Remembering ALL DIGITAL Summit 2019 in Bologna – see why it is worth attending and check the next Summit’s date and place!

On 10-11 October, over 170 representatives of organisations and networks, working in the field of digital inclusion and empowerment, gathered in Bologna for the XXII ALL DIGITAL Summit.  The event was organised by pan-European association ALL DIGITAL, striving to enhance digital skills across Europe, and was co-hosted by our Italian members ART-ER, Lai-Momo,  Open Group in collaboration with Emilia-Romagna Digital Agenda and supported by Golinelli Foundation.

ALL DIGITAL Summit 2019 tackled two distinctive but equally important themes for our network. Basic digital skills for everyone have always been at the core of our work ever since the digital inclusion leaders met more than 10 years ago to establish a European network. STEAM skills are, on the other hand, a newer topic on the advanced side of the skills spectrum with increasing importance where digital competence centres have a key role to play.

The Summit offered a variety of workshops, discussion groups, plenary sessions around those topics, and specifically highlighted the experience of three big projects: La Carovana STEM, Coding for Inclusion, and Digital Competences Development System.

We invite you to explore this website, see the Programme with links to presentations and blogs about sessions, meet the speakers, and read the blogs (just scroll down this page or use the links below) to learn more about the local partners and the projects:

• About the Summit
• Live Streaming of plenary sessions on Day 1
• Live Streaming of plenary sessions on Day 2

• Welcome to Bologna and Emilia Romagna – from Dimitri Tartari, Head of Digital Agenda, Emilia-Romagna Region
• Meet the Summit 2019 host – ART-ER
• Welcome from Open Group
• Greetings from Lai-momo
• Pane e Internet for Emilia Romagna
• La Carovana STEM project fights gender gap in digital education

• Learn about Discussion Groups at ALL DIGITAL Summit
• Learn about ‘How to…’ Workshops at ALL DIGITAL Summit
• Learn about Project Lightning Talks
• Read about the ALL DIGITAL Awards Ceremony and meet finalists and winners

You can also learn more about our past Summits, see the photos and videos, and explore what ALL DIGITAL network is doing.

On the evening of 10 October 2019, participants of the ALL DIGITAL Summit celebrated the finalists of ALL DIGITAL Awards. The ceremony was held in in the centre of Bologna, Italy, in an ancient church dating back to 1500s, which was transformed into an event location ‘Sympo’.

The Ceremony was hosted by ALL DIGITAL Chief Operating Officer Peter Palvolgyi and Communication Manager Ekaterina Clifford.

The Awards Competition recognises the achievements of individuals and organisations across Europe that enable people to exploit the benefits and opportunities created by digital transformation. In 2019 the entries were submitted in three categories:

• Best Digital Resource
• Best Digital Changemaker
• Best e-Facilitator

The forth category is coming from the flagship pan-European campaign ALL DIGITAL Week recognizing the three Best Events run during the campaign.

Many thanks to all the nominators who have shared the stories of e-facilitators and changemakers and also shared the digital resources they have created or found useful in their work.

Special thanks go to the JURY – our ADVISORY BOARD – who assessed all the applications during August and to 3D Trophy Factory for creating the beautiful trophies!

ALL DIGITAL WEEK BEST EVENTS

Every year in March, ALL DIGITAL runs the pan-European campaign ALL DIGITAL Week to promote digital inclusion and empowerment.  This year, 2,500 organisations in 31 countries joined the 10th edition to offer over 3,600 training and awareness raising events to 130,000 participants. A lot of the events were presented on the interactive map, and out of all of them the jury selected ten finalists and then three winners. The three winners were invited to participate in the Summit and the Awards Ceremony.

The ALL DIGITAL Week best events winners were presented by the campaign manager Ekaterina Clifford and awarded to:

• Web 2.0 Tools in Classroom Teaching organised and represeted by Biljana Popovic from Elementary School Knez Sima Marković, Barajevo, Serbia
• Web VR-Jam Hackathon organised by IT4Youth Centre of Togliatti State University, Russia, represented by Olga Mikheeva
• All Digital Challenge #RetoAllDigital run by AUPEX, Spain) and represented by Gema Parrado, Evangelina Sánchez, and Antonio Román

BEST DIGITAL RESOURCE

Achilles Kameas, Chair of the ALL DIGITAL Board, awarded the certificates to finalists:

• ‘Epilietis.eu online lessons’, Lithuania  (Association “Langas į ateitį”) represented by Loreta Krizinauskiene, Managing Director of Langas į ateitį
• ‘Guidelines Digital Competences for Elderly People, Germany (Telefónica Deutschland, Stiftung Digitale Chancen) represented by Stephan Seiffert, project manager at SDC
• ‘BecaMOS’, Spain (Esplai Foundation, Red Conecta) represented by Guillem Porres, project manager at Esplai

and announced the winner ‘TuCertiCyL’, Spain (Castilla y Leon Government), represented by Elena Alvarez, President of Somos Digital.

