Microsoft invests in local programs that benefit people of all ages. In the Netherlands, our collaborations are organized by our focus areas of Building Digital Skills, Enabling Sustainability, and Empowering Communities. The following program list contains a sample of the kinds of investments Microsoft makes on an annual basis.

Desenvolvimento de habilidades digitais

A Microsoft acredita que todos devem ter acesso às habilidades, à tecnologia e às oportunidades necessárias para ter sucesso em uma economia em constante mudança.

Talland College is an organization with a heart that invites you to grow into who you are. The college offers unconventional teaching methods. It’s a community that is part of the broader world.

• DC Academy e-learning and certification supports Talland College with funding to reduce the curriculum cost and make sure more students are continuously motivated and supported to achieve certification; cover the cost of hardware components that are added to lab fees, so more students can have access; and pilot e-learning support for a selected group of students. Talland College opened the first Datacenter Academy in North Holland in 2019. The program covers over 200 regular students a year. Talland College also opens the use of the DC lab for programs and education to adult learners and students from secondary education institutes.

Humanitas Den Helder divides its projects into themes to meet people’s needs, including money and administration, contact and support, caring for others, and well-being.

• Maatschappelijke Diensttijd (MDT) helps people between the ages of 18–27 to learn new skills, gain experience to add to their CV, and do something meaningful for someone else. Following an assessment and conversation with a professional youth coach, MDT offers a choice of various volunteer positions and the corresponding training courses. Youth meet regularly in a guidance group led by the youth coach. Planning is an important part of the individual counseling conversations, and MDT also offers time management courses and is flexible about when young people perform their volunteer work. The community also benefits from the program: MDT young people help others in a vulnerable situation. This gives them a helping hand and creates encounters between people who would otherwise probably not meet.

Centro de Talentos para RefugiadosO Refugee Talent Hub, apoiado por seu braço tecnológico RefugeeHire, funciona como um programa de apoio ao emprego em um único local. Ele ajuda os refugiados recém-instalados a superar as barreiras de contratação e a garantir um emprego significativo. Da mesma forma, oferece suporte aos empregadores para que eles possam obter e recrutar talentos refugiados de forma fácil e eficiente.

• Employment and tech skills for refugees includes an ICT support employee / Datacenter Technician class in collaboration with ITPH. The Refugee Talent Hub takes care of the selection process, a soft skill program, and support in finding a job for the participants through their extensive network. Another focus area offers basic digital skilling workshops, like Office 365, Word, and LinkedIn “How do I apply for a job in the Netherlands” workshops, to local refugee talent. This program uses Microsoft volunteers and where relevant teachers from ITPH to give the workshops, and the Refugee Talent Hub takes care of program management and supports local employers when they hire refugees.

Vonk is a broad educational organization that helps the young and old grow. It is committed to discovering everyone’s style of learning and working.

• Noord-Hollandse Bollenbozen implements a learning pathway for pupils from primary education, special primary education, and out-of-school care about growth, flowering, forcing, harvesting, processing, and technology around the cultivation of flower bulbs, bulbous plants, and flowers in North Holland. The learning track offers a broad orientation to the core activities of the bulb industry in North Holland, increasing the orientation towards further education at Vonk. Many vacancies in the sector remain unfilled and the influx into agricultural education is under pressure; therefore, this program focuses on increasing the number of pupils and students in a shrinking demographic.
• ICT Talentontwikkeling (ICT Talent Development) is a knowledge workshop within the TekPark campus. Students are given a permanent space to start their own business under the supervision of a teacher. The business offers refurbishing hardware for entrepreneurs, government, education, and individuals; supervising ICT-related activities for primary education (PO) and secondary education (VO); and providing an ICT helpdesk function and workshop for the elderly and remote workers.

Fundação De Codeerschool garante que os alunos do ensino fundamental se tornem mais alfabetizados digitalmente, empregando professores qualificados e ajudando a moldar políticas.

• Dreamspace NL DC program provides comprehensive digital technology educational experiences, reaching and inspiring every child irrespective of their socio-economic background. Facilitating every aspect from transportation to course execution, it ensures accessibility to all schools. This initiative not only nurtures digital skills but also fosters technological dreams and aspirations among students, preparing them for a future where these skills are imperative. The commitment extends to developing educators, ensuring the sustainability and propagation of digital literacy.

Stichting IT PerformanceHouse is the IT hotspot in the East Netherlands region. Founded to stimulate IT trends and developments in companies and organizations so that they can perform better through IT.

