Go digITal with the e-Skills Week closing event

The e-Skills Week closing event Go digITal! takes place today, Friday 5 March 2010, in Brussels, Belgium. With a diverse programme from high level speakers to student Q&A sessions with ICT professionals, the event will be the culmination of the e-Skills Week campaign campaign which highlights the growing demand for skilled ICT users and professionals in Europe. The event will be streamed live online through the e-Skills Week portal http://eskills-week.ec.europa.eu.

Go digITal! will present the results of the activities organised in more than 20 countries by over 200 organisations and industry partners during the campaign, and reward the best practices observed. It will also formulate recommendations to ensure sustainability of the e-Skills Week action.

Starting with welcome words by Jean-Noel Durvy, Director for Innovation Policy, DG Enterprise and Industry, European Commission, Bridget Cosgrave, Executive Director, DIGITALEUROPE, and Marc Durando, Executive Director, European Schoolnet, the Le Square meeting centre will host a full day of activities focused on ICT skills and careers.
 

• The winners of the e-Skills Week competition will be recognised in the award ceremony, with prizes offered by ACER, Employability Alliance, Cisco, CEPIS, Hewlett Packard and European Schoolnet. The full list of winners will be available here on 5 March, at 13.00.
• Five parallel interactive workshops will invite the participants to learn more about IT careers through speed dates with ICT professionals and students, join the demonstrations of the e-Skills Week competition winners, and participate in the debate on girls and IT. Also current projects connecting eSkills with schools and young people will be presented.
• An exhibition area with the stands of 16 exhibitors will give a practical view of what are IT jobs to young people. 
• The participants can also play with up to date games consoles as well as vintage games and explore audiovisual and digital art tools in the interactive space. Additionally, an internet café will be provided.

Over 500 students from secondary and tertiary schools, teachers, professionals and ICT practitioners, SMEs, as well as high level figures from companies, from the European Commission and Ministries of education will be gathered to exchange their experiences and views to build a competitive Europe.

An evening party will close the event in the trendy Halles and Cafe St Gery. Electro DJs and live sets, VJing, digital art, high tech installations and Belgium's first interactive bar will keep the mood high to the celebration of the first-ever European e-Skills Week.

Follow the sessions online!
 

If you are not able to make it to Brussels, you can follow the closing conference online. The morning sessions will be streamed live and made available online through the e-Skills Week portal http://eskills-week.ec.europa.eu.

The e-Skills Week closing event is supported by Microsoft, ACER, Nokia, European Centre for Women and Technology and Oracle. It is financed by the European Commission and organised by European Schoolnet, as part of the e-Skills Week campaign.

Where?
@ Square-Brussels meeting centre
Glass Entrance - rue Mont des Arts straat
B-1000 Brussels

When?
Friday 5 March 2010, 9-18.00
Evening party starting at 21.00

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For more information please contact:
Alexa JOYCE - European Schoolnet, Senior Communications & Business Development Manager T. + 32 2 790 7554    E. alexa.joyce@eun.org        

ABOUT EUROPEAN SCHOOLNET:

European Schoolnet (www.eun.org) is a network of 31 Ministries of Education in Europe and beyond. EUN was created more than 10 years ago with the aim to bring about innovation in teaching and learning to its key stakeholders: Ministries of Education, schools, teachers and researchers.

ABOUT DIGITALEUROPE (formerly EICTA)

DIGITALEUROPE (www.digitaleurope.org) is the voice of the European digital technology industry, which includes large and small companies in the Information and Communications Technology and Consumer Electronics Industry sectors. It is composed of 61 major multinational companies and 41 national associations from 29 European countries. In all, DIGITALEUROPE represents more than 10,000 companies all over Europe with more than 2 million employees and over EUR 1,000 billion in revenues.

ABOUT e-SKILLS WEEK

The European e-Skills Week (http://eskills-week.ec.europa.eu) highlight the growing demand for skilled ICT users and professionals to drive a competitive and innovative Europe. This exciting campaign seeks to inform students, young professionals and SMEs about the vast range of opportunities that ICT-related jobs present. The awareness campaign is organised by the European Commission's DG Enterprise and Industry and is ran by European Schoolnet and Digital Europe. It will culminate in a dedicated European e-Skills Week from 1 to 5 March 2010.
 

e-Skills Week National Contact Points

Austria
ENIS, http://www.enis.at/
Reinhold Hawle, Reinhold.Hawle@bmukk.gv.at

Belgium
Agoria ICT, http://www.agoria.be/   
Dany Buyse, Dany.Buyse@agoria.be

Cyprus
CITEA, http://www.citea.net/ 
Michael Michalis, michalis.michael@citea.net

Czech Republic
DZS, http://www.dzs.cz/eskills
Petr Chalus, petr.chalus@naep.cz 
Veronika Rehorova, veronika.rehorova@naep.cz

Denmark
DI ITEK, http://www.di.dk/   
Ulla Scherfig Gilberg, usg@di.dk 
Henning Mortensen, hem@di.dk

France
ECWT N-PoC France, http://www.womenandtechnology.eu/ 
Eric Chreiki, ech@victoya.eu

Germany
Bitkom, http://www.bitkom.org/   
Stephan Pfisterer, s.pfisterer@bitkom.org

Greece
SEPE, http://www.sepe.gr/gr/eSkillsWeek 
Myriam Vassiliadou, myrvas@sepe.gr

Hungary
IVSZ, http://www.ivsz.hu/   
Katai Szabolcs, katai.szabolcs@ivsz.hu

Ireland
FIT Ltd, http://www.fit.ie/
George Ryan, georgeryan@fit.ie

Italy
ANSAS-INDIRE, http://www.indire.it/
Laura Franceschi, l.franceschi@indire.it

Lithuania
ITC, http://www.itc.smm.lt/
Asta Buineviciute, asta.buineviciute@itc.smm.lt

Association INFOBALT, http://www.infobalt.lt/
Vilma Misiukoniene, vilmam@infobalt.lt

Netherlands
ICT Office, http://ictoffice.nl/
Wim Pluimers, wim.pluimers@ictoffice.nl

Norway
IKT Norge, http://ikt-norge.no/  
Liv Freihow, lf@ikt-norge.no 
Fredrik Syversen, fredrik.syversen@ikt-norge.no

Poland
KIGEiT, http://kigeit.org.pl/
Jakub Ciepliński, jakub.cieplinski@kigeit.org.pl

Portugal
ECWT N-PoC Portugal, http://www.womenandtechnology.eu/
Nancy Brito, nancydebrito@gmail.com

Romania
APDETIC, http://www.asociatiait.ro/
Valentin Negoita, negoita.valentin@asociatiait.ro

Slovakia
ITAS, http://www.itas.sk/ 
Renata Malecova, itas@itas.sk

Spain 
AETIC, http://www.aetic.es/  
Aida Millán Hidalgo, amillan@aetic.es

Sweden
IT & Telekomföretagen, http://www.itotelekomforetagen.se/   
Ulrika Stromqvist, ulrika.stromqvist@almega.se

UK
Intellect, http://www.intellectuk.org/   
Carrie Hartnell; carrie.hartnell@intellectuk.org