A total of 50 women with disabilities This Tuesday they begin their training to access technological positions thanks to the Radia Program, an initiative promoted by ONCE Foundation, the Conference of Social Councils of Spanish Universities (CCS) and Foundation CEOE, whose objective is to favor the inclusion of people with disabilities in digital work environments.

The president of the CEOE Foundation, Fatima Banez; the president of the Conference of Social Councils of Spanish Universities, Antonio Abril Abadin, and the CEO of Fundación ONCE, Jose Luis Martinez Donoso, were in charge of presenting this program.

As they explained, it is about offering employment opportunities to women with disabilities, who are the group with the fewest options for professional development in technological fields.

In his speech, Fatima Banez He stressed that "the greatest strategic asset that companies and also Spain have are people, and that talent, in its rich diversity and regardless of their capabilities, we need to have more competitive companies and a better society for all."

For its part, April Abadín He stressed that "being able, in a circumstance like the one we live in, to implement this Program is the confirmation of everyone's commitment to promoting diversity and equal opportunities in our society." He added that the 50 elected have the challenge of cementing the necessary commitment to STEM knowledge areas. "We have the talent and we have the training capacity in our universities. We only need to show, in the previous educational stages, the enormous possibilities of science, technology, engineering and mathematics for both men and women ”.

Finally, Martinez Donoso recalled that, according to all the analyzes, 90% of jobs will require digital skills in the future and that, at the same time, there is a gender gap in relation to access to and use of technology. For this reason, he continued, “and knowing that in the case of our group the gap is even greater, we have designed a very powerful technological training project for university students with disabilities, with which we want you to do a deep immersion on digital technologies, essential today for technical and qualified jobs ”.

“We like no one”, concluded the CEO of Fundación ONCE, “we know that talent is not incompatible with disability and that we can reach the highest levels of training and leadership and professional development if we try to do so ”.

The training period is divided into three phases, which combine face-to-face and virtual modalities, on the most burning issues of digital transformation, such as artificial intelligence, fintech, esport, e-commerce, cybersecurity, biotechnology, blockchain or Green teach. In addition, they will have mentorship and inspiring training with mentors from different companies and internships in technology companies.

The first phase, Brain Storm, begins this Tuesday with a talk on artificial intelligence given by Carlos Santana. The Mentor Women phase will be developed over 12 weeks in which the scholarship recipients will learn about the real contexts of the technological field from the hands of professionals who work in the digital world and will show them their day to day, in order to teach, inspire and empower them.

In the last phase, called Real Work, those selected will receive a digital training in 100 sessions of 4 hours and will be supported by mentors to carry out internships in companies selected. It is scheduled to end on June 30, 2021.

RADIA program

Radia Perlman's story inspired the name of the show RADIA WOMEN’S DIGITAL INCLUSION. Radia is the creator of one of the most widely used communication protocols in the world that makes networks work properly, stable, robust and secure.

Currently, only one out of every six ICT specialists incorporated into the labor market is a woman. This fact is also compounded by the circumstance of disability, which hinders the inclusion of women with disabilities in the field of higher education and employment. That is why the purpose of the program is to offer training and employment that includes more women with disabilities in the digital sector, recognizing both the value of their contributions and their talent, something essential to build an inclusive, competitive and dynamic digital society.

From this perspective, RADIA establishes a series of steps aimed at increasing the number of university students with disabilities sitting in jobs based on the use of digital technology.

The Executive Committee of CEOE has met this Tuesday at 9:00 am and on an extraordinary basis to submit for consultation the principle of agreement reached yesterday at the Social Dialogue table on the Law that will regulate remote work.

The Committee has unanimously endorsed the final text, which has been reached after months of joint work with the Ministry of Labor and the majority unions.

CEOE and Cepyme understand that teleworking is a form of organization of time and resources that is increasingly used by companies and we trust that this standard will allow an orderly advance in this modality, especially once the exceptional situation in the that we find on the occasion of COVID-19.

A total of 21 experts and professionals from leading companies in the digital field will serve as mentors for the 50 women with disabilities who have been selected to be part of the Radia Program, an initiative promoted by ONCE Foundation, the Conference of Social Councils of Spanish Universities (CCS) and Foundation CEOE, whose objective is to favor the inclusion of people with disabilities in digital work environments.

The aim is to offer employment opportunities to women with disabilities, who are the group with the fewest options for professional development in technological fields.

Mentors include Gabriela V. Orille, Carlos Santana, Rocío Arroyo, Sylvia Areitio, Fernando Piquer, Nora Alonso, Sandra Magro, Pablo González, Mónica Villas, Nacho Villoch, Rosa Mª Sánchez, Jordi Serrano, Celia Muriel, Fran Ramírez, Inés Huertas, Nerea Luis, Javier Martínez, Almudena Alcaide, Ester Morales, Alvaro Núñez and Marta Barrio.

The training will begin at the end of this month of September and will end in June 2021. A total of 50 women participate, 36% with physical disabilities and aged between 20 and 29 years (52%). Most of them (72%) do not come from STEM careers. The program has received a total of 126 applications.

