What is the Status of
Computing in Schools in Your Country?
The CEPIS Computing in Schools SIN has
developed a short survey to
get a better understanding of the
development of computing in schools in
each country, to gauge the interest of
Member Societies and identify their
activities in this area. The Computing
in Schools SIN has started work on
creating advocacy materials for CEPIS
Member Societies with a view to helping
them influence curricula and teachers at
the national level. The results of the
survey will help better tailor these
advocacy materials to the needs of each
Member Society. The survey consists of
15 questions and should take less than
10 minutes to complete. Take the Survey on
Computing in Schools
CEPIS
ICT Professionalism Award - Nominations
Open Until 10 September!
 The
call for nominations for the CEPIS ICT
Professionalism Award is open
until 10 September 2013. This new
pan-European award will honour
individuals who have demonstrated
outstanding contributions to the
development of the ICT Profession. The
CEPIS ICT Professionalism Award is open
to anyone - be it an ICT professional, a
researcher or an academic - who has made
a substantial contribution to the
development of the profession in general
or contributions to advancing any of the
building blocks of ICT Professionalism.
Nominations must be submitted by CEPIS
Member Societies. Submit Your Nomination
for the CEPIS ICT Professionalism
Award
EC
Call for Tenders: ICT Professionalism,
e-Leadership for SMEs, and e-Skills for
Jobs Campaign
 The
European Commission recently
published three new calls for
tenders related to ICT
professionalism and digital
skills. The first call, open until
20 September 2013, relates to the
development of a pan-European
foundational body of knowledge for
ICT professionals and of a
sustainable operating model for
the promotion of ICT
professionalism in Europe.
The second call, also open until
20 September 2013, is about
providing start-ups and fast
growing SMEs with relevant e-leadership
skills and qualifications for
entrepreneurs, managers and
advanced ICT users that are
trans-nationally recognised. The
third call concerns the
organisation a major communication
and awareness-raising campaign
in Europe on e-skills for jobs
to help fill digital skills
shortages, gaps and mismatches.
This call for tender is open until
13 September 2013.
Save
the Date: 51(13) CEPIS Council Meeting,
November 21, Brussels
 The
51st CEPIS Council meeting will
take place at The Hotel in
Brussels, Belgium on Thursday, 21
November 2013 from 08:30 to 16:00.
There will be a welcome reception
at 19:00 on Wednesday, 20
November, the evening prior to
Council, in the hotel. This
welcome reception will include a
buffet dinner. In accordance with
the Constitution, all Members will
receive the convocation and
invitation to register in the
coming weeks. In the meantime,
please save the date of 21
November 2013 in your calendar and
if you have any other queries
related to Council please contact
Michel Krmek.
Participate
on the survey: International Dimension of
e-skills and ICT Professionalism
 Europe, like
other regions, is confronted with a
worrying ICT skills gap coupled with
an ICT profession that is at a low
level of maturity. As part of a
research study commissioned by DG
Enterprise and Industry, CEPIS and
IVI are very keen to capture the
opinions of Informatics societies on
a number of issues related to
e-skills and ICT professionalism.
We would be very grateful if you
would consider completing the online
survey: International
Dimension of e-skills and ICT
Professionalism. This will
take about 15 minutes to complete.
By contributing to this project, we
hope that you will be able to help
shape future European Commission
policy on this important topic. Take the survey
Next
Meetings of the Computing in Schools SIN
 The
CEPIS Computing in Schools SIN will
organise a second virtual meeting on
Tuesday, 17 September 2013, at 15:30 CET
to review the results of the online
survey and to discuss how they will be
integrated in the advocacy materials for
Member Societies. An in-person meeting
will also be organised on Monday, 7
October, in Brussels to finalise the
advocacy materials which will be
presented at the 51st Council meeting.
If you would like to attend these
meetings, please contact Michel Krmek.
CEPIS
Women in ICT Task Force Welcomes New
Members
 The CEPIS
Women in ICT Task Force recently
welcomed two new participants:
Skevie Skordallou from the Cyprus
Computer Society (CCS) and
Gillian Arnold from the British
Computer Society (BCS). This
Task Force was setup in March 2012
to bring together experts from
Member Societies who are interested
in the topic of women in ICT. Since
then, the group has been meeting
regularly and has been involved in
several different activities.
The next virtual meeting of the
Women in ICT Task Force will be on
Tuesday, 3 September 2013, at 11:00
CET. If you are interested in
joining the Task Force or if you
would like to appoint a
representative from your Society,
please contact Michel Krmek.
Nominate
the Digital Woman of the Year!
CEPIS is a p artner of the
Digital Woman Award which was
officially pledged in support of the
Grand Coalition
for Digital Jobs. The Digital
Woman Award is a pan-European prize
for women and girls who distinguish
themselves and their organisations
in digitally-driven and
digitally-enabled areas of study and
work. There are three award
categories: Digital Girl of the
Year, Digital Woman of the Year, and
Digital Impact Organisation of the
Year. Nominations are open until 13
September 2013. On 7 October 2013
winners of the 2013 Digital Woman
Awards in all categories will be
announced. Winners’ submissions will
be showcased at the ICT 2013 event
on 6-8 November 2013 in Vilnius,
Lithuania. More on the
Digital Woman Awards
Swiss
Informatics to Promote Software Specialist
Titles
Software project failures are
still a recurring problem for
projects of all sizes and levels
of complexity due to a lack of a
renowned brand for professionals
that possess software management
skills. CEPIS Member Society in
Switzerland, Swiss Informatics (SI),
recently started a project aiming
to provide computer science
graduates the opportunity to
obtain and retain specialist
titles that distinguish them from
other ICT professionals. SI is
seeking European or even
world-wide collaboration with
professional societies that would
also be interested in setting up
such specialist titles. An
important feature of these titles
is that they would be awarded by a
professional informatics society
and not by the industry or an
educational body. For more
information, please contact Simon Moser.
