social inclusion

Aimed at inspiring individuals, businesses, entrepreneurs, NGOs and governments the Awards reward those championing the way forward and exploiting the potential of technology in dealing with today’s challenges.

With almost a quarter of Europeans remaining offline, growth of the digital economy will be stunted as will access to the benefits achieved from access to online facilities.

Europe’s Digital Agenda includes a vision of ‘Every European Digital’ in which all people truly benefit from technology innovations, improving their well-being throughout their lifetime and contributing to economic recovery. For individuals, the sense of achievement, empowerment and connection can be priceless!

Neelie Kroes, Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for the Digital Agenda, comments: “Investment in ICT capital pays off. In fact, it pays off better than most other forms of capital investment: the “ICT dividend” amounts to an extra return of around 7%, but only when accompanied by investment in intangible capital – that is, investment in people, in skills, in digital literacy.

We – companies, governments and civil society – must make that investment for the future, and skill up to face new challenges. And we must include everyone, we must get “Every European Digital” so that we can all benefit from “smart”, innovation-based economic growth.”

This year’s e-Inclusion Awards are intended for individuals as well as organisations, big and small in the public, business and civil society sectors, working at the local level.  There are two categories in the competition, both of which will require entrants to submit written and audiovisual material as part of their entry:

-       “I am Part of IT” award
For individuals who have felt significant benefit and empowerment by becoming e-included. Of particular (although not exclusive) interest are stories around employability, re-skilling, and improvement in life situations.

-        “Be Part of IT – Digital Inclusion Champions” award

For organisations (or individuals outside of organisations) who champion e-inclusion by undertaking and supporting relevant projects.

You have until 4th May 2012 to submit your entries

Twelve finalists in each category will be invited to present their project at the Digital Agenda Assembly Conference in Brussels, Belgium to take place on 21^st and 22^nd June 2012 as part of the “e-Inclusion: Be Part of IT 2.0” campaign.  The overall winners will be announced at the conference.

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) play an essential role in today's society. Knowledge of these ICT is increasingly necessary to access a wide range of services, knowledge and new forms of social organization are becoming more and more important in the field of education. Nowadays elderly people need to have some knowledge of these ICTs if they are to remain an active part of our society. All citizens should be included in this new society. Being part of this society offers great advantages, while on the other hand, the risk of being excluded is also an important issue.

Educational institutions, as Universistat per a Majors have created some programs to promote the use of these ICTs among the elderly, ranging from simple e-mail users or search engines to use other tools to get some experience with these technologies.

The motto of this conference: "No one is left behind" promotes the idea of teaching the elderly in the use of ICT so they do not feel excluded from society. The III International Conference on Elderly and New Technologies are intended to facilitate the inclusion of older people in the ICT society. Therefore, this conference aims to expand and share experiences, technology and tools, while discussed in depth the social realities and social impact arising from the impact of technological advances in the field of training of the elderly. Researchers, teachers and professionals from around the world will be taking on the task of explaining the technological development and progress and benefits to present and explain their research and results in the field of ICT for the elderly.

This conference is aimed at researchers, teachers, staff and students over the world. In addition, older students have not only the role of spectators, but once finished the conference, will establish a network among all participants to continue to innovate and exchange experiences, tools, content and other approaches and methodologies in the field of education ICT for the elderly.

Within a scenario of rapidly increasing convergence of digital technologies and integration of media services, the role of the creative content industry is expected to increase accordingly and the video games software industry plays a major role. In this general context, Digital Games use the platforms and techniques of the videogame industry to create products and services and have a potential to further education, health, public policy, government or corporate training, and strategic communication objectives.

Digital Games with useful objectives going beyond the simple fun of playing may serve social purposes like inclusion, health, skilling, learning and other public services, where their action complements more classical approaches. Because of their ludic dynamics, they are usually very welcome to different kind of public (not only youngsters) and this is their strength.

Considering that the video games industry is going through a period of change, including significant transformation in the value chain, Digital ‘Serious’ Games thus offer opportunities not only for the existing actors but also to new entrants with expertise in training, simulation, healthcare and social inclusion.

Objectives

The aim of the exploratory study is to better understand:

• what are the industrial, market, social opportunities and limitations of Digital Games for users' empowerment and as a tool for socio-economic inclusion of people at risk of exclusion (such as youth at risk, migrants, elderly, unemployed, low-educated);
• what are the technological, market, implementation, adoption and policy challenges of creating this potential and if and how policy actions could address the challenges identified.

Activities

The research will carry out the following activities:

1. Analysis of the State of Play of Digital Games for Empowerment and Inclusion

This analysis will specifically look at exploring the supply side, including various typologies of digital games, technological platforms; current knowledge of market diffusion and adoption; the state of the art of research and existing practice, as well as identifying the key actors involved in the domain. The goal of this analysis will be to define key (technological, research, policy, industry/market, social, economic) opportunities and challenges of putting Digital Games at the service of empowerment and social inclusion purposes, and to gather evidence of impact in this domain.

2. Vision Development

Building on the consolidated version of the Report of the State of Play, on the opportunities and key challenges identified, through a consultation process among EC policy officers, a common vision of the possible future application of Digital Games for Empowerment and Inclusion will be defined.

3. Development of a Roadmap for Action through Stakeholders' Consultation A multi-stakeholders consultation will be organized to enable a broader dialogue and engage stakeholders, validate the vision defined, identify stakeholders actions and build consensus on possible EC research and policy options to support the vision.

This study is co-funded by the Information Society Unit of the JRC-IPTS and DG INFSO ICT for Inclusion Unit. The JRC-IPTS conducts the study in collaboration with selected external experts in the domain of Digital Games and ICT for Social Inclusion.

JRC-IPTS is looking for examples of successful initiatives from across the world on the use of Digital Games for Empowerment and Inclusion, and for the participation of experts from research and practice in the development of the vision and roadmap. Please contact the Project Leader and the Scientific Coordinator if you wish to contribute to the future of Digital Games for Empowerment and Inclusion.