Europe Blog
Our views on the Internet and society
Digital News Initiative: First Funding Brings EUR 27m to Projects in 23 Countries
Wednesday, February 24, 2016
In October, we issued an open call for applications to the first round of the
Digital News Initiative Innovation Fund.
The EUR 150m fund is designed to spark new thinking and give European news organisations of all sizes the space to try some new things, experiment and innovate in the digital space.
Today, at Sciences Po in Paris, Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google,
announced
that 128 organisations hailing from 23 European countries are being offered funding. All told, just over EUR 27m in funding will be put to work in projects large and small to advance innovation across the industry.
We can’t dive deep into details as recipients are still being notified, but here are a few projects that demonstrate new thinking in the practice of digital journalism, and who we’re particularly proud to be offering funding.
Spain’s
eldiario.es
will create a new journalism funding system that will identify niche groups of audiences and invite them to fund a specific story or top up the financial gap in an important area of coverage. Building on a traditional crowd-funding model, the project will leverage the existing relationship between the news organisation behind the platform and a community of millions of readers.
The German startup
Spectrm
will build an artificial intelligence engine to help publishers communicate directly with readers--and distribute content--on a 1:1 basis through instant messaging apps.
For a primer/reminder on how the Fund works and is governed,
click here
, and for the full list of projects when confirmed, please check the DNI website as we will be updating it. We’ll be opening the application cycle again before the summer and we look forward to receiving even more big ideas in the next round of applications.
But as we shared in April at the launch of the Digital News Initiative, a collaboration with European news organisations to support high quality journalism through technology and innovation--product development is as important to the effort as funding is. To continue to demonstrate that, our teams in Mountain View had even more to share with the news industry this week.
Beginning today
Accelerated Mobile Pages
, the open-source code project that enables the loading of mobile news content up to 4x faster than traditional HTML, will begin
appearing in Google Search
in a dedicated carousel to help users find super fast content even faster. Today publishers and platforms from six European countries are celebrating that update alongside us, as well as significant advancements in the advertising, analytics and paywall features of the product.
Additionally, Project Shield, an effort born out of
Jigsaw
, formerly Google Ideas, will help news sites better protect themselves from DDoS attacks, particularly in parts of the world where accurate information from independent journalists is more important than ever. This project, which has been in beta, will now become a tool available for independent news organizationseven more widely at
g.co/shield
.
As of today, the
Digital New Initiative
is a collaboration between Google and more than
160 news publishers
across Europe. We’re incredibly proud of the progress we’ve made together thus far--and are excited for the continued possibilities down the road.
Ludovic Blecher, Head of Digital News Initiative Innovation Fund
AMPing up in mobile Search
Wednesday, February 24, 2016
Cross posted from the Official Google Blog
Access to information is at the heart of Google’s mission. Unfortunately, today, the mobile web isn't living up to the expectations people have for getting the information they need, particularly when it comes to speed. In fact, data shows that people abandon websites after just
three seconds
if the content doesn't load quickly—which is bad not just for people trying to get what they want online, but for the publishers who want those readers to enjoy the content they've created for them. That's why, last October, we joined others across the industry on the
Accelerated Mobile Pages Project
(AMP for short), an open source initiative to make the mobile web as fast as possible.
In just over four months, AMP has come a long way, with hundreds of publishers, scores of technology companies and ad-tech businesses all taking part in this joint mission to improve the mobile web for everyone. And starting today, we’ll make it easy to find AMP webpages in relevant mobile search results, giving you a lightning-fast reading experience for top stories.
Now when you search for a story or topic on Google from a mobile device, webpages created using AMP will appear when relevant in the Top Stories section of the search results page. Any story you choose to read will load blazingly fast—and it’s easy to scroll through the article without it taking forever to load or jumping all around as you read. It’s also easy to quickly flip through the search results just by swiping from one full-page AMP story to the next.
AMP is great for browsing the web on mobile devices, because webpages built with AMP load an average of four times faster and use 10 times less data than equivalent non-AMP pages. In many cases, they’ll load instantly. It's how reading on the mobile web should be—fast, responsive and fun.
While helping people find fast AMP content through Google Search is a significant step, there’s still a lot of work ahead for the
open source AMP Project
. Still, it’s been thrilling to see how the industry has come together to work on this common goal of making the mobile web great for everyone. And given the potential AMP holds for other types of content, we’re excited about what the future holds.