BEST DIGITAL CHANGEMAKER

Best Digital Changemaker category was presented by Dimitri Tartari,  Regional Digital Agenda Manager for Emilia-Romagna Region. The finalists in this category are:

• Kristi Kivilo, former CEO of Vaata Maailma (Look at World) Foundation; now ICT skills coordinator at Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, Tallinn, Estonia
• Isidre Bermudez, Project manager at Esplai Foundation, Barcelona, Spain
• John Munn, Founder at Global Digital Week, London, UK

Isidre Bermudez from Fundación Esplai was awarded as the Best Digital Changemaker 2019. Isidre said words of gratitude thanking all the co-workers and people who supported him to achieve this prize during 20 years of his work at Esplai in the digital inclusion field.

BEST E-FACILITATOR

Renato Sabbadini, new CEO of ALL DIGITAL, awarded the best e-facilitators

This category is usually the most exciting, as e-facilitators are the ones working every day with people in centres. The finalists are:

• Dace Bergmane from Ventspils, Latvia
• Youssef Laakel from Brussels, Belgium
• Pascale Hoelebrandt from Gent, Belgium

The winner was defined by both the jury and public votes combined. This year there was a tie, so two out of the three finalists became winners – Dace Bergmane and Youssef Laakel received the trophies of Best e-facilitators 2019.

The winners Dace and Youssef were surprised with some videos that their co-workers and community had created for them in order to acknowledge their hard work and dedication. The videos moved all the attendees, and some tears were seen in the crowd.

We are pleased that our finalists and winners are coming not only from the ALL DIGITAL network, but also outside of it, and we hope more and more people will learn about the awards and nominate their projects and colleagues next year.

CONGRATULATIONS to all finalists and winners! We wish you all every success!

See more photos from the Awards Ceremony

Following the requests from previous summits’ participants, this year, we are going to have Project Lightning Talks on both days of the Summit!

Each presenter has five minutes to answer the same questions:

• What is the project about?
• What social impact has the project made?
• Lessons learned – what would you change, if you had to start over?
• Lessons learned – what would you keep the same?
• How can the Summit participants benefit from your project or your learning?

Lightning talks will be followed by brief questions from the audience, so we encourage all delegates to learn about the projects beforehand.

DAY 1: STEAM and Coding for Inclusion

1. Code City

Sara Van Damme, Digipolis Gent, Belgium

Code is everywhere, and coding and programming are the skills of the future. With Code City Digipolis wants to build that future now, through playful coding lessons for pupils, and fun additional training for their teachers.

A large team of coaches visit the local primary schools in Ghent, Belgium to teach children between 9 and 12 how to code. These coaches are enthusiastic role-models, volunteers from different ICT-companies and organizations, who strongly believe in Code City. They want to give each child the chance to be prepared for the digital future.

On top of that, all teachers involved receive free training focussed on STEAM – Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics – and coding. New ALL DIGITAL member Educentrum is our partner for this train-the-trainer. The training allows the teachers to continue working on these themes, even after the Code City coaches are long gone. As such, Code city is not a one-off event, it is the start of a digital journey.

Digitaal.Talent@Gent is the local e-inclusion program for the City of Ghent in Belgium. Want to know more about its projects? Visit the website in Dutch or English.

2. Makers in Školjić – Spring STEM camp

Ivan Mušanović, CTC Rijeka, Croatia

If one wants to make STEM interesting to youngsters, it is necessary to think like they do. Forget about boring projects, lot of theory, little practice, and start thinking in the terms of hands-on approach on fun projects youngsters can play with afterwards. “Makers on Školjić” is our attempt to do just that, and it has succesfully been going for two years now.

When thinking about how to do this project several things were recognized as vital to project’s success:

• Participants need to do everything themselves, and mentors are just here for consultation
• The projects must be fun and offer a chance for creative expression (games, prank machines, art pieces, etc.)
• Youngsters need to have free time for playing together and building team spirit
• Access to modern technologies

Having this in mind, accompanied with appropriate equipment and professional staff, yougsters had the chance to enjoy learning, thinking, problem solving, making and creating great experience. The project will be continuing in the future, and our hope is that it will scale up.

3. Open ICT Education for youth employability

Besjana Hysa, Albanian Institute of Science, Albania

Open ICT education for youth employability is a cross-border EU-financed project, implemented by Open Data Kosovo in partnership with Albanian Institute of Science during 2018 – 2020.

The overall objective of the project is to foster youth employability by providing an open access to critical ICT knowledge and skills and by strengthening cross-border cooperation between specialized learning centres. The project targets the importance of the acquisition of high-value ICT skills by young people in the target region and the importance of making this knowledge accessible to everyone by removing barriers to entry in ever more professional and educational fields. “Open ICT education for youth employability” created the first online, independent learning platform in the Albanian language.

