food Programme. Starting with a giveaway ballpoint pen, they set out to swap it for increasingly valuable objects until they got a mansion. While that goal proved overly ambitious, during the course of the event they did succeed in exchanging objects to the value of 1,600 Euros -- bringing on board two politicians and getting
their story in a local newspaper
.
I was delighted to take part, joining attendees over lunch to speak about web-based collaboration and Google’s perspectives on the future of communication. In the lively discussion that followed, I enjoyed hearing their thoughts, concerns and philosophies on this and many other Internet-related topics.
Overall, the event was great fun as well as a great learning opportunity for all those who took part. It’s clear the future of the web is bright in their creative hands.
Posted by Sabine Frank, Policy Counsel, Berlin
The sky is rising for Europe’s content industries
Friday, February 8, 2013
The Internet is sometimes accused of damaging the traditional entertainment industry. But a new study shows that the opposite is true: the Internet is driving creativity and revenue opportunities in a way never before seen. The report, sponsored by
CCIA,
a trade association that counts Google as a member, and produced by market research firm
Floor64
. It concludes that both production and revenues are increasing in six key European markets for the book, video game, film, and music industries.
A
previous version
published in 2012 concluded that rising consumer spending likely boosted the entertainment industry in the United States by 50 percent in the decade since 2000.
The
present report
looks at France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Spain, and the United Kingdom. It shows how the Internet offers creators and artists opportunities to thrive. Technology and online platforms are helping creators make more money every year, both online and offline. The eBook market, for example, saw double-digit growth in all jurisdictions studied between 2010 to 2011.
The Internet brings big benefits to content makers. It lowers their cost of production and distribution, while opening up a new online market. In Germany, for example,
Sami Slimani
started a lifestyle and fashion channel on YouTube and now has hundreds of thousands of subscribers and over 70 millions views. In the UK, The
Slow Mo Guys
began experimenting with high-speed cameras in 2004 and now have well over a million subscribers to their YouTube channel.
Online platforms are expanding fast. On YouTube, video uploads have been increasing exponentially. By the end of 2012, more than 72 hours of video was being uploaded to YouTube every minute, a 30% jump from the beginning of the year. YouTube is also paying out more money to our partners. Thousands of channels are now earning over six-figures a year. The music industry alone is currently making hundreds of millions of dollars annually from having their content on YouTube.
We are in a time of transition from one model of production and distribution of media and culture. While certainly that transition won’t be easy for everyone, the future remains bright for European artists, creators, and the industries that support them.
Posted by Alex Kozak,, Public Policy and Government Relations Analyst
Celebrating five decades of Franco-German friendship
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
France and Germany today celebrate 50 years since the signing of the Elysee Treaty in Paris by French President Charles de Gaulle and German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer. The treaty marked a dramatic move away from hostility towards an era of unprecedented cooperation. The two nations soon came together as founding members of the European Union and to forge a partnership that would usher in an era of peace and prosperity in Europe.
We have worked with the
German-Franco Institute
,
German-Franco University
and
The Office for French-German Youth
to put together a
series of online exhibitions
which tell the stories behind this Franco-German friendship.
Videos
,
photos
,
documents
and expert commentary tell the human impact of the accord and chart the exchanges, academic cooperation and friendships launched by the treaty.
From
cultural institute
A particular highlight is a digital copy of the original
Elysee Treaty
supplied by the
German Foreign Office
. Visitors may zoom in to read the details of the agreement. Videos from the
Memory of the Nation
project explain what the postwar political relationship has meant to ordinary citizens. Testimony from people present in the crowd during De Gaulle’s
speech
to the German Youth calling Germany a ‘great nation’ and
photos
from the 300,000 exchanges between French and German youths help to capture the spirit of the new partnership. Around 170 multimedia items chart the history of how the Treaty led to the formation of the European Union and the evolution of the French-German relationship to the
present day
.
As well as being available online, our exhibitions and other information about the Franco-German partnership are being displayed in the German Foreign Office in Berlin and were unveiled by Deputy Minister of the German Foreign Office, Georg Michael Link, and the French Minister for European Affairs, Bernard Cazeneuve. The displays are open to the public until mid-March, additional information can be found
here
.
