Google has announced a suite of grants, courses and job search tools for the EMEA market to help its economic recovery from Covid-19.
The drive is part of a pledge to help 10 million people and businesses in Europe, the Middle East and Africa “find jobs, digitise and grow by the end of 2021”. The move follows a “tripling of demand” for related support during Covid-19 lockdowns.
“Through lockdown, many of us found that online tools have been a real lifeline. We’ve used them to help our communities find information and stay connected, support local businesses, teach our children and learn new skills ourselves,” wrote Matt Brittin, president of Google EMEA, in a blog post last week.
“We’ve learned over the last five years that we need to do more to reach those whose existing jobs are most at risk of disruption by new technology,” he continued.
Ai will play a leading role.
Brittin said research suggests European companies using AI most extensively are likely to grow three times faster than the average firm over the next 15 years, adding €2.7 trillion, or 19% to European output by 2030.
Google’s AI for business tool for European SMEs, is now available in more languages and provides businesses with a personalised report recommending the most relevant applications of AI and the potential benefits, along with practical suggestions on how to get started.
And to help people find new job opportunities, Google will launch its job search tool in more EMEA countries. Job search is built in partnership with job boards, local employment agencies and others, like Pole Emploi in France, Bayt.com in the Middle East and Monster.de in Germany, and it also helps them by finding job seekers with the right skills faster.
“We are testing new features for the recovery—such as helping you find jobs that let you work from home,” Brittin wrote.
In terms of financial support, Google is providing $15 million in grants via Google.org as part of its EMEA commitment to provide underserved workers and small business owners with critical digital skills and access to jobs.
Further the firm will we will be covering the cost for 100,000 people to take the Google IT Support Professional Certificate which prepares people for a career in IT – 50,000 of these places are reserved for under-served groups who otherwise face “real barriers to learning” (such as language, caring responsibilities or financial difficulty). Google.org will fund local non-profits to provide the tailored support these people require to successfully complete the course.
Supporting industries
In addition to the support offered to individuals and businesses, Google has also pledged tech support to entire industries, including retail and travel, to invest in “new programs to help industries hardest hit by the pandemic”.
For retail, an improved version of Grow My Store will help local businesses improve digital shopping, grow customer traffic and optimise online stores. Reaching new audiences by exporting abroad should be an easy option for every business regardless of size. The Market Finder tool now provides export marketing and logistics help in light of Covid-19. To help retailers understand changes in demand, a new interactive tool will launch to shares insights on fast-rising retail categories in Google Search, where in the world searches are growing, and exactly the words people are typing to find what they want.
For the travel industry, Google is partnering with experts like the UN World Tourism Organisation to launch training to help tourism officials across Europe, the Middle East and Africa understand and use the range of digital tools to attract travellers.
“This builds on our efforts to support tourism businesses across the region to help them grow with digital tools, get access to training and digitise heritage,” Brittin wrote.
