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In an exclusive interview Jan Muehlfeit discusses the socio-economic impact of digital exclusion and wider issues and how Microsoft is working with other stakeholders in public and other sectors to address these key issues affecting EMEA.

Q1 Could you tell us in detail about Microsoft's latest plan to support e-inclusion in Europe as well as highlight other previous pledges made by Microsoft in this area.

Europe stands at a challenging point: While new technologies help companies innovate, there is a significant IT skills shortage hampering competitiveness and fueling social exclusion. This skills gap has both societal and economic repercussions, with estimates of up to 37% of Europeans lacking the required IT skills to find or retain their jobs in today’s economy, let alone tomorrow’s. It is estimated that more than one third of Europeans are still excluded from information society. There is a role for public authorities to start the structural changes to make digital society more inclusive. But there is also a role for the private sector.  

At Microsoft we believe that the best chances of success come from shared responsibilities. Microsoft believes that companies and public sector have a significant role in building e-inclusion capacity at local level and in engaging with local NGOs and associations to support them in assisting their local populations.

In 2008 only, we will allocate over €6.1 to 2000 Community Technology Learning Centers across the 27 countries of the European Union to foster e-inclusion. This investment will be dedicated to create the expertise and capability at local level to maximise impact in the long term.

Microsoft has also spearheaded partnership based initiatives like the e-skills Industry Leadership Board and the European Alliance for Skills and Employability, which has committed to training 20 million Europeans by 2010.

Making society more inclusive is also part of our overall business strategy: we are actively investing in research and developments of software to overcome societal barriers. For example, at the end of November we have announced the free of charge release of the Accessibility Kit for Office program. Our vision is a society accessible to all.

Q2 The 42 million Euro investment while substantial for a private company when spread across 27 countries does not seem adequate to have significant impact.  What sustainable socio-economic impact do you envision Microsoft's investment to bring to improving the quality of life for Europeans?

At the beginning of December in Lisbon, the European Commission and the Member States met to discuss the future of the e-inclusion policy. Technology is creating new business opportunities in Europe, but at the same time governments recognised that a high portion of the population, estimated to a 40% of the overall European population, are not in the position to access the benefits and opportunities generated by the digital society. For these reasons, the Ministerial debate concluded its works with a call for actions for the public and private sector to work on closing the skill gap.   

This thinking helped for example to launch the European Campaign for e-Inclusion, which is looking at e-Accessibility legislation and is promoting targeted initiatives to educate the European population without sufficient e-skills. The opportunity-cost of inaction is that over 200 million Europeans will remain unequipped to use the internet, and thus fail to benefit from the same opportunities as their peers with IT skills.

Microsoft’s investments in the sector take different form and go from direct financial investments to help build the infrastructures needed to make the digital world more accessible. We invest in training of people to the use of digital devices. We invest in training to NGOs and local associations to create expertise and capability at local level to spread more widely the knowledge. Finally, we also invest directly in kinds, by donating software to the NGOs and local associations to ensure access to the digital world. This approach ensures the maximisation of the impact of our investments.

Our strategy looks at long terms effects, not one-off investments. We believe in building durable results through the identification of the right local partners and the implementation of the right projects: from a small acorn an oak tree grows.

Q3 Bridging the digital divide without addressing other core issues of exclusion poses greater threats to leaving those behind who need digital inclusion most in Europe.  Critics might suggest that the investment made by Microsoft could potentially lead to further exclusion of those who are already marginalised in society.  What are your thoughts?

We are living an interesting period already tagged by many the digital revolution. As a leading IT company, we believe our responsibility is in making the digital world accessible to all. Society is changing: economy is increasingly built on the digital world. From the entertainment world to simple shopping, increasingly our lives are on-line: think how the advent of the internet has changed our way of working. Technology is essential to make the real world more accessible – think for example to all the opportunities created for the visually impaired by the use of simple reading software. At the same time, technology can “exclude” if we are not all given the same possibilities to learn and live our digital lives. For these reasons, Microsoft is committed to improve the accessibility of the digital world.

We make an effort in trying to touch as many people as possible in our outreach: for this reason, we have chosen to differentiate our investments. From donation in kinds, to capacity building at local level, we try to make sure the widest number of people will be touched, directly or indirectly, by our efforts.

Q4 How important is innovation and entrepreneurship to ensuring Europe's success in a knowledge driven society? What role should the private sector play in fostering innovation and challenging traditional way of doing business?

As the European Commission and all national governments have recognised, innovation is the motor of European economic growth and development. Innovation comes from leading companies such as Microsoft but also from individual creative entrepreneurs across Europe. For this reason, Microsoft is since always committed to work with local entrepreneurs and SMEs: we recognise and value the inputs that small companies can give. And we feel it our duty to help entrepreneurs develop their business ideas.

Both public authorities and private companies have a stake in this debate: public authorities are ideally placed to implement the structural reforms needed to make the European market place more competitive and inviting foreign investments. Private companies should drive this change by investing in Europe and in our future.

Q5 Finally, in a wider context, how is Microsoft working with Governments, International Organisations and other stakeholders to achieve the Millennum Development Goals (MDG's) in EMEA especially in Africa?

The New African Partnership for Development (NEPAD) has identified Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) as one of the ‘growth genes’ for accelerating Africa’s economic and social development. As a leading technology company, established in Africa since 1992, Microsoft is committed to making a substantial contribution, through partnership, towards enhancing Africa’s capacity for development, so that the continent can benefit from internally generated and sustainable development.

Our over-arching goal, together with our partners, is to make sure that technology supports and accelerates progress towards the Millennium Development Goals and sustainable development in Africa.

We have identified the following priority areas for our continued investments in Africa’s business and societal infrastructure:

Enhancing the competitiveness of countries by expanding access to education
Contributing to a thriving African technology economy by stimulating economic growth, innovation and employment in Africa’s IT industry
Supporting jobs and opportunities through ICT-related capacity building with the non-government organisation and inter-governmental organisation communities in Africa, improving services for African citizens through e-government solutions that enhance transparency and efficiency; and by empowering local communities through ICT skills training

At Microsoft, we believe that people are the world’s most important economic resource for the knowledge economy of the 21st century. Information and Communications Technology (ICT) plays a critical role for growth, yet people who live without basic human necessities first are often drastically underserved by technology. While Microsoft cannot address issues of poverty directly; our goal is to create sustained social and economic opportunity by connecting the benefits of technology to underserved populations of the world.

We also believe in investing at local level to help strengthen and sustain economies. We are partnering with local governments, IGOs, NGOs, educators, and community and business leaders to use software and hardware together to connect communities in three key areas that improve lives:

• Transforming Education
• Fostering Local Innovation
• Enabling Jobs and Opportunities

Microsoft also works to help governments develop e-government solutions to enhance communication and information exchange between administrative agencies; forge new bonds between governments, their stakeholders, and citizens; and foster economic development.