The five decades of Franco-German partnership represent the latest chapter in the work of the Google Cultural Institute, which aims to promote and preserve culture online. You can explore all its exhibitions on
www.google.com/culturalinstitute
and follow us on our
Google+ page
.
Posted by Philipp Bieberstein, Google Cultural Institute
Celebrating online entrepreneurs who 'shine online'
Friday, November 30, 2012
What do you get if you combine a
Chinese language school
based in Spain and run by an Italian, a
travel information company
from the UK and a
German online tennis shop
? The answer: the winners of the
euronews Business Awards competition 2012
, which were sponsored by Google.
The three winners were in Brussels yesterday evening for a prize-giving ceremony. Each received a trophy, a Galaxy Nexus phone and a Chromebook, as well as training about how to make the most of the web from Google experts. And best of all, euronews made a mini-documentary about each of the winners, which will be aired on the euronews network and on
YouTube
.
Back in
September
, we launched the competition to find interesting stories of small and medium sized businesses using the internet to successfully attract customers, grow their market share or go global. From
pig farms
to
cooking schools
, more than 100 small businesses sent in their video submissions, reminding us of the vast array of businesses benefiting from the web.
A panel of expert judges whittled down all the video entries to a final shortlist of 15, it was up to members of the public to vote for their favourite videos in each of the three categories: Growing Online; Going International; and Women in Business. Over 4,000 people across Europe participated in the competition by watching the videos and voting for their favourites.
Times are tough across Europe but in Rostock, a town with one of the highest unemployment rates in Germany,
centercourt.de
has thrived online for over 12 years.
Orientalmente
's story demonstrates how the web helps entrepreneurs get new ideas off the ground quickly, creating new jobs in Spain, where finding work is very tough at the moment. And
MyDestination.com
shows how it's possible to build a global business in double quick time thanks to the Internet. All three winners are a timely reminder of how the internet helps small businesses in any part of Europe grow.
Posted by Al Verney, Senior Communications Manager, Google Brussels
Defending the open Web in Germany
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
For years now, you’ve been able to type a few words into your computer and get answers from an ever-growing sea of websites. Soon, however, this could change. The German Parliament this week begins debating a proposal for a new law which threatens to change the web as we’ve known for the last two decades - and make finding online information much more difficult in future.
That’s why today we’re launching an information campaign,
Dein Netz
, to give the facts about the proposed law and to invite you to contribute to the debate, in person and online.
German news publishers are seeking to extend dramatically the reach of copyright law. Today it prevents copying of articles, but the proposals would place restrictions on even a ‘snippet’ of an article, such as is common found in search engine results. Snippets help people understand, compare and evaluate which websites to visit. If enacted, the law would force search engines, news aggregators and many other online services that help people locate information online to contract with publishers in order to show a snippet of what is available.
That would be complete reversal of the legal situation today where the display of snippets is permitted. The European Journalism Centre recently compared this to asking “your
local newsstand
... to pay royalties for exhibiting the papers and magazines” it has on display. From then on, the simple act of linking or displaying snippets would become fraught with legal risk.
It would also be a reversal of the practices we see on the web today. When Google’s web crawler requests copies of pages from a publisher’s website, it is clear from where the request comes, and it is for the publisher to decide whether their server responds. In fact, virtually all publishers welcome crawlers and many voluntarily provide specific additional information to help crawlers find pages (in the form of a
sitemap
). A further set of highly refined controls is also available to publishers through the robots exclusion protocol that we have
blogged
in the past.
The end result is that, as one of many ways people find news content, Google News and Google search sends around four billion clicks through to publishers each month. That’s significant for us because there is no advertising on
Google News
in Europe. But Google is frequently one of the advertising service providers for the major news publishers (even of our most vocal critics in this debate), so our opportunity to make money is when users click on a link and go to the site of of one of our partners in the news industry. Looked at globally and across all web publishing businesses, Google shared $7 billion of advertising revenue last year.