Posted by David Besbris, VP Engineering, Search
Renewing Our Pledge To Make Europe Digital
Wednesday, February 24, 2016
One year ago in
Brussels I set out
Google’s promise
to train one million Europeans in digital skills by the end of 2016, responding to EU research suggesting nearly a million jobs by 2020 will not be filled due to a lack of these skills. We have seen such a huge level of demand for the training--helping Europeans with skills that will help businesses to grow faster and to increase jobs and exports-- that, in just half the time we anticipated, we
have already reached that goal. Now Google will aim even higher. Today, at our event with Friends of Europe, I shared our plans to double our commitment to
train a total of two million
Europeans in digital skills
.
To be clear, this project is for everyone. Succeeding online shouldn’t just be for the privileged few. We want all Europeans, regardless of age, background or location to benefit. To that end, we’ve provided online training, created programs with universities and worked with
microfinance organizations
to find companies ready to grow. Take
student consultancy Fleed
, a participant in our
Activate
course in Spain, which helps connects students who want to go abroad with the right universities. Our programmes are running
all across Europe
helping groups like Fleed- from
helping German SMEs
to find markets abroad,
training unemployed Spanish youngsters
on digital skills to
helping young Italians with training and apprenticeships.
Spanish entrepreneur Tano Lopez from Fleed explained how he's grown his business using the Web
The people we've helped so far have done everything from opening
organic retreats in Greece
to creating
the
largest online angling channel in Scandinavia
. Through them we’ve learned that
e
very business is a digital business, and the web is your shop window for the world.
We love seeing Europe's traditional industries and strengths multiply as they go online, and we can't wait to see what the next million will achieve.
I
t's not just about getting traditional businesses on the web. A whole new industry--app development--is taking advantage of the global market of the Internet. They’re hugely successful in Europe, and according to
a recent report
Android has created more than 1.2 million jobs in Europe -- jobs that simply didn't exist before the web. Take
EyeEm
, acclaimed by users as "Instagram for people who take actual photos," which is based in Berlin and employs 70 people… and counts Brazil and the U.S. as two of its biggest markets.
That's a fundamental change. When many of us were growing up,
small businesses were local businesses
. O
nly huge multinationals could source products worldwide or afford the latest technology. But now, with digital tools built for billions, anyone can scale up their business. We are entering the age of "micro-multinationals," where a smart business idea can go global at the swipe of a finger.
At Google, we’re known for our Search Engine - but we are also proud to be an engine supporting economic growth. Search, Maps, YouTube and our advertising tools bring new customers from down the street or across the planet. We help entrepreneurs as well. We are investing in tech startup communities in London, Madrid, Berlin and Warsaw. GV, our venture capital fund, is investing in European businesses and encouraging others to do the same.
Stories like these are the reason we gathered dozens of businesses in Brussels today and asked for their ideas on how to get Europe growing again. As the entrepreneurs creating jobs, exports, sales and profits, they have the best ideas on what will really help. One message was clear:
they want a single digital market across the continent.
With the web removing borders for marketing, sharing and doing deals, why should they remain for billing, tax and delivery? The two million people we train up need a complete single market, on and off, to make the most of their new skills, and to help Europe grow faster.
Posted by: Matt Brittin, President for Google Europe, Middle East and Africa
Building a safer web, for everyone (WIP)
Tuesday, February 9, 2016
Today is
Safer Internet Day
, a moment for
technology companies,
nonprofit organizations, security firms, and people around the world to focus on online safety, together. To mark the occasion, we’re rolling out new tools, and some useful reminders, to help protect you from online dangers of all stripes—phishing, malware, and other threats to your personal information.
1. Keeping security settings simple
The
Security Checkup
is a quick way to control the security settings for your Google Account. You can add a recovery phone number so we can help if you’re ever locked out of your account, strengthen your password settings, see which devices are connected to your account, and more. If you complete the Security Checkup by February 11, you’ll also get
2GB of extra Google Drive storage
, which can be used across Google Drive, Gmail, and Photos.
Safer Internet Day is a great time to do it, but you can—and should!—take a Security Checkup on a regular basis.
Start your Security Checkup by visiting
My Account
.
2. Informing Gmail users about potentially unsafe messages
If you and your Grandpa both use Gmail to exchange messages, your connections are
encrypted
and
authenticated
. That means no peering eyes can read those emails as they zoom across the web, and you can be confident that the message from your Grandpa in size 48 font (with no punctuation and a few misspellings) is really from him!
However, as our
Safer Email Transparency Report
explains, these things are not always true when Gmail interacts with other mail services. Today, we’re introducing changes in Gmail on the web to let people know when a received message was not encrypted, if you’re composing a message to a recipient whose email service doesn’t support TLS encryption, or when the sender’s domain couldn’t be authenticated.
Here’s the notice you’ll see in Gmail before you send a message to a service that doesn’t support
TLS encryption
.