• 500 Participants
• 3 Online ICT courses in the Albanian language
• 7 Specialized learning centers benefiting from the action

4. UMI-Sci-Ed

Theodor Panagiotakopoulos, DAISSY Group of Hellenic Open University, Greece

UMI-Sci-Ed (Exploiting Ubiquitous Computing, Mobile Computing and the Internet of Things to promote Science Education) is a Horizon 2020 project, which aims at enhancing the attractiveness of science education and careers for young people (14-16 year-olds) via the use of latest technologies. We put Ubiquitous and Mobile Computing and the Internet of Things (UMI) into practice towards enhancing the level of STEM education. At the same time, we are increasing the attractiveness of pursuing a career in domains pervaded by UMI for these youths.

DAY 2: Basic Digital Skills

1. Ask4Job

Andrea Raneletti, E.RI.FO.-Ente Di Ricerca e Formazione, Italy

Low competences go in pair with poor job opportunities: this is the core concept at the basis of ASK4JOB, a project that aims at providing new instruments and strategies for fostering the creation of new job opportunities for low-skilled long term unemployed adults. Users will be supported in self-assessing their digital skills online and to start a course that will provide them with a new set of competences and the cognitive skills that will help them to find new career opportunities. Thanks to a wide transnational partnership (11 partners coming from 9 countries), the ASK4JOB kit will address both public and private employment agencies as well as education providers for adults from all over Europe, allowing them to incorporate the Kit within their upskilling pathways of adults’ competences.

2. Digital Skills for Seniors (ICT Skills 4 All and ICT 4 the Elderly)

Alessandra Accogli, ALL DIGITAL, Belgium; Nina Pejic, Simbioza, Slovenia

In this lightning talk two projects will be presented together. Both ICT Skills for All and ICT 4 the Elderly projects address older adults aged 55+ who lack digital skills. The former targets adults with minimal or no engagement with digital technology, and the latter focuses more on those who already have some digital skills with the aim to upskill these competences.

Both projects foresee the development of a face-to-face support phase and of an online learning space. However, the ICT 4 the Elderly project, instead of creating an online platform, will make all the materials available on a wiki to ensure that participants see value in internet use.

The ICTSkills4All project’s main characteristic is to test which is the best methodology between the inter-generational approach and the peer-to-peer approach. At the same time, the project puts in place a user experience and co-creation process for the learning platform. The end users have been involved throughout the development of the platform through usability tests and focus groups.

The distinctive feature of the ICT 4 the Elderly project is the role of the ambassador. 24 people will be selected through a call for applicants to be ambassadors of the project and to take part in the two piloting trainings in Malta and Berlin.

3. Digital Skills for People with Disabilities

Gloria Tinazzi, Simone Benazzi, Open Group, Italy

SLOW PRODUCTION® is the «brand» of Open Group that transversely qualifies all centres for persons with disabilities. It promotes and implements projects in which people with disabilities are an active part of the community; innovative activities and projects about the development of self advocacy and autonomy of people with disabilities.

The disability sector, carrying forward a process of social inclusion, promotes a correct and conscious use of new digital tools. In order to foster the process of social inclusion , we encourage a proper use of new devices (sensors, accessible keyboards, , touchscreens , tablet, smartphone)  in collaboration with the families. Communication and exchange between day-care centres and families is encouraged. For this purpose, we’ve started from the operators training: a digital coach in every service.

Training, experimentation, along with the use of these technologies allowed us to see  the fully potential of digital devices, for guests of the centres and for operators as well. This new communication method is focused on needs,   resources and interested of the single person, which means that the educational intervention is personalised by means of digital technologies.

4. Digital SkillShift

Ian Clifford, ALL DIGITAL, Belgium

Digital Skillshift is a two-year project project to reskill and upskill 150 unemployed citizens facing the challenges of the digital transformation in their professional career, people affected by digital disruption. The project is funded by JP Morgan and run in partnership with Simplon.co in France, Stiftung Digitale Chancen in Germany and Fondazione Patrizio Paoletti in Italy.

Digital SkillShift project addresses mainly short-term unemployed (below 12 months), low-skilled adults within an age group of 20 to 40 years olds with minimum high-school graduate eduation level and with basic level of digital skills.

The project has carried out context analysis and is building a curriculum based on digital job roles. Piloting will follow soon, and you can get involved in ALL DIGITAL Week next year.

This year, group discussions will be held on both days of the Summit. On Day 1, one group discussion will run in parallel with the “How to…” workshops and will focus on different ways of assessing the impact of STEAM and coding activities on young people. Day 2 will offer three group discussions on moving digital skills training from PCs to mobile devices, new digital competence areas to be certified and IT skills that young people need for the labour market.

Group discussions are designed as interactive sessions, where, following an expert’s intro into the topic, participants actively contribute and discuss pressing issues according to a predefined set of questions/rules. Group discussions give every participant the space to share and contribute to conclusions, recommendations and/or mapping of experiences and solutions on a given topic.

DAY 1

 1. Assessing the impact of coding and STEM educational initiatives

by Davide Marocco (UNINA) and Monica Divitini (NTNU)

There are many activities dedicated to empowering different groups (from youngsters to elderly) with digital competencies. Given the wide range of activities and objectives, a considerable effort should be dedicated to the assessment and evaluation. Different activities and objectives require suitable assessment methodologies.