We want to build win-win ways to partner with publishers. What we want to avoid is a system that puts the brakes on the open Internet, limits choice for people looking for information, and dramatically raises the cost of online innovation.
Please take a few minutes to look through our campaign site. Please get involved. You only have a limited amount of time to defend your Internet!
Posted by Simon Hampton, Director, Public Policy, Europe
Google Play music arrives in Europe
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Music lovers rejoice! There’s now an even easier way to manage and listen to your music. Today
music on Google Play
is live in the UK, Germany, France, Spain and Italy.
Google Play lets you store 20,000 songs from your existing music collection in a personal library in the cloud, so you can access it from all your devices. In addition, our new matching feature streamlines the process of uploading your music, so it will be added to your library even more quickly. Both of these we offer free of charge.
You can also buy new music from your favourite artists and build out your collection. We’ll automatically sync your entire music library—both purchases and uploads— so you can listen across all your devices. No need to worry about cables, file transfers or running out of storage space. Even listen when you’re offline - simply “pin” the playlists and albums you want and they’ll be available on your Android device. And for any song you’ve purchased on Google Play, you can share a free full listen with your friends on Google+.
We’ve partnered with all the major record labels and thousands of indie labels to sell their music in Google Play. And if you’re a talented, unsigned or independent musician looking for your big break, check out the
Google Play artist hub
, a great way to sell your music directly to fans.
Check out Google Play today. It will be music to your ears.
Posted by Paul Joyce, product manager for Google Play
Bringing the US election to Berlin
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Last night, the US election came to Berlin in a big way. More than 2000 people from the worlds of politics, media and business convened in Deutsche Telekom’s historic Telegraph Building to follow the action and debate the election live - in person, on air, and
online
.
German public broadcaster
ZDF
anchored its election reporting from the event - one of the largest held anywhere outside the US. For our part, we teamed up with ZDF and the
American Academy
in Berlin, who used Google+ technology to host two live “Transatlantic Election Hangouts”.
The Hangouts featured Bundestag President
Norbert Lammert
, Die Zeit editor
Josef Joffe
, former German Ambassador to the US
Wolfgang Ischinger
and President of the Brookings Institution,
Strobe Talbott
. The discussions were broadcast live to the web as "Hangouts on Air" for politically interested European citizens and people around the world on Google+ and YouTube. ZDF also integrated Hangouts on Air with bloggers in the US into their live programming.
Alongside ZDF, Deutsche Telekom, Google and the American Academy, the event was co-hosted by organisations including the US Embassy in Berlin, the American Chamber of Commerce, Tagesspiegel and the German Newspaper Association (VDZ) among others - each of whom welcomed guests to their own booths.
On the Google stand, guests were able to access a wide range of information via the
Google elections
page, including results displayed state by state on a Google Map in real time, live reporting on YouTube by US broadcasters and newspapers, and the volume of search queries by state for each candidate. Prominent guests including US-ambassador Philip D. Murphy and the Head of the SPD fraction in the German Bundestag
Frank-Walter Steinmeier
dropped by to take a look. Every two hours our guests were able to chat with Google’s election team in Washington DC via Hangout to get the freshest insights into how the race was playing out online.
When the event kicked off at 7pm last night, we knew it was going to be an exciting night. Thanks to the Internet, we - and citizens across Germany and around the world - were able to follow the action in real time, see the results come in and discuss and debate with people on the ground in the US. When we left the building at 7am, bleary-eyed and exhausted, we knew just how close a race it had been.
Posted by Ralf Bremer, Senior Manager Communications and Public Affairs, Google Germany
German senior citizens show "the beautiful side of the Net"
Friday, November 2, 2012
Earlier this year, we launched a program in Germany to encourage senior citizens to go online. After spending quality time
talking individually with over 800 senior citizens
about how older people like to use the Internet, we ran a competition called
“We’ll show you! The beautiful sides of the Internet”
, together with our partners
Deutschland sicher im Netz
(Germany Safe Online) and
BAGSO
(the Federal Association of Senior Citizens’ Organisations).