You’ll also see the broken lock icon if you receive a message that was sent without TLS encryption.
If you receive a message that can’t be authenticated, you’ll see a question mark where you might otherwise see a profile photo or logo:
For more information, check out the
Gmail
and Google for Work blogs.
3. Protecting you from bad apps
Dangerous apps that phish and steal your personal information, or hold your phone hostage and make you pay to unlock it, have no place on your smartphone—or any device, for that matter.
Google Play helps protect your Android device by rejecting bad apps that don’t comply with our
Play policies
. It also conducts more than 200 million daily security scans of devices, in tandem with our
Safe Browsing
system, for any signs of trouble. Last year, bad apps were installed on fewer than 0.13% of Android devices that install apps only from Google Play.
Learn more about these, and other Android security features — like app sandboxing,
monthly security updates
for Nexus and other devices, and our
Security Rewards Program
—in new research we’ve made public on our Android blog.
4. Busting bad advertising practices
Malicious advertising “botnets” try to send phony visitors to websites to make money from online ads. Botnets threaten the businesses of honest advertisers and publishers, and because they’re often made up of devices infected with malware, they put users in harm’s way too.
We've worked to keep botnets out of our ads systems, cutting them out of advertising revenue, and making it harder to make money from distributing malware and
Unwanted Software
.
Now, as part of
our effort to
fight bad ads online
, we’re reinforcing our existing botnet defenses
by automatically filtering traffic from three of the top ad fraud botnets, comprising more than 500,000 infected user machines. Learn more about this update on the
Doubleclick blog
.
Online security and safety are being discussed more often, and with more urgency, than ever before. We hope you’ll take a few minutes today to learn how Google protects your data and how we can work toward a safer web, for everyone.
Posted by Gerhard, VP Security and Privacy
Helping refugees access education and information
Tuesday, January 26, 2016
Ahmed is an economics student from Aleppo in Syria. Last year he was forced to leave his hometown because of the war that has forced millions of his compatriots out of their country. He left his family and his studies—everything—behind to find a better future in Europe. Now safe in Berlin, his dream is to continue his studies and eventually become a teacher at a university in Germany.
As they make it through a dangerous journey, the first thing refugees need is to find shelter, food and access to care. But soon enough, they have to learn the local language, acquire skills to work in a new country, and figure out a way to continue their studies—all in an effort to reclaim and reconnect with the lives they had before.
Last fall, we
shared
how we’re supporting organizations on the frontline of providing essential humanitarian relief support. But we also wanted to do something to help with refugees’ long-term challenges, such as the need for access to information and education. So today, we’re making a $5.3 million Google.org grant to support the launch of Project Reconnect, a program by
NetHope
to equip nonprofits working with refugees in Germany with Chromebooks, in order to facilitate easier access to education for refugees like Ahmed.
Chromebooks have proven to be a good fit for education purposes. They can be easily set up to run education or language learning apps. They’re automatically kept up to date with the latest features, apps and virus protection. And they can be configured and managed by a central administrator (in this case the nonprofits) to offer relevant programs, content and materials depending on the situation. For example, they can run an educational game for children, a language course for younger adults or even feature information about the asylum application process on a pre-installed homepage.
Nonprofits can apply today on
this website
. Many organizations and their staff are doing incredible work in very difficult circumstances to help with this crisis. We hope that by supporting these nonprofits, we can help people like Ahmed on the next step of their journey.
Posted by Jacquelline Fuller, Director of Google.org
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NyO22rEaB6c/Vqa50axfoMI/AAAAAAAARx8/DuUaNLtwFT0/s1600/Reconnect_hero.jpg
Jacquelline Fuller
Director
Google.org
From self-portraits to street art: 1,000 museums at your fingertips
Thursday, January 21, 2016
The history of art is global. Look at Van Gogh—a Dutchman who spent much of his life in France, and was inspired not only by his contemporaries but also by Japanese artists like
Hiroshige
. But until recently, the act of enjoying art and culture was limited by geography. Unless you could visit a museum in person, it would be hard for you to appreciate a work, brushstroke by brushstroke. And to fully understand the legacy of someone like Van Gogh, you would have to go from Amsterdam to Chicago to New York to Tokyo to discover and marvel at all of his influences, works and successors.
Left: Van Gogh’s self-portrait (Chicago), right: a street art re-interpretation (Amsterdam)
But with the
Google Cultural Institute
, it’s all just a few clicks away. Five years ago,
the first 17 museums
brought online a few hundred artworks so that anyone in the world could explore paintings, records and artifacts no matter where they were. Today, on our fifth birthday, the Google Cultural Institute has grown to include the collections of more than 1,000 museums and cultural institutions, with over 60 new ones added just today.