The objective of this session is to share and discuss various assessment strategies. This can help to identify common and specific features and develop common frameworks and tools which can be applied to a range of different activities. Participants will have the unique chance to hear about the assessment methodologies used in the Codinc and UMI-Sci-Ed projects, as well as about the broader experience of the expert speakers. Based on this, a discussion will be facilitated on how to make a clear plan for assessment from the beginning, set measurable indicators, and presenting results to different stakeholders to convince them (to fund the activity, or enroll in it).

This session is supported by Codinc and UMI-Sci-Ed projects.

DAY 2

1. Mobile devices: the key to digital inclusion

by Esther Subias and Pep Oliveras (Colectic)

Up until recently, mobile was considered a consumer technology. Now it’s going beyond that – people are increasingly using an array of mobile applications to get their job done. Business processes, customer interactions, just how businesses work is moving to mobile. We are seeing an explosion of applications and content for the workplace which end up on the smartphones and tablets.

In this context, new concepts have emerged such as learning agility that refers to our ability to learn in new situations, with new instruments and resources, quickly and, above all, in an applied way. Mobile learning is part of this. During this session, we will talk about this phenomenon and evaluate some m-learning strategies. We will discuss some projects and opportunities for using mobile devices in the framework of adult education. Participants will be invited to share their experience and the issues they face and create a database of learning-teaching experiences.

2. ICT Skills for Employment: Identifying the digital skills required for ICT jobs

by Filippo Mantione (Lai-momo), Joel Ferrer Puig and Guillem Porres Canals (ESPLAI)

The aim of this session is to discuss, which digital skills young people need to work in highly/medium digitized employment sectors and how ICT training can foster their inclusion in the labour market. But even if the topic sounds familiar, don’t be too quick to skip to the next session, because the organisers have planned a very interesting and interactive way to get the participants involved – through a role-playing game. So, prepare to put yourselves in the shoes of employers, training providers and young people and discussed together how to improve IT trainings to facilitate young people’s transition into the labour market. You will also have the chance to hear from the kitchen of the project Direction Employment, which develops an innovative and experimental educational model to prepar young people from marginalized groups for structural labour market changes and digital transition.

3. New areas of digital competence certification – new ICDL structure and Ikanos certification system

Jakub Christoph & Frank Mockler (ICDL Foundation); Roberto Lejarzegi (Ibermatica); Ana Vitorica (Ikanos project)

In this workshop, participants will hear about and discuss new areas of digital competence certification. The session will focus on digital competence certification for non-IT professionals beyond the traditional understanding of working with files and folders, using office suites, and safe computer use. The new areas include ‘good practice’ skills like data protection and information literacy, as well as career-specific skillsets like financial spreadsheets and data analytics. Participants will have the chance to propose ‘new digital skills areas’ and discuss with experts from ICDL and Ikanos project. They will also get a peek into the new ICDL programme, specifically the new modules focusing on the Data Protection, Information Literacy, Data Analytics, and Financial Spreadsheets. They will discuss the rationale and context for the development of these modules, and also see from behind the screen the module development process used in ICDL Foundation.

This year “How to…” workshops will be conducted on both days of the Summit and will be run in parallel with discussion groups. On Day 1, four parallel workshops will showcase different methods and programmes in the STE(A)M field – from STE(A)M activities in kindergartens through STE(A)M summer camps for high school students to coding for inclusion and learning experiences combining art and technology. Day 2 will offer two workshops on innovative ways to address basic digital literacy using open source software and a comprehensive blended system for teaching digital competences.

“How to…” workshops are designed to give delegates a practical understanding of how to carry out a particular activity. They are hands-on short trainings with practical exercises. Our moderators have experience that could help delegates to understand the pitfalls, practicalities and lessons learned. Workshop leaders will produce a simple ‘guide’ to the subject that will be available to delegates during the session and online on our community networking Unite-IT platform after the event.

DAY 1

1. How to organize a STEAM summer camp
by Paolo Martinelli, ART-ER

Camps are a well-known activity enjoyed by students of all ages, and if planned and organised well, they hold significant potential to render a subject matter interesting and exciting, and to engage learners through out-of-classroom hands-on activities. STEAM summer camps aim to promote STEAM education and digital skills among 12-16 years old students and to contrast the gender gap and the confidence gap in STEAM.

During this workshop, participants will learn the basics of how to organise a STEAM summer camp. They will discuss how to engage institutional stakeholders such as national and regional educational authorities. Hands-on tips and examples will be given from the experience in Emilia-Romagna regarding timing, organization and logistics. Participants will learn what a day at a STEAM summer camp looks like, get examples of a daily schedule and in- and out-door educational activities on 3D modelling, Lego robots, art/music and technology, drones, web radios, social media, etc. Resources needed and possible funding opportunities will also be discussed.

