Europe Blog
Our views on the Internet and society
Get a front seat to the World Cup
Friday, June 6, 2014
The world's biggest soccer tournament is here. Whether you’re watching from the comfort of your couch or packing your bags for Brazil, Google Maps is your ticket to the games. To kick off the tournament, starting today you can explore all
12 stadiums
and the
iconic painted streets
, one of Brazil’s tournament traditions, in Street View which serves as a digital legacy of the 2014 games for years to come.
Exploring the sights and culture of this year’s football tournament has never been easier with Street View in Google Maps.
Rua Professor Eurico Rabelo - Maracanã, RJ
Rua Padre Agostinho Poncet, São Paulo, Brazil
In addition to the stadiums and painted streets, images from hundreds of sites across Brazil, including
Iguaçu National Park
and
St. Michael of the Missions
, are also now available on Google Maps.
And if you’re lucky enough to have a physical ticket to Brazil, don’t forget to pack Google Maps for mobile.
Transit:
With Google Maps transit available in all 12 host cities, Brazilians and visitors alike can rest assured they can make it to the stadium and other destinations routing the best path by bus or train.
Indoor Maps:
Make your way through more than 100 venues across Brazil, including airports, shopping malls and, yes, tournament stadiums with Indoor Maps.
Turn-by-turn navigation:
Zip through Brazil from Point A to Point B with Google Maps for mobile, giving you the most accurate traffic info, including real-time incident reports from Waze, and voice-guided directions.
Even if we can't help your favorite team find their way to victory, Google Maps is ready for the assist. You might be (or get) lost without it!
Post content
Posted by Deanna Yick, Google Street View Program Manager
Campus for entrepreneurs opens in Warsaw
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
Campus is coming to Warsaw! Across Poland and Central Eastern Europe, innovators and entrepreneurs are building exciting new businesses, making the Polish capital a natural choice to launch our next Campus. We currently operate Campuses in
London
and
Tel Aviv
.
Campuses are Google's spaces for entrepreneurs to learn, connect, and build companies that will change the world. In them, entrepreneurs get unparalleled access to mentorship and training from their local startup community, experienced entrepreneurs, and Google teams. Campus Warsaw will join the
Google for Entrepreneurs
network. Appropriately, the announcement came on the 25th anniversary of Poland's first partially free democratic elections, illustrated in this
Google Cultural Institute exhibition
, which led to the collapse of the Iron Curtain.
Our Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt met with
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk
for today's inauguration. “Google started as a startup in garage, so supporting startups is part of our DNA," Eric said. "Our hope is that Campus Warsaw will supercharge tech entrepreneurs, strengthen the startup ecosystem and encourage even more innovation in Poland.”
The new Campus represents only part of our ongoing investment throughout the region. In Krakow, we have opened the
Google for Entrepreneurs Krakow
program. Along with Warsaw University, we have launched the
Digital Economy Lab
, with the goal of spreading knowledge about the crucial role digital technology plays in powering the economy and about what policies are required to generate maximum digital acceleration. Along with the Visegrad Fund, ResPublica and the Financial Times, we have started New Europe Challengers campaign to identify the next generation of innovators.
We’ll have more news about the details of Campus Warsaw soon, and look forward to filling it with startups in 2015!
Posted by Eze Vidra, Head of Google for Entrepreneurs Europe
Commemorating D-Day’s 70th anniversary
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
On the 70th day of the momentous
D-Day Normandy landings
, our Cultural Institute is launching two initiatives to commemorate: a
G+ Hangout on Air
with veterans and five new online exhibitions.
The Hangout with D-Day veterans will allow anybody, anywhere to hear direct from veterans on their D-Day experiences. It takes place live from the
Caen War Memorial
at 6 p.m. Central Europe time. French television journalist Gilles Bouleau will host and Caen Memorial historian Christophe Prime will lend his expertise. American, French and British veterans will participate. High school students from both the U.S. and France will join the discussion.
At the same time, we’re publishing online
Normandy landings exhibitions
from the Caen War Memorial and other Cultural Institute partners, including the U.K’s Imperial War Museum and Bletchley Park code breakers center, the George C Marshall Research Foundation and the US National Archives. The exhibitions include exciting, previously unshown
video footage
of the landing,
letters
from soldiers and the original
assault plan
. All told, 470 new documents and images are included.
Take some time to browse - and reflect on the sacrifices made to secure Europe’s freedom.
Posted by Sixtine Fabre, Associate Program Manager, Google Cultural Institute
Chromebooks come to five more European countries - in verse
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
Chromebooks are coming to nine more nations
to improve computing for all generations.
So we’d like to say our Hellos
to our new global Chromebook fellows:
Kia ora to our New Zealand mates,
where getting on-line will have shorter waits.
Kumusta to new friends in the Philippines,
a better way of computing is what this means.
Hallo to all the folks in Norway
Speed, simplicity and security are coming your way.
Hej Hej to the people in Denmark
Built-in virus protection will be your new computing benchmark.
To Mexico and Chile, Hola we say
Tons of apps and free automatic updates are starting today.
And in the coming weeks -- very soon, you’ll see --
Chromebooks will be in Belgium, Spain and Italy.
Chromebooks are easy to share, manage and use,
With lots of
shapes, colors and sizes
to choose.
Stay safe with your data stored in the cloud,
A smart pick like Chromebook will make your mom proud.
When Chromebooks in these countries alight,
We hope our new global friends find some computing delight.