Starting today, you can
descend through the famous rotunda of the Guggenheim museum
in New York—a piece of art in itself—thanks to special aerial Street View imagery, or stroll the grand halls of the world’s heaviest building, the
Palace of Parliament in Romania
. View Monet’s famous water lilies
in super-high “gigapixel” resolution
and zoom in to see his layered brushstrokes—then visit
Monsieur Monet’s real-life garden
to see his inspiration.
From
“gigapixel” images
to
Street View inside museums
, today’s museums, galleries and theatres are turning to technology to help reach new audiences and inspire them with art and culture. And the possibilities keep expanding with the addition of newer technologies like virtual reality. Just recently we worked with the Dulwich Picture Gallery—England’s oldest public art gallery—to take the young patients of King’s College Hospital in London on a virtual field trip to the museum using Google Cardboard.
Young patients at King’s College Hospital, London, were the first to experience the
Dulwich Picture Gallery
in virtual reality
Virtual visits will never replace the real thing. But technology can help open up art and culture to everyone, and we think that’s a powerful thing. As you browse the Google Cultural Institute’s 6 million objects exploring humanity’s diverse heritage across 70 countries—from this
prehistoric equivalent of the Swiss Army knife
in the Netherlands, to the
Taj Mahal in India
and
manga drawings in Japan
—we hope you’ll agree.
Posted by Amit Sood, director of the Google Cultural Institute
IMAGE URL
Amit Sood
Director
Google Cultural Institute
The best things come in small (Street View!) packages
Wednesday, January 13, 2016
For those looking to relive their childhood dreams of being a conductor
of their own railway and playing with dollhouses, we have a Street View surprise for you: Hamburg’s famed
Miniatur Wunderland
, the world’s largest model railway, has come to Google Maps. Boasting 13,000 meters of track and more than 200,000 tiny citizens, the museum includes tiny replicas of a variety of German provinces, famous places in America and even a fully-functioning airport!
Street View cameras have floated on gondolas in
Venice
, ridden on camels in the
Liwa Desert
and soared on snowmobiles on
Canadian slopes
. But to capture the nooks and crannies in Miniatur Wunderland, we worked with our partner at
Ubilabs
to build an entirely new—and much smaller—device. Tiny cameras were mounted on tiny vehicles that were able to drive the roads and over the train tracks, weaving through the Wunderland’s little worlds to capture their hidden treasures.
Touring the marvels of Wunderland, you must first begin in its oldest section: Knuffingen, a fictional town situated squarely between the Alps and Harz. Become one of this tiny city’s 10,000 inhabitants: Stop by the city’s rustic
farmer’s market
, witness the
local fire department
spring into action when a building catches fire and even see a plane lift off from Knuffingen’s
airport
.
Farmers market in Knuffingen, Miniatur Wunderland with the Street View car driving by
You can also see a variety of real places designed with an eye for accuracy: a
soccer match
in Hamburg’s stadium, a
traditional town center
in central Germany, a rowdy
Oktoberfest celebration
and a replica of the famous
Neuschwanstein Castle
in Bavaria, and even the
ski slopes
of Austria. You can also glimpse the everyday lives of thousands of miniature citizens, as they
bike
,
camp
and
dance
their way around the Wunderland.
Wunderland figurines enjoying a parade in Hamburg
Then it’s a (very) short hop over to the U.S., where you can zoom through the valleys of the
Grand Canyon
, gambol down the strip in
Las Vegas
, and even stop by
Mount Rushmore
to salute past U.S. Presidents. Because we captured this imagery at “street level” within the Wunderland itself, you can observe many tiny details in Street View that are not visible even to visitors to the museum --
deep sea divers
at a county fair, farmers
riding a broomstick
, a
newly-married couple
on the steps of the courthouse and the
dancing crowds
at an outdoor concert.
See the bright lights in Las Vegas in Miniatur Wunderland
To see more of Miniatur Wunderland, including a
miniature Street View car
built to commemorate this joint project, explore our
Street View gallery
. As you navigate through this truly wonderful Wunderland, we think you’ll agree: when it comes to great views, size doesn’t matter!
Posted by Sven Tresp, Street View Program Manager
100 years on: explore Ireland's Easter Rising with Google
Tuesday, January 12, 2016
Editor's note:
To mark the centenary of the Easter Rising in Ireland, we have launched ‘
Dublin Rising 1916-2016
’, an interactive Google Street View tour which lets visitors virtually explore the city streets, events and people that shaped history 100 years ago. We’ve invited the Irish Minister for Arts and Heritage
Heather Humphreys TD
to write a guest post for the Google Europe blog, explaining the partnership.
