2008 e-Inclusion Ministerial Conference
Vienna (AT) - 30/11/08 - 02/12/08
e-Inclusion: immigration, ethnic minorities and ICT
The three-day European Ministerial e-Inclusion Conference, held this year in the Reed Messe Congress Centre in Vienna, closes today, 2 December. The conference is Europe's biggest event for e-Inclusion, which means using Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to combat social exclusion. It is jointly organised by the European Commission and the Austrian Government, in cooperation with the current French Presidency of the European Union.
The JRC Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS) coordinated three sessions at the 2008 conference: on gender and ICT; on investment, social networks and social enterprise; and on ICT, migrants and ethnic minorities in Europe. JRC-IPTS also chaired a session on inclusive ageing and contributed to organising a workshop on the role of large 'Third Sector' organisations in e-Inclusion.
The JRC also presented a report entitled Overview of Digital Support Initiatives for/by Immigrants and Ethnic Minorities in the EU27 . The report is one of the outcomes of the study “The potential of ICT for the promotion of cultural diversity in the EU: the case of economic and social participation and integration of immigrants and ethnic minorities” carried out by IPTS at the request of the European Commission's Directorate General for Information Society and Media (INFSO).
In the frame of the event's "navigation showcase", the JRC Institute for the Protection and Security of the Citizen (IPSC), demonstrated its Sesamonet project, which entails the use of RFID chips for guiding visually impaired people.