This workshop is supported by La Carovana STEM project.
No specific technical equipment needed for participation.

2. How to design and run art and technology learning experiences
by Alessandro Saracino, Golinelli Foundation

Generative Art is a fascinating gateway for STEAM activities. Already in the 1950s, some computer scientists had perceived the expressive and procedural potential of computers for image generation. Computer code became, for the first time in the history of visual art, the genotype of the artefact, the equivalent of the score in music. Computer code also offered peculiar functions such as randomization or the possibility of verifying conditions and saving information, which made it “co-protagonist” together with the human agent/artist, with authorship dignity in artwork production. Today, thanks to the evolution of artificial intelligence, the computing capacity of modern processors and the multiplication of digital applications, producing generative algorithms to create effects, shaders, music and images has become common and can be accepted as a metaphor for the epochal change that we are living.

In this workshop, participants will learn and experiment with some simple iterations of generative art by using Processing, an open platform widely used even by professionals. The aim is to provide the basics of image control through software code by introducing simple syntactic and mathematical concepts which are behind the expressed shapes and allowing participants to apply these concepts into practice, in order to produce their first original digital masterpiece (in cooperation with their machine).

The workshop with start with an introduction to the Algorists movement and make some historical references before moving to a hands-on introduction into Processing and some free hacking. It will finish with an exhibition and evaluation. Participants will discuss at the intersection of creativity, math and problem solving: how many competences are actually involved into creating art through code?

This workshop is targeted at middle/high school teachers, digital educators and facilitators.

What you need: Fondazione Golinelli will provide all necessary equipment, but participants are allowed to bring their own notebook (PC or Mac) with current Processing version.

3. How to organise coding and gaming activities for social inclusion

by CODINC project partners

This workshop explains how to engage students through a stimulating pedagogical methodology, specifically how secondary school students (aged 15 and over) can teach basic coding and STEAM education to their younger peers – pupils aged 8-12. The “CODing for INClusion” (CODINC) project teaches coding and computational thinking in a fun and playful way promoting inclusion in disadvantaged areas.

The CODINC project aims to ensure that children and young people not only use digital tools, but also actively create technologies and digital products (videos, games, robots), and have an understanding what happens behind the scenes of ICT. Doing so, children improve their 21st century skills such as communication, collaboration, creativity, problem solving and critical thinking. As the CODINC programme is short (10-15 hours), it can be easily applied to many contexts. The programme is modular and can be adapted to local contexts and needs through the online toolkit.

This workshop will teach participants the methodological foundation of the “Coding for Inclusion” programme, how to support peer-to-peer learning, best practices from digital competence centers and the experience of bringing them into schools. The CODINC project focuses on promoting inclusion through a peer-to-peer STEAM and coding educational training program. The students (15-18 years old) and pupils (10-12 years old) targeted in the CODINC project are specifically from more disadvantaged neighborhoods in comparison to other areas.

This workshop is supported by the CODINC project.
What you need: Participants should bring a laptop, or smart device if possible as this will help prepare the exercises. Some devices will be provided.

4. How to promote STEM education and training for 3-6 year old children
by Antonella Santilli, Open Group

The goal of this workshop is to raise awareness about a conscious and creative use of digital instruments in early childhood education (3-6-year olds) by bringing together digital education and outdoor activities. The project embodies the ambition to move from an education on how to use digital technologies to a digital education supported by a network of partners: digital coaches, kindergarten teachers and parents, who can learn about digital devices education models and integrate them in their practice or the daily life of their families.

Participants will learn how to promote digital culture in the kindergarten and creative use of digital devices at school and at home (by parents) and will then move on to a practical experience in implementing STEM educational activities.

The workshop offers an interactive methodology integrating theory and practice; and the activities proposed are easily replicable (equipment needed includes universally used inexpensive devices and open sources apps such as Quick, Vivavideo, Pic Pac). The most prominent theories about STEM will be presented (e.g. Piaget, Resnick and Tisseron) in the educative school and pre-school planning (digital corner, digital outdoor education, etc), tips will be given on how to engage partners (schools, kindergartens and formal groups of parents), what financial resources are involved and how to avoid common pitfalls. Data privacy issues will also be tackled as the activities involve children and the protection of privacy is of high importance.

The workshop is aimed at teachers and educators working with 3-6 year-old children.
What you need: Mobile devices (laptops, smartphones, tablets) to install and test proposed software.

DAY 2

1. How to use the Digital Competences Development System
by DCDS project partners

In this workshop, participants will be introduced to a flagship initiative of the ALL DIGITAL network – the Digital Competences Development System (DCDS). DCDS is a comprehensive system for teaching digital competences to adults (25+) with low digital skills and covers all DigComp competences at basic level. Participants will get an insight into the Digital Competences Development Methodology behind the system and the supporting online training environment of the system.

