Introduction and background
Telecentre Europe (TE) organises two annual
events every year, one dedicated exclusively to our
members (General Assembly) and another open
to our wider audience of stakeholders: Telecentre
Europe Annual Conference (TEAC). The objectives
of the annual TE conference have always been to
share knowledge, welcome new members, evaluate
the challenges ahead for telecentres and promote
our messages to policy makers, businesses and
interested stakeholders.
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the conference: more recently Zagreb, Malta and
Warsaw. The aspect of this “travelling conference”
is very well accepted among the participants.
The event gathers a majority of members of TE and
non-governmental organisations active in the field
of digital inclusion and empowerment. However,
it also attracts policy makers and company
representatives who are willing to learn from our
In its 8th year, TEAC15 took the
structure of a 1.5-day event, hosted
by three European funded projects:
UNITE-IT, E-uropa and I-LINC.
Telecentre Europe is the leading
partner in the project consortiums,
composed of TE members and
partnering organisations. It is a
challenge but at the same time
a satisfaction to organise the
annual conference around our key
projects’ themes and priorities,
making it possible for conference
attendees to listen to diverse
topics throughout the conference
and network with a wide variety of
stakeholders.
Every year the conference is held in a different
location and in 2015 the turn was given to Belgrade
(Serbia), kindly hosted and co-organised by our
Serbian member International Aid Network (IAN).
As with previous years, the setting gave us an
opportunity to tap into local knowledge and to
involve local professionals and enthusiasts. Before
Belgrade, many other European capitals hosted
experiences and share their views. Altogether there
were 143 participants from well over 20 countries.
The common theme for the 2015 conference
was “Digitally empowered Europeans”, a tagline
reflecting Telecentre Europe’s vision for European
citizens. It is also a point we would like to be
implemented more within the Digital Single
Market (DSM) strategy published by the European
Commission. As Mara Jakobsone, the Telecentre
Europe Board Chair, illustrated in her welcoming
presentation, telecentres will play a role in the
DSM strategy as they are already empowering
citizens with digital skills. Due to its focus on youth
employability and digital skills for jobs, TEAC15
was also on the official calendar of the European
Commission’s ongoing campaign eSkills for Jobs.