About Conference
Welcome to the final dissemination event for the COMPeTERE collaboration of EU Partners from Belgium, Finland, Poland, Spain and the UK.
ESF funded projects from each of the partner countries have merged to form an overarching view on how to overcome the barriers to learning of employers and employees of SMEs and SMFs. The project COMPETERE aimed at examining barriers in learning and using new technologies of the owners and employees of SMEs in the partner countries. Common standards and best practices have been defined as well as IT tools, possible to implement for each partner country's individual needs. The aim of the conference is to present the main purposes and results of the project.
The collated findings from this extensive cooperation will seek to inform EU policy-makers, e-learning developers and stakeholders within the business sectors of the key issues affecting SMEs and the recommendations to overcome these barriers, through the innovative use of e-learning solutions. European Education, eLearning, Life Long Learning, SME's competitiveness are the main aspects of the conference.
Our Speakers
Jerzy Buzek - born 3 July 1940 in Śmiłowice near Cieszyn, Poland. Graduated from Politechnika Śląska (Technical University of Silesia) with a degree in chemical engineering (specialized in processing engineering and environmental protection). A professor of technical science at the Technical University of Silesia and Technical University of Opole; a honorary doctor at the universities in Dortmund and Soeul. Currently the vice-rector responsible for science at the Akademia Polonijna (The Polonia Academy) in Częstochowa. A member of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the representative of Poland at the International Energy Agency - the Greenhouse Gas Effect programme. A co-founder of INCREASE - an international network of scientific institutes. Since 1980 a member of NSZZ "SOLIDARNOŚĆ" ("Solidarity"), Chairman of the First Congress of "Solidarity" Delegates in 1981. In 1997 - 2001 the Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland. The originator of a yearly competition Pro Publico Bono for the best civic initiative in Poland (since 1999). In 2002 founded Instytut Społeczeństwa Obywatelskiego PPB (The Institute of Civic Society) and Polonijna Szkoła Dyplomacji (The Polonia School of Diplomacy) in Częstochowa (European studies, European administration, international relations).
Jerzy Buzek - Promoting European Education and Innovation in the Global Economy.pdf
Tom Wielicki Professor and Executive Director, Digital Economy Center Craig School of Business, California State University, Fresno FRESNO, CA, USA Dr. Tom Wielicki is an Executive Director of Digital Economy Center and Professor of Information Systems at the Craig School of Business, California State University, Fresno. Dr. Wielicki is also a Fulbright Scholar that has been credited with creation of the concept of an e-Village as a residential area specifically designed for full time telecommuters. Dr. Wielicki has extensive record of publications and has been invited to lecture on the issues of business applications of Information Technology and e-learning by number of universities around the world including: Heidelberg University, Germany, The University of New South Wales, Australia, Universiad de las Americas, Puebla, Mexico, and Polish Academy of Science, Poland. He is also currently serving as a consultant on issues of IT applications in learning and e-learning methodologies for the EU funded program called IT-Qual.
Patrick Belpaire graduated as pedagogue at the University of Ghent in 1984. After a 2 year period as lecturer and coach in "learning to learn" he joined DOLMEN Computer Applications for 8 years where he consequently worked as training officer and responsible for sales and marketing. In 1994 he realized that the creation of the Internet also meant the birth of e-learning. He combined his ICT, marketing and educational experience and founded the company U&I Learning, specialized in e-learning. Over the following years the company slowly, but surely has built its customer and revenue base to its current balanced portfolio of more than 200 industry and government customers. Since august 2007 the company is listed on Euronext (Free Market). Today, as Chairman of the Board, Patrick Belpaire spreads the word "learning" through European networking projects.
"ABSTRACT OF THE SPEACH"
In the year 2000, heads of state and government of the European Union met in Lisbon with the aim to make the European Union the most dynamic and competitive knowledge based economy in the world by 2010. One of the key reform area's, next to a common market and emphasis on research and innovation, was education, let's say learning. This presentation proposes a model to organize this learning. It is based on the idea that learning is a continuous process of growth to acquire competences. To enhance this learning the model focusses on three area's. The ability to express future visions, the ability to design and implement effective learning environments and last but not least the ability of people to guide themselves in their learning processes in order to achieve individual and common goals.
Patrick Belpaire - E-learning and the Lisbon Strategy (pdf)
Paco Prieto Díez: Currently Information Society Area Manager of CTIC Foundation, Paco Prieto has a Bachelor in Psychology and a Master in e-business from the Polythechnic University of Catalonia. After 12 years of experience working on projects about Information Society and its introduction among citizens, enterprises and public institutions, he has also participated in several business initiatives, particularly in recruiting and training through the Internet (Virtual Campus). Nowadays he is the responsible for key projects on the Information Society Area, developed for the Regional Public Administration, as the Principality of Asturias Telecentres Network and the Technology Advanced Services Centres Network (SAT). He also manages CTIC's Content Factory, a pioneering initiative providing specific target groups with tailored training resources. Prieto is the author of a revealing book on ICT matters, La red de empleo en Espana (The Employment Network in Spain) and the coordinator of Las redes de Telecentros en Espana: una historia por contar (The Spanish Telecentres Networks: a story to tell).
Dr Harry Matlay, BSc, M.Ed, PhD
Dr Harry Matlay is Reader in SME Development at UCE Business School in Birmingham, West Midlands, UK. He specialises in e-Entrepreneurship and Small e-Business Development as well as in Training and Human Resource Development issues in smaller firms.
Dr Matlay holds three degrees from Warwick University, UK: BSc Hons. (1984), MEd (1993) and PhD (1997). Prior to joining the UCE Business School he worked in senior positions in industry and commerce, as an entrepreneur and business consultant, and at Warwick University, where he undertook teaching, supervision and various small business related projects. He edited the English language EC SME Observatory in 1997 and has contributed an extensive chapter on Health and Safety in European SMEs.
He joined the UCE Business School in January 1998 and contributed to the research activities of the Knowledge Management Centre (KMC) and the Enterprise Research and Development Centre (ERDC). He is the editor of the Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, guest editor of Education and Training and on the editorial boards of the International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Industry Higher Education. In 2003 he was awarded the Golden Page prize in the research relevance category for his editorial work on JSBED.
Since completing his PhD, he has written over 100 articles and conference papers, published in refereed and practitioner journals as well as in the proceedings of prestigious national and international conferences. His contribution to research is internationally recognised and he is the holder of several national and international research awards.
Harry Matley - European SMEs and e-learning.pdf
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