The workshop will start with an initial comprehensive presentation of the DCDS project and move to more analytical and practical presentations of its main components (methodology, self-assessment test, online environment). An interactive online quiz will illustrate the contents and levels of the system, the methodology: how to create a training course based on DigComp, which is based on learning outcomes and composed of learning units, modules and paths which make up the full training course. A practical walk through the online environment will also be provided. Finally, experienced trainers will share tips and lessons learned.

This workshop is supported by the DCDS project.
No specific technical equipment is needed.

2. How to move digital skills training from proprietary technology to open technology

by Athanasios Priftis, Ynternet.org and Martina Mayrhofer, COLECTIC

How can Free Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) be used to bridge the digital skills gap? The “Promote OPEN source technologies in non-formal Adult Education” (Open-AE) project has developed an open, free and modular curriculum aimed at e-facilitators to guide them on how to support low skilled and/or unemployed adults be upskilled and reskilled using open source technologies.

Increasingly we see digital skills and competences pegged to proprietary software solutions. New users with low skills are often intimidated or insecure with their own capacities to use FLOSS technologies, and often choose to use proprietary options because some brands are more associated with skills. The OPEN-AE project aims to bridge this gap and promote a method to make open culture and free software more accessible for new users.

Workshop participants will be introduced to:
• FLOSS trends in Europe and the OPEN-AE curriculum
• FLOSS culture: Commons, Copyleft and free licenses
• Bridging the digital skills gap with FLOSS, challenges and way forward: collaboration, communication and FLOSS tools.

This workshop is supported by the Open-AE project.
What you need: own laptops for collaborative note-taking.

Here at Lai-momo we are thrilled to co-host the ALL DIGITAL Summit 2019, and we are looking forward to welcoming you in Bologna on 10 and 11 October. It will be a great opportunity to share ideas and experiences on digital skills and competences.

Lai-momo is a social cooperative, founded in 1995 by a group of academics, teachers and researchers with the aim of promoting communication between people and individuals coming from different countries and environments. With an initial focus on cultural activities, we later expanded our endeavours to the domains of digital and social communication, research, education, employment, and social inclusion. Our headquarter is located in Sasso Marconi, a small town in the surroundings of Bologna, Italy. However, the outreach of our projects goes well beyond the local area, and very often it has a European and international focus, developing and expanding national initiatives on a worldwide scale.

The cooperative is organized into sectors – social work, integration, intercultural education, communication – which work in synergy with one another and share a common approach to the topics of global education, intercultural communication, digital and media literacy. Every year we provide services to over 2,000 beneficiaries from disadvantaged groups, involving more than 40 teachers in training activities and more than 7,000 foreign citizens in orientation/information activities.

Lai-momo’s main clients are European institutions, local authorities, international organizations and private companies. Thanks to a strong multimedia-oriented approach, we have been able to work successfully and creatively to meet the challenges of a multicultural society in a growing digital environment, developing social integration initiatives and products related to activities in the fields of inclusion, education, vocational training, youth, multilingualism, culture, sustainable consumption, active citizenship and media literacy. Many of our projects carried out in the areas of social inclusion and communication have culminated in the production of a variety of websites and publications in many different languages.

Lai-momo’s mission to foster the inclusion of those who are increasingly socially and economically excluded from mainstream societies is put into practice through the implementation of a wide set of projects and initiatives. Among our most recent projects we developed Compass, a Pan-European digital upskilling platform funded by the European Commission aimed at helping young Europeans evaluate and develop their digital competences in line with the DigComp framework and with the current digitalisation of the economy and labour market requirements.

Open Group, as a member of the ALL DIGITAL network and one of the Summit hosts, is proud to welcome you in our beautiful Bologna for the 2019 edition of the ALL DIGITAL Summit.

We are sure that, thanks to all the network, the experience will be interesting and full of stimuli as always, and we will do our best to make it pleasant and to let you know at least a little about our city.

Open group is a new social enterprise founded in 2014. It is comprised of three social cooperatives that have been active for three decades and that are tied together by a vocation towards innovation. Communication, Education and the use of Media (both analog and digital) have always been a part of who we are.

The digital media, in our opinion, is a powerful channel, which can be used to promote advocacy. In addition, it’s an instrument that can influence and promote change in communities.

We firmly believe that the development of digital culture and the acquisition of specific skills can promote progress and growth that should be accessible to all citizens.

We think that in order to live in our present time, to have a better grasp of our surroundings and a firmer sense of awareness, the acquisition and development of one’s digital competences is of paramount importance. The aim of this endeavor is to seize new opportunities and further our understanding of what new generations need.

With the term “digital competences” we refer not only to the technical component, but also to the relational, social, critical and reflective aspects. The ethical dimension is essential to create a digital space that is both safer and easier to access.

In 2015 Open group got in touch with the ALL DIGITAL network and joined it in 2016. These two events have been a powerful push towards the endorsement of our mission. The same points of view and objectives, the acceptance and the generosity of the ALL DIGITAL network have made it possible for us and every component of this system to engage in a common process of comparison and development. This process is aimed at   sharing between managers, e-facilitators and other stakeholders of the network. It also gives us the possibility of being a key player at European level to better support our workers and those to whom our services are dedicated.