In 2016 Irish people at home and abroad will mark the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising, when Irish people fought for their right to self governance. The Rising had a transformative impact and is recognised as the catalyst that ultimately led to the modern Ireland we have today.
The Ireland 2016 Centenary Programme includes more than 2,000 events in Ireland and another 1,000 internationally. Throughout we will remember our shared history on the island of Ireland; reflect on our achievements over the last 100 years and look ambitiously to our future.
In
Dublin Rising 1916-2016
, which has been launched by the Taoiseach (Prime Minister) of Ireland Enda Kenny, TD, today, Google is using its technologies to creatively enable millions of people around the world to share in Ireland’s 2016 commemorations and learn more about the events of 1916 right from their phone, tablet or computer.
This interactive Google Street View tour will allow visitors to virtually explore the city streets, events and people who shaped history 100 years ago. The tour, which is narrated by actor Colin Farrell, will bring visitors on a virtual tour around the Dublin of today, with the Dublin of 1916 overlaid.
Throughout the tour, visitors can stop at city centre locations in Dublin as they are today, hear what happened there and click to explore photos, videos and witness statements from the people of 1916. As a person stands looking at the General Post Office of today, for example, they’ll be able to see the General Post Office as it was 100 years ago, destroyed by shell fire. They’ll hear witness statements from rebels who fought there and hear the stories of all the different people involved.
President Michael D. Higgins recently said that the centenary offers all of us an opportunity to reflect on events of the past, so that we can build a future that honours the promise of equality and inclusiveness contained in the 1916 Proclamation. I want to thank the Google team, together with the historians and experts from Ireland 2016 and Century Ireland who through
Dublin Rising 1916-2016
have made our history accessible and are providing everyone with the opportunity to remember our past while celebrating our present and looking forward to the future.
You can explore Dublin Rising 1916-2016 here:
https://dublinrising.withgoogle.com/
Posted by Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Heather Humphreys TD
In the Digital Garage, small businesses learn to grow online
Friday, January 8, 2016
The internet has huge potential for small businesses, enabling them to reach new customers located far beyond their home town. Realising that potential requires digital skills, and at Google, we’re
committed
to helping businesses acquire those skills through programmes like the
Digital Garage
, which offers free, face-to-face training with local digital experts in five cities across the UK.
But small businesses have countless demands on their time. Every hour away from the coalface costs revenue, so a decision to attend external training needs to pay off. So we designed the Digital Garage programme to be laser-focused on the needs of local small businesses - and to be as practical and easily implemented as possible. We also commissioned IPPR North, a British think tank, to survey participants and find out how we were doing.
In Leeds and Birmingham, home to the first two Digital Garage sites, IPPR North interviewed participants after their first training session, and then reinterviewed them at six and twenty weeks after their initial visit. The results (full report
here
) were impressive:
88% of participants had made changes to the way they run their businesses online
27% had seen more sales or bookings
32% had seen an increase in customer numbers
49% had seen an increase in website visitor numbers
9% had hired additional staff to manage their digital work
Digital Garage attendees like Jonathon Blackburn help bring these statistics to life. He set up his building and property maintenance company The HouseMan in 2012, and was keen to use the web to reach new customers and expand his business. At the Digital Garage he received training on online advertising and within ten weeks was quoting for five times as much work and had taken on two new members of staff to meet the demand.
The Digital Garage programme doesn’t just benefit entrepreneurs - it also has an effect on the wider local community. In both Leeds and Birmingham, we worked together with local government and business leaders to find easily accessible venues for our Digital Garages that would drive awareness of the scheme. We also wanted to try and create a ripple effect in the community, attracting other businesses to the same location,
as we did at Birmingham city library
- enabling the library to extend its opening hours, to the benefit of the entire community.
In December 2015, we opened our third Digital Garage, in Manchester, and 2016 will see us open more across the UK. IPPR North will continue to evaluate our performance, helping us further increase the impact this project can make to the small businesses, entrepreneurs and future workers of the UK.
Posted by Katie O'Donovan, Public Policy and Government Relations Manager
Supporting Computer Science Education Across Europe
Monday, December 7, 2015
At Google, we’re committed to making sure Europeans have the right digital skills, pledging to train
up to one million Europeans
by the end of 2016. Since 2009, Google’s
Computer Science for High School
(CS4HS) programmes have supported over 20,000 teachers in their efforts to gain confidence in their understanding of computer science (CS) and learn valuable skills for teaching CS to students across the globe.
And starting today,
applications
are now being accepted for the
2016 CS4HS
Awards.