• Filling the ICT labor market gap in North Holland, Stichting IT PerformanceHouse offers training in digital skills and an IT Support Engineer program that guides candidates to a job in the region. The program works closely with Talland College and uses the Datacenter Lab for practical lessons to give the participants datacenter experience and organizes guest lectures with datacenter employees who share their practical work experience.

Stichting Techno Challenge promotes interest in teenagers for technical studies to maintain enough people with technical skills in the working population.

• STEM na educação na Holanda do Norte tem como objetivo estimular uma educação rica em contexto, conectando a educação com os negócios. Para facilitar essa conexão, o programa organiza eventos e atividades em toda a Holanda do Norte para entusiasmar crianças de 6 a 16 anos com a tecnologia e a ciência, incluindo 12 Eventos Promocionais de Tecnologia (PET) para o ensino fundamental, dois dias de carreira para o ensino médio e vários laboratórios de tecnologia nas escolas. Os professores recebem treinamento para dar continuidade a esses eventos em sala de aula. Também oferece às escolas palestras de funcionários da Microsoft usando o Cloudcraft.

VHTO: Landelijk expertisebureau meisjes/vrouwen en bèta/techniek (VHTO) works to encourage more girls and women to get involved in science, technology, and ICT in the Netherlands. VHTO covers the whole spectrum from primary education to secondary education, science/technology and ICT courses in secondary vocational and higher education, and the workplace.

• Women & Digital Inclusion holds code events with different Dutch high schools at the Microsoft Datacenter Lab in Talland College/KnN, where girls meet women role models who work in STEM and work on their digital skills during programming workshops. They can build confidence, develop interests in IT, and broaden their career perspective. The program also trains high school teachers to teach STEM subjects in an inclusive manner and support all their students in developing STEM interests and skills. The impact of this training is beneficial not only to current students but also future students. Further, the program educates mothers/guardians together with their daughters on digital skills, improving the position of these mothers/guardians in the labor market and encouraging their daughters to explore careers in IT.

Vrijwilligerspunt stands as an independent expert in volunteering for quality, continuity, connecting parties, and making volunteering and language accessible to everyone.

• Lesgroepen laaggeletterdheid put together extra classes to help students with their language education, promoting their digital skills with the aim of becoming independent. Depending on the level and the request for help, the lessons consist of reading, writing, listening, speaking, and digital skills. In addition, teachers coach students to apply learnings into everyday life through regular or extracurricular assignments. The lessons are given at various locations in the West-Friesland region. To make the location as accessible as possible for the target group, the lessons take place in community centers and schools.

Possibilitando a sustentabilidade

As mudanças climáticas exigem ação rápida e coletiva e inovação tecnológica. Temos o compromisso de atingir nossas próprias metas e, ao mesmo tempo, ajudar as comunidades a fazer o mesmo.

Stichting Greenport Noord-Holland Noord is a dynamic and powerful representative of agribusiness in Noord-Holland Noord and strives for a structural connection of knowledge, experience and ambition. It is a partnership of entrepreneurs, government, and knowledge institutions that stands for strengthening agribusiness in the region.

• The Agritech Partnership North Holland stimulates and develops farmer-driven innovation by collaborating with agricultural parties in the Kop van Noord Holland. The collaboration focuses on projects and initiatives that make a positive economic, social, technological, and ecological impact on the environment and agricultural sector and are in line with the activities of agricultural entrepreneurs. Projects include precision agriculture and smart farming; food cycle sustainability; water management, minimization, and recycling; and knowledge sharing and accessible training.

LTO Noord is an interest group of farmers and horticulturists. By helping farmers and horticulturists with entrepreneurship, innovation, and sustainability, it takes them into the future.

• AMS FarmBeats is a five-year collaboration between Microsoft and CRM Partners (part of Fellowmind), in close cooperation with CAV Agrotheek and LTO North, to help farmers to raise productivity, optimize their inputs, and produce more sustainably by reducing their carbon dioxide emissions. The project has expanded to gather additional datapoints from satellite images, sensors, and weather stations on potato and onion fields. Besides gathering data, it calls for active participation from the farmers. Farmers obtain field information using a Farmbeats PowerApp that asks for feedback on their actions and observations of the crop and field.

Stichting biomimicryNL is the biomimicry expert in the Netherlands and facilitates nature-inspired innovation, biomimicry education, and training for professionals.