Today ALL DIGITAL with its 60+ affiliated organizations and a sturdy structure, which includes staff and an independent board, is an important actor at European level. This network is an example for other European organizations on how to build a generative and participatory movement for European digital development.

To achieve this goal, Open Group has structured an internal staff called “e-bit”, which across the different sectors of intervention encourages the professional development of its staff and the growth of services which are offered to different targets in terms of digital skills.

The multiple initiatives implemented can be grouped into four areas of intervention:

DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP

Its aim is to develop initiatives that tackle the reduction of social exclusion. These programs specifically target the users for whom the digital media might be a viable channel towards inclusion or to reduce social exclusion. An example of this can be the development of autonomy in people with disabilities, children whith learning disorders, the elderly or migrants.

We are currently collaborating with the regional project “Pane e Internet”, a project born in Emilia Romagna, which is currently working towards the development of digital skills of citizens. Another project is “Coliblite” which, differently from the one mentioned above, is striving to promote a system between schools, libraries and local NGOs to promote the development of digital abilities for those populations who are more at risk of being marginalized.

EDUCATION FROM CHILDHOOD TO ADULTHOOD

The development of digital skills is divided into activities that are specifically calibrated depending on the age group and on the developmental phase of the target population. These interventions range from activities aimed at early childhood, for children and families alike, to activities intended for caregivers, such as online and peer to peer consulting and development of digital entrepreneurship.

An example of this are “Trenino 3.0.” which is a kindergarten where digital education for children has already been established, and “abc Digitale” which is a platform of educational projects aimed at different age groups and articulated in alignment with DigComp.

DIGITAL MEDIA AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Based on the DigComp framework and what is stated in the EntreComp, we plan to develop activities designed to guide and train high school students. In addition, in collaboration with Open Formazione, we provide the same services to adults who are undertaking the path of reintegration.  In collaboration with LegaCoop Bologna we have developed the first experimental application of the EntreComp framework in a cooperative model.

Examples: the development of cooperative entrepreneurship with “Vitamina C” and “Grafene”, a project realized thanks to the collaboration of Open Formazione and the contribution of Fondazione del Monte, that helps vulnerable people to develop resilience through digital and soft skills.

HEALTH AND DIGITAL MEDIA

We are working towards the development of digital skills; we believe them to be a means of protection, and specifically of prevention against addiction both of substance and of digital media. This particular area of work is characterized by projects that have been development both off and online.

Examples include:

• “il Paese delle Meraviglie”, a project that was created by the city of Bologna and which specifically targets middle schools’
• “Drugadvisor”, a platform made in collaboration with the Emilia Romagna region and addiction services, is tailor-made to meet caregivers needs regarding the topic of young adults and substances.
• Another project is “Fentanil”. In collaboration with the Region, with the services for addictions and regional coordination of street units, this project promotes the creation of alliances, in a digital environment, between consumers and institutions. Its objective is to increase the health levels of consumers and citizens.

by Rita Trombini, ART-ER

It is a pleasure for ART-ER to collaborate with ALL DIGITAL in the organization of the 2019 Summit. This meeting will be an opportunity for us to give visibility to our new activities on STEAM education, to learn about new trends and to network with other organisations who are working on these issues.

ART-ER, born recently from the merger of two long-established Emilia-Romagna regional government’s agencies ERVET (regional development) and ASTER (research and technology), has contributed to the digital inclusion project ‘Pane e Internet‘  for many years and is now coordinating STEM education projects in secondary schools, with a particular focus on fighting the gender gap.

As a 100% agency owned by the Emilia-Romagna regional government (RER), ART-ER (former Ervet) has supported RER for over 10 years on regional information society policies, especially through its benchmarking activity of e-government services and other digital developments in Emilia Romagna and its collaboration with the Pane e Internet project.

With the launch of the regional digital agenda ADER, ART-ER took charge of the Competences axis and contributed to the preparation of the Memorandum of Understanding between RER and national Ministry of Education, which was signed in June 2016 in the framework of the “National Digital School Plan”. The Memorandum commits RER to facilitating the diffusion of digital innovation in all schools, including those in peripheral areas, and to developing educational measures to fight gender stereotypes and the ensuing gaps in digital education and STEAM disciplines.

To translate these goals into practice, ART-ER has carried out different activities:

• technical labs targeting female students in first level secondary schools (about 160 attended) during the 2017 and 2018 annual Festival of technical culture of Bologna Metropolitan City. These labs focused on arts and technology, 3D modelling, Scratch, “social photowalk” with digital storytelling about organic wine production, cycling mechanics and the culture of sustainable mobility and other topics;
• practical labs on open data competences, carried out in 2018 and 2019 in collaboration with Golinelli Foundation, for second level secondary school students (about 200 attended). These labs addressed topics such as public ethics, fake news, Italian cultural heritage, territory and environment, gender discrimination and others;
• the La Carovana STEM project, launched in April 2019, which builds on those previous experiences to further enrich and extend them throughout the region, and to experiment with innovative approaches, such as residential Summer camps in the Romagna sea coast and in the Apennines mountains.

