Google funds with USD 500,000 the Tech Generation Regional Development Program

Digital Nation launches the Tech Generation Regional Development Program, which will support young people aged 15-24 from Romania to develop their digital skills. The program, for the first time in our country, is supported by Google’s international organization, which provides a USD 500,000 funding for the first year of the project.

The aim of the project is that more than 300 young people take part in the Tech Generation course and acquire the practical skills required on the labor market. The project is supported by the Ministry of National Education.

The Tech Generation programs begin in July 2019, and young people aged 15-24 can enroll in one of the two 12-month specializations: IT Literacy and Learn to Code. In the first year, the programs will be available in 3 cities, and participants will be able to connect to the Digital Campus or access local program hubs to help the community get to know and interact. Participants will attend online interactive classes, will be mentored by specialists from Cluj, Iasi, Bucharest and all major digital centers and will meet at local Digital Nation events. At the end of the program, young people will go through a stage facilitating digital engagement at local and regional level.

Entries to Tech Generations are open from May to June 2019 on the community site. The program aims to prepare 300 young people through digital and mentoring courses. In addition, the program will provide hardware if the young people you select have this need.

The Tech Generation programs are developed using teaching methodologies of Digital Nation, a community born in Bucharest, which experiments and innovates in the field of education in 2013.

The program was launched through a press conference, which featured the debate on digital future skills among young people, how to learn them, and the role that different social actors have in supporting this approach.

Liza Belozerova (EMEA Program Program Manager, Google.org), Elisabeta Moraru (Country Manager, Google Romania), Paul Apostol (founder of Digital Nation) and Lucian Ghinda (Head of Mentors, Digital Nation) talked about the strategies proposed and the envisaged impact of the program and the choice of Romania in the context of this investment.

“Google.org’s mission is to support organizations and communities to scale up their digitization efforts across the country, however remote they may be. Digital Nation is joining Google’s group of organizations today, the first time we start a project of such a size with a country in Eastern Europe. 44% of Europe’s population does not have the digital skills needed today, so Google is supporting local partners in developing programs that will increase digitized workforce,” said Liza Belozerova, EMEA Program Manager, Google.org.

“There are many opportunities for growth in the area of digital competences. 60 percent of the current jobs will change in the next 5 years – only in Romania this change can bring a 42mld impact to the Gross Domestic Product,” said Elisabeta Moraru, Country Manager, Google Romania.

“We have begun building a digital campus that will be accessible from anywhere in the country and where participants will be mentored on digital skills and programming, especially in small and medium-sized cities,” said Paul Apostol, Digital Nation Founder.