This week, at an awards ceremony at Google’s Berlin office, more than 90 guests from government, civil society and industry celebrated the achievements of the winners. A jury chose
the best entrants in three categories
- Experience Report, Video and Website - and also gave a special award to three friends who meet online to share presentations and research via online video chat.
We also conducted a survey with our partners, which showed some positive developments - for example, that in the age range 51-85, more than 80% of men and women already use email to communicate with friends and family - and more than 75% use search engines to find information.
In many areas, however, the survey suggested that German senior citizens were not being well served online. Little information exists online on leisure offerings for older generations such as holidays, sport, and fashion. And
like senior citizens in the UK
, they wanted to see more attention paid to developing online services that enhance social inclusion and improve care for the elderly.
Older people - a long overlooked audience on the Net - are catching on to the possibilities of the online world. We’re committed to helping improve things for them.
Posted by Sabine Frank, Media Literacy Policy Counsel, Berlin
The facts about our position on French copyright proposals
Thursday, October 18, 2012
There has been some interest around an extract from a note we have prepared about a proposal by French news publishers associations to require search engines to license all of the content that they help users to find across the web.
The web has led to an explosion of content creation, by both professional and citizen journalists. So it's not a secret that we think a law like the one proposed in France and Germany would be very damaging to the internet. We have said so publicly for three years.
In order to shed light on the reasons that lead us to believe that this law is detrimental to French users, innovation on the Internet and ultimately to the news publishers themselves, we decided to post the note in its entirety. We have always been and remain committed to collaborate with French Publishers associations as they experiment and develop sustainable economic models on the Internet.
Posted by Olivier Esper, Director, Public Policy, France
Debating the future of Europe’s Single Market
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
“Europe wake up! We will only return to growth and prosperity if we complete the Single Market.”
This motion will be
debated tonight at 19:00 CET
, live via Google+ Hangout on Air and on YouTube.
European Commissioner
Michel Barnier
will open the debate. Four EU experts - from the left and the right of the political spectrum and each with an axe to grind - will argue for and against the motion. Via Google+ Hangouts, the experts will cross-examine witnesses - including
journalists
,
academics
,
economists
and
entrepreneurs
from Ireland, Poland, Germany, France and Greece - to convince you they’re right. Veteran journalist and broadcaster
Christine Ockrent
will moderate.
The debate takes place just a few days before the EU marks the
Single Market’s 20th anniversary
. When it was launched in 1992, the Commission’s bold attempt to construct a seamless, truly tariff-free, pan-European market stimulated a wave of ‘Europtimism’. Now, with Europe facing challenging economic times, the Single Market’s importance to Europe is being re-examined.
You can have your say by voting on the motion - both before and after the debate - via
youtube.com/versusdebates
.
You can also join the discussion by adding your comments and questions to the
+Versus Google+ page
during the debate. The best questions, as decided by the debate organiser, Intelligence Squared, will be put to the panel, live on air.
Posted by Al Verney, Senior Communications Manager, Google
Stepping up on free expression in Germany
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Until now, the
German Foreign Ministry
had sponsored one main conference on the Internet - focusing on cybersecurity. Last week, it held a new conference focusing on the counterpart -
cyberfreedom
.
Google was happy to sponsor, along with many others including Microsoft and the eco ( Association of German Internet Industry). In a video address, our Chief Internet Evangelist
Vint Cerf
warned the assembled 120 international experts from the political, academic and business sectors as well as from civil society that the open Internet is threatened as never before. More than 40 countries now censor or filter the net, up from only four a decade ago. "A new international battle is brewing,” Vint said, “a battle that will determine the future of the Internet."
The
conference
coincided with a particularly tense time for Internet free expression, just as an anti-Islam video sparked protests in Egypt and Libya. Foreign Minister
Guido Westerwelle
condemned the video, while insisting that it was no excuse for violence. The fundamental principles of German Cyber Foreign Policy were: freedom, responsibility and transparency,” he said.
Another recent event in Berlin highlighted Google’s commitment to free speech - the second Speakers Corner. Last year, we partnered with
Speakers Corner Trust
to export a bit of Hyde Park to Berlin. Together with our partners, we
celebrated
the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall at the Brandenburg Gate.