That is why we are encouraging colleges, universities, and educational non profits from countries across Europe, the Middle East and Africa
to apply for an award of up to €15,000.
Computer Science is at the heart of the digital economy in Europe. It is a discipline with a core set of scientific principles that can be applied to solve complex, real-world problems. In today's computing-imbued world, coding is the 'quill' of the 21st century, and knowledge of computer science is essential for the youth of Europe - not just for their future careers, but also to enable them to be active citizens in the digital world.
Despite a growing interest in computer science among young Europeans, recent
research
by Gallup (commissioned by Google) reveals that work still needs to be done when it comes to supporting teachers in their efforts to understand the critical principles of computer science.
In 2016, we are looking to fund applications that include strong plans for the establishment of new or existing communities of practice (COPs). These communities bring teachers together to encourage and support each other in their learning and ongoing professional development. This focus is grounded in a wide body of research (for example
Joyce & Showers, 2002
; and
Wiske, Stone, & Levinson, 1993
) demonstrating that COPs are a critical element for producing and sustaining innovation in the classroom.
Criteria vary from region to region so please visit the
CS4HS
website to learn more about the
eligibility requirements
and to
get started on your application
.
Applications will remain open until midnight (GMT), 15th February, 2016.
Join the
CS4HS Google+
community to connect with past CS4HS organizers and learn about HangOuts on Air we’ll be hosting during the application process.
We hope 2016 will provide many opportunities for Google to partner with the CS education community, and to grow and strengthen the CS teacher community around the globe. We hope you’ll be a part of it, and look forward to reviewing your application.
Posted by: Claire Conneely, CS4HS Program Manager, EMEA
Powering the Internet with renewable energy
Thursday, December 3, 2015
Today we're announcing the largest, and most diverse, purchase of renewable energy ever made by a non-utility company. Google has already committed to purchase more renewable energy than any other company. Now, through a series of new wind and solar projects around the world, we’re one step closer to our commitment to
triple our purchases of renewable energy by 2025
and our goal of powering 100% of our operations with clean energy.
842 MW of renewable energy around the world
Today’s agreements will add an additional 842 megawatts of renewable energy capacity to power our data centers. Across three countries, we’re nearly doubling the amount of renewable energy we’ve purchased to date. We’re now up to 2 gigawatts—the equivalent to taking nearly 1 million cars off the road.
These additional 842 megawatts represent a range of locations and technologies, from a wind farm in Sweden to a solar plant in Chile.
These long-term contracts range from 10-20 years and provide projects with the financial certainty and scale necessary to build these wind and solar facilities—thus bringing new renewable energy onto the grid in these regions. For our part, these contracts not only help minimize the environmental impact of our services—they also make good business sense by ensuring good prices.
Our commitment to a sustainable energy future
Since we opened our
very first owned data center
in 2006, we’ve been working to promote renewable and sustainable energy use in several ways:
First, we’re building the world’s most efficient computer infrastructure by
designing our data centers
to use as little energy as possible.
Second, we're driving the renewables industry forward by fully committing to renewable sources. In 2010, we entered our first large-scale
renewable power purchase agreement
with a wind farm in Iowa, and we subsequently
completed
a number of similar large-scale energy purchases over the past five years. Today’s announcement is another milestone in this area.
Third, we've worked with our utility partners to help promote transformation in the utility sector. In 2013 we
created a new program
that enables customers like Google to buy large amounts of renewable energy directly from their utilities. Today's announcement includes the
first solar project enrolled under that program
. And this past summer we announced that our newest data center will be on
located on the site of a retiring coal plant
and will be 100% renewable powered from day one.
Fourth, beyond our efforts to power our own operations with renewables, we’ve made separate agreements to
fund $2.5 billion
into 22 large-scale renewable energy projects over the last five years, from Germany to Kansas to Kenya. These investments have been in some of the largest and most transformative renewable energy projects in the world with a goal to help drive renewable energy development not only as a customer but as an investor, and bring down costs for everyone.
And we’re also working on new technologies and ideas—ranging from
Project Sunroof
to
Makani Power
to
air quality monitoring
—that we hope can make a cleaner energy future an option for many more people.
With world leaders coming together at the
COP21 UN conference on climate change
in Paris this week, there's no better time to focus on renewable energy. We hope that our efforts play a small part in boosting all of us in the race to solve climate change.
Posted by Urs Hölzle, SVP Technical Infrastructure
Working toward a more accessible and inclusive world
Thursday, December 3, 2015
We
believe
in a world built for everyone, which is why we launched the global
Google Impact Challenge: Disabilities
earlier this year. The Impact Challenge is a Google.org initiative to invest $20 million in nonprofits who are using technology to make the world more accessible for the 1 billion people living with disabilities.