It is important to highlight that ART-ER designs and carries out all these activities in close collaboration with the regional school office (USR) of the national Ministry of education; in particular with USR Emilia-Romagna’s Servizio Marconi, based in Bologna, which has a significant expertise in digital education. Thanks to this collaboration, the above ART-ER labs always include also awareness and/or training activities for the teachers of the schools involved. To run and deliver the labs, ART-ER collaborates with the staff of the numerous FabLabs and other organisations running non-formal digital education activities across Emilia Romagna.

We are keen on presenting more in details the above activities and to hear and learn from the Summit’s participants about their own experience in this field. In particular, we are very interested on methodologies to evaluate the impact of digital education activities on young people’s learning achievements, on gender stereotypes and other cultural and social aspects which are important to develop a full digital citizenship.

So, welcome to Bologna and Emilia Romagna! To follow ART-ER’s digital activities you can click here!

by Dimitri Tartari,
Head of Digital Agenda, Emilia-Romagna Region

The Coordination of the Digital Agenda of Emilia-Romagna (ADER) is pleased to meet you and welcomes you to the ALL DIGITAL Summit 2019, on 10-11 October. As a local partner of the meeting, along with ART-ER, Fondazione Golinelli, Open Group and Lai-momo, we are working to make your stay in Bologna and Emilia Romagna interesting and pleasant.

Besides its great food, famous cars (Ferrari, Maserati and Lamborghini) and musical tradition (from Giuseppe Verdi to Pavarotti), Emilia Romagna is characterized and well known for its strong orientation towards innovation and export and at the same time for the attention paid to social inclusion and territorial balances.

With 4.4M residents, representing 7.3% of the whole Italian population, Emilia Romagna hosts 9.3% of Italian manufacturing firms, generates over 11% of national R&D spending and 13.6% of Italian exports. Annual GDP per capita at € 33,600 is 16% above the EU28 average.

Digital development has been for over 20 years a regional policy priority and a key contributor to the above achievements.

Schools on the Lepida broadband network (July 2019)

It started with the creation of the Lepida ultra-broadband public network, which today connects all public sector organisations (from municipalities to schools) and enables private telecom operators to reach rural and other weak regional areas. Other priorities have been and still are the innovation of public services, the support of firms’ digital transformation in all economic sectors and, ever more important, education at all levels and the fight of digital exclusion (with the Pane e Internet project launched 10 years ago).

The Digital Agenda of Emilia-Romagna 2015-2019 (known as ADER) set the ambitious goal of achieving in 2025 a 100% digital Emilia Romagna, in other words a region in which:

• people live, study, have fun and work using technologies, Internet and digital in general, as a normal endeavour
• digital rights are fully satisfied, with zero differences between places, people, businesses and cities in order to ensure an adequate digital ecosystem for all.

ADER translates digital citizenship rights into four concrete axes of intervention: infrastructures, data and services, competences and communities.

A very important recent evolution in this direction is the birth of what we call the Emilia Romagna Data Valley. In June 2019, the proposal coordinated by Cineca (the national university consortium for data processing based in Bologna) was selected by the European Commission for the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking. The EU awarded 120M€ to install a new super-computer in Bologna (to be called Leonardo) that will support high-performance computing projects and infrastructures all across Europe.

Model of the Bologna Technopole under construction

To facilitate this development, the regional government approved also in June 2019 the new law “Investments of the Emilia-Romagna Region in the field of Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, Meteorology and Climate Change”, aimed at further strengthening the position of Bologna and Emilia Romagna at the highest levels of the international scientific community in these areas. The law grants free of charge to the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN) and Cineca an area of the Bologna Technopole for the installation of the Leonardo supercomputer. It also supports the establishment of a Big Data for Human Development Foundation between major regional, national, international scientific institutions and companies. This is expected to attract talents and public and private investment in new technologies to make Emilia Romagna a major incubator of new science and new businesses, and the heart of the supercomputing systems of the whole of Europe. This knowledge hub will address great socio-economic challenges, from weather forecasts and climate change to technological innovation related to industry 4.0.

Digital competence and more widespread science and technology education in general are key ingredients for the success of ADER and of the new challenging and fascinating endeavours just mentioned. An important action in this direction is represented by the regional La Carovana STEM project carried out by ART-ER to fight the gender gap in digital education, that will be presented at the Summit.

What ALL DIGITAL is doing for the development of digital competence with its Italian members and across Europe is an essential task and we thank in advance all those who will come to the Summit to share their ideas and experiences. On our side, we are committed to ensuring that digital competence and 21^st century skills will be at the heart of the new programming of the regional digital agenda. We believe that they are crucial not only for productivity and economic growth, but also for our cultural development and democracy.

It’s a pleasure to welcome you to Emilia Romagna, and we will try to make your stay in Bologna as pleasant and interesting as possible.