The program is divided into three phases that combine face-to-face and virtual training on the hottest topics in digital transformation, such as artificial intelligence, fintech, esport, e-commerce, cybersecurity, biotechnology, blockchain or Green teach. In addition, they will have mentorship and inspiring training with mentors from different companies and internships in technology companies.

The first phase, Brain Storm, will begin on September 22. The Mentor Women phase will take place over 12 weeks and in them the scholarship recipients will learn about the real contexts of the technological field from the hands of professionals who work in the digital field and will show them their day to day, in order to teach and inspire and empower them. In the last phase, called Real Work, those selected will receive a digital training in 100 sessions of 4 hours and will be supported by mentors to carry out internships in companies selected. It is scheduled to end on June 30, 2021.

RADIA program

Radia Perlman's story inspired the name of the show RADIA WOMEN’S DIGITAL INCLUSION. Radia is the creator of one of the most widely used communication protocols in the world that makes networks work properly, are stable, robust and secure.

Currently, only one in six ICT specialists incorporated into the labor market is a woman. This fact is also compounded by the circumstance of disability, which hinders the inclusion of these women in the field of higher education and employment. That is why the purpose of the program is to offer training and employment that includes more women with disabilities in the digital sector, recognizing both the value of their contributions and their talent, something essential to build an inclusive, competitive and dynamic digital society.

From this perspective, RADIA establishes a series of steps aimed at increasing the number of university students with disabilities sitting in jobs based on the use of digital technology.

Singapore, Helsinki and Zurich topped the 2020 Smart Cities Index, in a year in which many European cities fell in the rankings. The Smart Cities Index ranks cities based on economic and technological data, as well as their citizens' perceptions of how “smart” their cities are.

The Institute for Management Development, in collaboration with the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), has published the Smart Cities Index 2020, with key findings on how technology is playing a role in the COVID-19 era. in a way that will probably stay.

Hundreds of citizens from 109 cities were surveyed in April and May 2020 and asked questions about their city's technological dispositions in five key areas: health and safety, mobility, activities, opportunities, and governance.

This year's ranking reflects that cities have always different technological approaches, as the management of the pandemic has become increasingly important in local politics.

"We cannot ignore the impact of COVID," said IMD Professor Arturo Bris, who led the ranking's work as Director of the Center for Global Competitiveness at the Swiss management institute that supports it.

“Those with better technology handle the pandemic better. Smart cities are not the solution, but technology helps ”, he explained.

It is also clear that the COVID-19 crisis is likely to widen inequalities between those who have and those who do not have connectivity, both between and within cities. This is an aspect that will capture the attention of analysts and governments, both central and local.

"Smart cities closest to the top of the rankings seem to deal with the unexpected challenges of the devastating pandemic with a better outcome," commented Professor Heng Chee Chan, president of the Lee Kuan Yew Center for Innovative Cities at SUTD.

The growing importance of second cities

This year's rankings also highlighted the ability of countries to develop cities beyond their capitals. In the 2020 standings, Bilbao fares better than Madrid, and Birmingham this year improved by 12 spots while London climbed just five.

Look at France. The Paris region represents a considerable part of the economic activity of the entire country, ”said Bris. "But then look at the US, China, Australia or Taiwan, and the second cities have become more important, sometimes more than the capital."

"As a sign of the development of a country, it is important to develop those cities," he added, and recommended that policy makers promote the competitiveness of second cities to improve the overall economic health of a country.

Urban economies like Hong Kong and Singapore, and to some extent the United Arab Emirates, may be at a disadvantage because they have less capacity to develop second cities, he said.

The economic conditions of a country are the foundations

All things being equal, smart cities help citizens the most, the researchers concluded. But cities have very different infrastructures to begin with.

For this reason, in cities that are already highly developed, such as Zurich or Amsterdam, technology plays a marginal role as there is little to improve. On the contrary, in cities like Bogotá or Mumbai, technology makes a big difference.

Therefore, the largest changes in the ranking from one year to the next occur in the less developed economies, since citizens do not need much to perceive a great improvement.

Therefore, technology is slightly more important in less developed countries. Therefore, African cities at the bottom of the rake, such as Abuja, Nairobi, and Lagos, would do well to prioritize their implementation.

Large differences within countries

Smart is a relative term. “Different cities use technology for different things. That could be preventing traffic, in the case of Paris, or improving citizen participation by offering free WIFI in Ramallah, ”Bris said.

Chicago has an ambitious technology plan based on hyperconnectivity; Abu Dhabi has a green project and Birmingham is one of the UK's top-ranked cities for mobility.

That is why we see great differences in the intelligence of cities within the same country. They differ in terms of their economies, levels of inequality (eg access to health), and policies.

"Countries are no longer economic units," says Bris. Mayors and local authorities increasingly have the power to improve the well-being of citizens through the implementation of technology.

"The American city of Boston is a good example of how the management of its city by its mayor makes a big difference."

In the context of this ranking, a “smart city” is an urban environment that applies technology to enhance the benefits and reduce the deficiencies of urbanization for its citizens. The ranking is the first of its kind because it measures the perception of citizens in terms of the impact of technology on their quality of life.

Other rankings that measure the "intelligence" of cities are usually driven by a specific industry and focus on types of technology.

This is the second edition of the IMD-SUTD Smart Cities Index Report.