Posted by David Shapiro, Director of Chromebook Marketing and Occasional Versifier
Highlighting the value of the Internet in Turkey
Monday, June 2, 2014
In the global battle for the free and open Internet, Turkey stands in the front lines. Web penetration is fast growing and the country’s young population is one of the world’s biggest per capita users of social networks. At the same time, these are challenging days for Internet freedom. In our view, the best way forward is to empower Turkey’s civil society to promote knowledge of how to manage and benefit from the web.
For the last year, we have supported a program called "Google Academy for NGOs." Our aim is to educate NGOs on web issues, cloud computing and Google tools. In the first phase of the program, the academy has run workshops in Istanbul and Ankara, training a total of 77 NGO representatives from 62 NGOs. Participants came from NGOs concentrating on human rights, environment, education, entrepreneurship and women’s rights.
Scenes for the Google Academy in Turkey
Before entering the Academy, only half of the trainees indicated that they have knowledge regarding Internet and cloud applications for civil society. Although some 70% indicated that they know and have enough knowledge on Google Search and Google Chrome, only 12% stated that they know
Google Good to Know
content that provides information on web security and fewer than 10% said that they know about
Google Trends
, which helps analyze search traffic.
Thanks to the program, most of the participants saw how the Internet could benefit their NGO. It will allow them to keep in communication with their volunteers, increase interaction with stakeholders and partners, and facilitate the development of new projects. Instead of having everyone travel for a meeting, many said they plan to use Google Hangouts to meet online.
The NGO Academy’s first “class” recently graduated. Three exemplary NGOs, received scholarships to attend a management program at Harvard Kennedy School of Government. The winning projects came from:
LÖSEV Foundation for Children with Leukemia
is using Google+ Hangouts to allow hospitalized children to follow their school classes.
The Turkish Psychological Association
engages with its volunteers and members via Hangouts.
The TEMA environmental group
launched a “Step Saving the World” to raise awareness about soil erosion and deforestation. More than 100 university students are participating, sending reports on their findings via Google Docs and plan activities with Google Calendar
In June, we are completing a new, second phase of the program. Hopefully, the Google Academy will continue strengthening Turkey’s civil society to recognize the value of the Internet.
Posted by Pelin Kuzey, Policy Manager, Istanbul
Driving Europe’s digital road to economic growth
Friday, May 23, 2014
For the past few years, Europe’s financial crisis has dominated economic debate. The
Lisbon Council
attempted this week to shift the discussion at its Europe 2020 summit to what policies are needed to move beyond the immediate crisis and build the foundation for future prosperity.
Google supports this agenda. We have worked with the Lisbon Council to launch its
Innovation Economics Centre
of excellence committed to shedding light on and providing scientific evidence of the profound impact of the Internet and digital technologies. At the Europe 2020 summit, our European policy head Nicklas Lundblad explained how the Internet represents a core component of any European growth strategy.
Top European officials participated, including
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso
and European Commissioner Neelie Kroes. European startups and innovators including Simon Schaefer, founder and CEO of Germany’s leading startup lab Factory, angel investor Sherry Coutu, and Spotify's Head of Product, Tech, IP and Policy Mark Silverstein urged them to end the continent’s present fragmented regulatory regimes, that forces companies must obtain separate permission to access each of the European Union’s 28 national markets.
At the summit, a new Digital Single Market study
“Productivity and Digitalisation in Europe: Paving the Road to Faster Growth”
was released. Written by Bart van Ark, chief economist of the research association called
The Conference Board
, it argues that Europe’s productivity, which is key to growth,is falling far behind America because it lags in intangible investments (see chart below) and adoption of digital technology across all sectors of the economy. As van Ark stressed “ the potential of digitisation to accelerate growth will come primarily from the use of these technologies by industries in non-ICT sector.” This should be a vision for the next European Commission.
In the addition, Dirk Pilat of the OECD, presented new evidence on contribution of young companies to the economy. 42% of new jobs come from startups and high-growth firms, which shows that policymakers in Europe should focus on enabling entrepreneurship and experimentation, rather than focusing only on SMEs and incumbents.
The event underlined how Europe enjoys a giant opportunity for the Internet to support economic growth and employment in Europe - as well as the risks of Europe being left behind related to lack of the digital single market and global scale, digital skills gap, excessive regulation or risks of emerging digital protectionism in Europe.
Google is committed to doing its part. We’re supporting a range of initiatives that help Europeans -- entrepreneurs, startups, and youth -- tap the potential of the net to start a business, reach global markets, and learn new skills and become employable. In
Germany
, we’re helping the country’s famed exporters find new customers, grow their businesses and maximize their online presence through a suite of digital tools. In
Italy
, we’re bring Italy’s famous artisan producers online. In
Spain
, we’re working with partners to create a 21st century workforce by helping people of all ages acquire new digital skills including coding and computer science. All the efforts are meant to send a single important message: in order to prosper, Europe needs to embrace the internet.
Posted by Sylwia Giepmans-Stepien, Senior Policy Analyst, Brussels
Tennish champ Federer takes to the court with Glass
Thursday, May 22, 2014
Right in time for the
French Tennis Open
, which opens in Paris on May 25, two of the greatest tennis players of all time, Roger Federer and Stefan Edberg, recently took Glass for a swing. It’s safe to say that their combined 23 Grand Slam titles will be the most that ever step foot on Google’s tennis courts at our headquarters in Mountain View.
"It was really fun shooting this video through Glass,” said Roger. “It's not often you get to explore new angles of watching tennis. I hope fans enjoy this new perspective.”
As our Glass Explorer community has grown, we've heard time and time again that Glass is a great companion for sports. Glass has been a hit with several pro athletes from Indiana Pacer
Roy Hibbert
and PGA player
Billy Horschel
. Take a look and swing away.
Posted by Chelsea Maughan, Communications Manager
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