More on SI’s
Project on Software Specialist
Titles
PIPS
Signs Poland’s National Digital Jobs
Coalition posal
 The Polish Information
Processing Society (PIPS) is one of
the signatories of Poland’s national
digital jobs coalition, the first
national spin-off of the European
Commission’s Grand Coalition for
Digital Jobs. The purpose of the
coalition is to work with public
authorities, education providers,
employment services, and IT companies
to tackle growing unemployment. The
launch meeting on 3 July 2013 was
attended by with Marian Noga,
President of PIPS, along with Neelie
Kroes, Vice President of the European
Commission, and Ministers of the
Polish government. More on Poland’s
National Digital Jobs Coalition
NJSZT
Inaugurates Exhibition on the History of
Computing
CEPIS Member in Hungary, the
John von Neumann Computer Society (NJSzT), recently
organised the conference From Punched Cards
to Information Society to
inaugurate the exhibition on computer
history which was announced earlier
this year. Marina von Neumann Whitman
delivered a keynote speech on the role
played by ICT in today’s world and the
contributions made by her father, John
Neumann, to computer science. NJSzT is
one of the founders of the exhibition
The Past of the Future which boasts an
extensive collection of over 12,000
objects tracing the history of
computing, including the first
Hungarian satellite. More on the
Exhibition The Past of the Future
What
are the Future Grand Challenges of
Computer Science?
 German Informatics (GI)
established a new working group to
assess what could be the grand
challenges of computer science in
the future. Given the high rate of
innovation in computer science and
its potential to change the world,
identifying such major challenges
may be pointing the way forward and
give valuable impetus to this
science. The working group has
established a series of criteria to
identify grand challenges, which are
defined as fundamental problems
whose solutions are elaborated with
computer science and generate
significant economic and social
benefits. Individuals are invited to
submit by 2 September 2013 what they
consider to be a future grand
challenge for computer science. More on Computer
Science Grand Challenges
Enhancing Digital
Literacy is a Priority for Local and
Regional Authorities in the EU
 74% local
and regional authorities in the European
Union (EU) have identified the
development of digital literacy, skills
and inclusion as the most relevant aim
of the Digital Agenda for Europe (DAE), according to
a survey carried by the Committee of the
Regions. The survey aimed to assess the
satisfaction of local and regional
authorities with regards to the DAE and
its implementation. Overall respondents
considered that the definition of goals,
the aspect of innovation and the
creation of an information society are
some of strongest points of the DAE.
However respondents complained about the
lack of guidance from the EU on how to
implement the measures set by the DAE as
well as the insufficient funding. More on the Committee
of the Regions Survey on the DAE
EU
Announces €22 Billion Investment in
Research and Innovation
 The
European Commission, EU Member
States, and European industry will
invest over €22 billion over the
next seven years in innovation for
sectors that deliver high quality
jobs such as electronics,
aeronautics and bio-based
industries. The majority of this
investment will take the form of
public-private partnerships, with
€10 billion from industry, so as
to provide strong public support
to private research and innovation
activities. This investment
package will provide funding for
large-scale, longer term, risky
research and innovation
initiatives in which the private
sector may be unwilling to invest
alone despite the potentially
large economic and social returns.
More on EU’s
Investment in Research and
Innovation
Digital
Skills for Jobs & Learning Report from
the Digital Agenda Assembly 2013
 The
European Commission published a
report on the Digital Agenda
Assembly that was held in Dublin in
June 2013. The report features a
summary of the discussions held in
the workshop on digital skills for
jobs and learning, as well as in the
other six workshops. The topics
discussed in the workshop on digital
skills focussed on the importance of
coding for youth and the need to
raise awareness about ICT careers
among young girls. The workshop
discussion also showed a common
feeling of urgency among
participants and a need for action.
Read the Digital
Agenda Assembly 2013 Report
New
EU Rules to Tackle Cybercrime
 New
EU rules were recently adopted in
order to better fight cybercrime and
complement the recently adopted EU Cybersecurity
Strategy. The Directive on
attacks against information
systems introduces new
offences such as the use of botnets,
i.e. networks of infected computers
that can be remotely controlled to
stage large-scale cyber attacks. The
new rules aim to improve
cross-border cooperation between
Member States, and they include
higher criminal sanctions that are
necessary to fight more effectively
such large scale attacks. The
Directive also introduces the
obligation to collect statistical
data on cyber-attacks and for Member
States to have channels in place to
report the offences to competent
authorities. More on the
Directive on Attacks Against
Information Systems
Important
Upcoming Events
16-20
September INFORMATIK 2013
Koblenz, Germany. Organised by: GI
7
October Computing in Schools SIN
Meeting Brussels, Belgium. Organised
by: CEPIS
6-9
November ICT2013
Vilnius, Lithuania. Organised by:
European Commission
21
November 51st CEPIS Council
Meeting Brussels, Belgium. Organised
by: CEPIS
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