Today, as part of the program, we’re proud to celebrate the U.N. International Day of Persons with Disabilities with three new grants, totalling $2.95 million. Through our grants, the Royal London Society for Blind People will develop the
Wayfindr
project, helping visually impaired people navigate the London underground; Israeli NGO
Issie Shapiro
will distribute Sesame, an app that allows people with mobility impairments to control a smartphone using only head movements; and, finally, German grantee Wheelmap will expand its accessibility mapping efforts worldwide. This week, many Googlers around the world will also
join
Wheelmap’s Map My Day campaign to help out.
We’ve also collected 11
tips
that help people with disabilities get more out of their favourite Google products. (Why 11? It’s a play on “a11y”, tech-speak for “accessibility.”)
Much of the accessibility work we do is driven by passionate Googlers from around the world. To give you a look at what motivates us to make Google, and the world, more inclusive, we asked four Googlers from our Disability Alliance to share more about what they’re working on:
Kiran Kaja, Technical Program Manager, London:
Being blind from birth, I’ve always been excited by devices that talk to you or allow you to talk back to them. Today, I work on Google’s Text to Speech team developing technologies that talk to people with disabilities. I’m also helping improve eyes-free voice actions on Android so that people with low vision can accomplish standard tasks just by talking to their phone. This not only helps people with disabilities, but anyone whose hands are busy with another task—like cooking, driving or caring for an infant. The advances we’re making in speech recognition and text to speech output promise a bright future for voice user interfaces.
Paul Herzlich, Legal Analytics Specialist, Mountain View:
As a wheelchair user from a spinal cord injury, I'm passionate about the potential impact of technology to solve disability-related issues. Outside of my job, I'm working alongside a team of mechanical and electrical engineers, UX designers, and medical professionals to develop a new technology called SmartSeat, which I hope to bring to life in tandem with Google.org through its
Google Impact Challenge: Disabilities
. SmartSeat is a device that notifies wheelchair users when they have been sitting in the same position for too long by using force sensors connected to a mobile app, thereby helping these users prevent pressure sores. You can watch a video of the early prototype on
YouTube
.
Aubrie Lee, Associate Product Marketing Manager, Mountain View:
Like many other disabled people, I’ve spent most of my life as the minority in the room. In high school, I attended a state forum on disability and felt what it was like to be in the majority. Now, I work to create that feeling for other disabled people. I started the Googler Disability Community, a group that works on changing Google’s physical environment and workplace systems to help make our company truly inclusive. Outside of my job, I enjoy exploring the beauty in disability through
photography
and poetry. My own disabilities and the way they influence my interactions with others provide endless inspiration for my art.
Pablo Pacca, Language Market Manager, São Paulo:
I’m in charge of making sure Google’s products are translated well into Brazilian Portuguese for the 180+ million Brazilians who don’t speak English. I’m also an activist and advocate for accessibility and inclusion, both as a blogger on disability issues and the lead for the Google Brazil People with Disabilities (PwD) group. At PwD Brazil, we educate Googlers about disability issues, and work to foster a more accessible office space and inclusive work environment across the company.
Rodolfo Cattani, Secretary General for the
European Disability Forum
, said earlier today about Europe’s initiatives on accessibility:
"Technology is opening up new opportunities for persons with disabilities, to move around, and to get access to information, education and employment opportunities like never before. But so much more needs to be done. The long-awaited
European Accessibility Act
should mark the beginning of new efforts to boost the impact of technology in improving independent living and the participation in the society of 80 million Europeans with disabilities.
MEP Philippe De Backer, who recently hosted a summit on accessibility and the app economy in the European Parliament, said on this same topic: "We need an Accessibility Act with a strong tech component to improve people's lives. This, together with the creativity and ingenuity of European app developers should make a real difference in boosting accessibility and independent living across Europe."
Posted by Jacquelline Fuller, Director of Google.org and Vint Cerf, Chief Internet Evangelist
Enriching Dutch Startups Together With The Next Web
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
Last night in Amsterdam, we celebrated a new partnership with
The Next Web
to bring
Google for Entrepreneurs
to the Netherlands. In the unfinished space at
Singel 542 in Amsterdam
, within a stone’s throw of the city's famous Flower Market, The Next Web shared their inspiring vision for the project,
called X
, which we expect to open to more than 150 Dutch startups in the first half of 2016.
