A manifesto for entrepreneurship & innovation to power growth in the EU

Drawn from the combined experience of dozens of Europeans who built successful businesses that created thousands of jobs, they have distilled 22 actions which, taken together, can give European businesses the best chance of future success. They are now calling on entrepreneurs, investors, advisors and other stakeholders across the continent to engage in this dialogue.

There has never been a movement like this Europe’s tech startup ecosystem. This should be the starting point of a continuous engage to get a better environment in Europe for startups to start and stay here while scaling up globally.  Join this move and, as Vice President Neelie Kroes says in her blog post "Take a look and sign!".

More information at www.startupmanifesto.eu
On Twitter: #startupmanifesto.

Multilingualism for jobs mobility, but not only

On November 17, the Council of the European Union issued conclusions on language competences to enhance mobility. In the document the Council not only addresses multilingualism for jobs mobility but also mentions the importance to foster better use of language competences as a mean of increasing the competitiveness of EU business, and especially that of small and medium-sized enterprises. In this context, the Council welcomes the work of the Business Platform for Multilingualism of which EMF is a member of the Steering Committee, and invites the European Commission to further pursue its support and stakeholder initiatives of this kind.

Download the document

Roundtable "Cyberspace: opportunity and challenge for Languages", 22 November, Brussels

The roundtable "Cyberspace: opportunity and challenge for Languages", will be held in Brussels the 22 November 2011 to disscuss on new opportunities and challenges for Languages in the Cyberspace. The debate will be moderated by Quentin DICKINSON, Director of Radio France for European Affairs in Brussels.

Maragretah Marzura, Secretary General of EMF will participate in the event to share knowledge acquired in the META and CELAN EU projects.

If you are interested please register at: bxl-europe@skynet.be

Results and videos of the META-FORUM on Language Technologies on-line!

The international conference on powerful technologies for the multilingual European Information Society (META-FORUM 2011) took place in Budapest the 27-28 June 2011, organized by META-NET, a Network of Excellence consisting of 47 research centres in 31 coun tries and funded by the European Commission.

The event featured both interactive and informative sessions focusing on multilingualism, the challenges and opportunities presented by the multilingual information society and how innovative Language Technologies are key in developing solutions to these challenges.

The meeting was META-NET is forging the ?Multilingual Europe Technology Alliance? uniting technology researchers, providers and users for a large European research and innovation effort.

International experts discussed future applications for Language Technologies, research needs and market requirements.

For more information watch the videos

Fe:male, an initiative for women entrepreneurs

The Fe:male project, funded by the European Commission, supports women who plan to set up their own business.

Across Europe, women are half as likely to set up a business as men. One of the main reasons is that there are many barriers that block women from setting up a business, such as being unemployed, having a disability, being over fifty, or coming from an ethnic minority.

Fe:male will support women who face all these difficulties to foster female entrepreneurship spirit through an exchange of experiences and best practice in adult education. You can subscribe to their Newsletter to receive continuous information.

More information

Languages mean business - a new website for languages & business initiatives

The European Commission have launched the "Languages mean business" platform to offer information on the benefits of languages when doing business and give tips and tools for better language management.

The site contains several sections with interesting information such as results from studies on the use of languages in European SMEs, success stories of small businesses that really made it thanks to a thorough language strategy, tips for success, a support service and much more.

Visit the website

“Soft skills” essential for employers but missing among young people

The results of the a survey entitled "Closing the Gap Between Business and Education” show that business leaders find young people to lack 'soft skills' such as confidence, teamwork, self-motivation, networking and presentation skills. 63 % of respondents said that their countries’ educational systems were not preparing young people with the right skills to enter the workforce and 70 % of respondents said their countries were doing a poor job developing financial and entrepreneurial skills among young people.

The survey was carried out by FreshMindsResearch for JA-YE Europe, which is Europe's largest provider of entrepreneurship education programmes bringing together businesses, schools and young people.

Download the report
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