This year, we moved the event forward to ensure better weather and to the main site of the protests against the East German communist regime - Alexanderplatz. A wide range of speakers from politics, digital activism, journalism and civil society groups spoke about everything from the future of online piracy to the challenges of a united Germany. It was a joyous occasion - just what we mean by free expression.
Posted by William Echikson, Head of Free Expression, Europe, Middle East and Africa
Geeks gather for Campus Party in Berlin
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Among geeks, the
Campus Party
is the equivalent of Woodstock, a festival celebrating innovators and entrepreneurs. Previous editions took place in Latin and North America. Now the Campus Party is coming for the first time to Europe, this week taking over the recently closed and abandoned Tempelhof Airport in Berlin.
Google is proud to support and participate. Our Google booth will present its new contest for founders,
“Gruender-Garage,”
as well as hosting a
Startup Weekend
where startup enthusiasts work on their ideas for 54 hours supported by coaches and experts.
From August 22 to 24, we will support a Chrome Hackathon, “Your Data, Your Rules!”, aimed at creating new extensions to increase user privacy. Prizes will be announced at the booth on August 24 at 8 pm. The winners will be invited to present their findings to our Munich-based Chrome team and present their innovations at the next edition of our
Big Tent on Privacy
.
Berlin is an appropriate setting for this spirited geek gathering. While the
Economist
recently described in vivid detail the German capital’s thriving startup culture, the magazine also pointed out the factors that continue to hold back German entrepreneurs, such as their difficulty raising risk capital, hiring top flight managers, and overcoming regulation. Simon Hampton, Google’s Director Public Policy for the European Unionm will discuss these issues on Thursday at the Campus Party on a panel titled the
“GeekEconomy”
.
Recent studies show that the Internet represents a giant opportunity for German business. A a Cologne-based research firm
estimated
that German entrepreneurs have founded 28,000 new businesses using online services from Google and other web companies. These new businesses have created nearly 100,000 new jobs and generated EUR8.6 billion in annual sales.
The Berlin Campus Party is set to attract thousands of ambitious digital pioneers for its talks, workshops, competitions and hackathons. We hope it will spark a new generation of European innovators.
Posted by Sandro Gianella, Google Policy Team Berlin
Stimulating “garage-style” innovation in Germany
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Germany has been home to many groundbreaking innovators --
Gottlieb Daimler
,
Werner von Siemens
, and
Heinz Nixdorf
to name but a few. But those great entrepreneurs launched their business long before the Internet. As the Economist recently
reported
, Germany and the rest of Europe are struggling to breed digital entrepreneurs. “Most sources of capital will shun them,” the magazine wrote. “Regulations will shackle them. And when they fail, as most are sure to do, they will not be allowed just to dust themselves off and start all over again.”
Because we believe the Internet must help overcome these obstacles, we are launching a new competition for digital entrepreneurs. Its called the “Gruender-Garage.” Unlike many startup contests which focus exclusively on tech,
Gruender Garage
is aimed at early-stage entrepreneurs in any field. Having a great idea you can 'release early and iterate' will count for more than a polished business model when it comes to judging. Winners will be named in October, and Google will match successfully fundraised competition ideas until a prize pot of EUR 150,000 is depleted.
Our partners in this unique project include the
Entrepreneurship Foundation
and
Indiegogo
.
Berlin-based Entrepreneurship Foundation will run the contest’s initial learning phase. provide the online training materials. Its founder Professor Guenter Faltin is the author of the best-selling book “Head beats Capital” (
Kopf schlägt Kapital
), that gives advice to early-stage founders. He and his team organize an annual entrepreneurship summit in Berlin, where the winners of the Garage-contest will be announced.
After the learning phase, the contest will focus on funding. Candidates will seek their own capital through Indiegogo, the world's largest platform and pioneer in crowdfunding. Gruender-Garage represents Indiegogo's first localised platform developed for the European market.
Recession and the euro crisis means Germany and the rest of Europe need to encourage new business creation. As many big European companies shed staff, startups - born in a garage or somewhere else - can pick up much of the slack.
Posted by Max Senges and Ralf Bremer, Google Berlin
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