We have a very clear goal for this unique partnership in the Netherlands: to further strengthen local entrepreneurship in the heart of the city. We know the startup scene in Amsterdam is a vibrant one--but we think X will cut through the noise of a buzzy ecosystem that’s been missing a physical center, something
research tells us
really matters for startups. At X with TNW we’ll be able to offer our local mentoring program and initiatives like demo days with international guests, global exchange programs and training sessions designed to help Dutch startups grow.
“The Dutch startup ecosystem is flourishing and new initiatives that empower the growth of startups are sprouting,” says Dutch Startup Envoy Neelie Kroes. “‘X’ contributes to this energetic scene by connecting players with global networks like The Next Web, Google, KPMG, ABN Amro and Booking.com that can offer the next growth step for startups.”
One thing’s sure: this isn’t our first rodeo.
Through the
Google for Entrepreneurs
network, we have 25 tech hub partners around the world, plus five
Campus
spaces we offer ourselves--in Tel Aviv, London, Seoul, Madrid and Warsaw--all sharing know-how and content to help new and fast-growing businesses do more. Members of X here in the Netherlands will have access to that
global community
and world class network of physical spaces and programming.
Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten, CEO of
The Next Web
says that building X together with Google and other partners that include Booking.com and ABN-AMRO is “a dream come true” for the company. “Joining the Google For Entrepreneurs network not only makes sense for X but even more to the X residents who can instantly reap the benefits of this amazing global network to scale their businesses even faster.”
But why make this kind of investment in startups in the Netherlands? It’s pretty simple. Google began in a garage, and we remain a startup at heart. Because of that, we’re committed to supporting next-generation entrepreneurship across Europe and around the world. It’s the same reason we recently launched the
Digitale Werkplaats
in the Netherlands with
a goal of bringing digital skills to 30,000 Dutch entrepreneurs and independents to help them grow their businesses online, part of our greater efforts to show how Google can be a
Growth Engine
for all of Europe.
Posted by James van Thiel, Director of Strategic Partnerships, Google
Labels
Academics
18
Advertising
10
Africa
26
Austria
7
Belgium
25
Big Tent
11
Bosnia and Herzegovina
2
Browsers
1
Brussels Tech Talk
7
Bulgaria
5
Campus
2
Child Safety
24
Cloud computing
17
Competition
16
Computer Science
35
Computing Heritage
37
Consumers
11
controversial content
2
COP21
1
copyright
34
Crisis Response
2
Culture
116
Czech Republic
16
Data Centre
15
Denmark
4
Digital News Initiative
6
Digital Single Market
1
Diversity
7
Economic Impact of the Internet
57
Economy
24
Elections
7
Energy + Environment
16
Engineering
6
Environment
5
Estonia
6
European Commission
21
European Parliament
14
European Union
104
exhibitions
1
Finland
13
France
77
Free Expression
88
Free flow of information
47
German
1
Germany
65
Google for Entrepreneurs
9
Google in Europe Blog
846
Google Play
1
Google TechTalk
2
Google Translate
1
Google Trends
3
Google+
4
Greece
16
Growth Engine
3
Hackathon
3
Hungary
16
Innovation
70
Internet Governance
7
IP
10
Ireland
16
Israel
17
Italy
42
Journalism
34
Latvia
1
Lithuania
1
Luxembourg
3
Maps
17
Middle East
18
Netherlands
6
News
2
News Lab
1
North Africa
6
Norway
3
online
1
Online Safety
2
Open data
8
Open Government
7
Open source
2
Poland
24
Portugal
6
Power of Data
25
privacy
49
Publishing
30
Right to be Forgotten
9
Rio+20
1
Romania
3
Russia
18
Safer Internet Day
4
San Marino
1
Science
5
Security
7
Single Market
7
Slovakia
16
Slovenia
2
SMEs
24
Spain
39
Startups
6
State of the Union
2
STEM Education
36
Street View
38
Surveillance
1
Sweden
13
Switzerland
11
Telecoms
11
The Netherlands
4
Tourism
1
Transparency
12
Tunisia
4
Turkey
3
Ukraine
3
United Kingdom
94
Vatican
2
Youth
2
YouTube
42
Archive
2016
Sep
Introducing YouTube Creators for Change
Announcing a Google.org grant for XperiBIRD.be, a ...
Bringing education to refugees in Lebanon with the...
Juncker embraces creators -- and their concerns
Tour 10 Downing Street with Google Arts and Culture
European copyright: there's a better way
Digital News Initiative: Introducing the YouTube P...
#AskJuncker: YouTube creators to interview the Eur...
An extinct world brought back to life with Google ...
Project Muze: Fashion inspired by you, designed by...
Come Play with us
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2015
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2014
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2013
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2012
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2011
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2010
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2009
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Feed
Give us feedback in our
Product Forums
.