• The Biomimicry Education Community Program trains primary and secondary educators by offering biomimicry modules and a “biomimicry experience” day so both teachers and students learn to apply essential biomimicry skills for creating their regenerative future. The program also has installed edible forests on school grounds and floatlands at Campus De Terp to boost biodiversity and improve water quality. The program adds biomimicry knowledge to existing and new recreational walking routes through physical or digital signposts. Together with the community, the program develops and organizes outdoor activities to reconnect with nature and each other.

Stichting Clean2Anywhere uses the construction of 17th-century ships from recycled plastic to discover the building blocks for a cleaner future and make unexpected encounters happen.

• Werkboten met betekenis is building a 17^th-century freighter from waste plastic. It tackles the world’s biggest problem because if we see plastic not as waste but as building material, that building material is there for the taking. Waste is a major global problem and a direct result of habitual behavior. The project doesn’t build these ships alone; everyone can participate, because everyone has potential if they just want to discover it. For example, workboats are built with volunteers and people with a distance to the labor market. A large part flows into paid work, studies, or experiencing great personal growth—building ships is not only for society as a whole, but also for the development of the people within that society.

Stichting Landzijde facilitates farmers, organizes care, and as a contract partner guarantees the quality of care. Together, it invests in the development of care agriculture to be of value to its participants every day and for an accessible, green, and social countryside for everyone.

• Biodiversidade em fazendas de cuidados ajuda a fazer uma contribuição valiosa para a natureza rural e para um ambiente de vida saudável e biodiverso. Nesse projeto, os coordenadores de campo da Agrarian Nature Association, juntamente com os agricultores, estão buscando possibilidades de aumentar a biodiversidade na fazenda. Um "plano de natureza da empresa" é elaborado com base em uma análise do pátio da fazenda, em pesquisas sobre a história natural e cultural do pátio e nos desejos do agricultor. Isso resulta em recomendações e atividades concretas sobre as plantas que aumentam a biodiversidade nesses locais no contexto da história cultural da paisagem e em relação à Netherlands Nature Network. Além disso, o projeto está desenvolvendo um caminho de aprendizado personalizado sobre biodiversidade e gestão da natureza.

Capacitação das comunidades

A Microsoft tem o compromisso de fortalecer as comunidades e capacitar as organizações que as ajudam a prosperar. Sejam elas afetadas por uma emergência recente ou por décadas de desafios, usamos dados, tecnologia e investimentos estratégicos para restaurá-las e apoiá-las para as gerações futuras.

Trabalhos de Designathon capacita crianças de todo o mundo a projetar um mundo melhor.

• Comer é aprenderO projeto Designathon Works Hollands Kroon Health Literacy permitirá que crianças de 8 a 12 anos de Hollands Kroon façam escolhas mais saudáveis em termos de alimentação e estilo de vida. A equipe do Designathon Works conduzirá quatro aulas nas quais as crianças passarão por um processo completo de design e desenvolvimento de ideias sobre o tema "Alimentação saudável, vida saudável". O objetivo do projeto é colocar as crianças no centro da identificação de inovações em sala de aula e em toda a escola para apoiar escolhas alimentares mais saudáveis entre os jovens. Como uma metodologia orientada para o design, baseada em problemas e centrada na criança, o método Designathon usado no projeto promoverá o desenvolvimento de ambientes de aprendizagem propícios ao desenvolvimento de habilidades^{do século XXI}, criando assim a prontidão futura das salas de aula no município de Hollands Kroon.

Stichting Cultuurschuur is developing, managing, and using the former town hall of the municipality of Wieringermeer in the context of the welfare, history, and culture in the Wieringermeer.

• Centro de Pesquisas do Wieringermeer está ampliando os murais existentes na atual Cultuurschuur com uma história digital do Wieringermeer em tablets montados nas grades e colunas da torre. Os esforços de especialistas em museus da região, especialistas em TI e redes, além de voluntários da Het Historisch Genootschap Wieringermeer, criaram uma exposição cuja qualidade é garantida a longo prazo. A sensibilidade à interferência é reduzida a um mínimo absoluto pela escolha do hardware e do software. A exposição apresenta os planos de recuperação, a recuperação real, a inundação durante os anos de guerra, a estrutura administrativa, os desenvolvimentos recentes e o uso atual da terra.

Stichting Hollands Kroonse Uitdaging stimulates projects and partnerships between the business community, educational institutions, healthcare institutions, and social organizations. This can take place by means of knowledge, hands, or equipment in principle on the basis of a closed exchange.

• Programa de subsídios comunitários Hollands Kroon administra um minifundo hiperlocal com subsídios voltados para inclusão digital, saúde e ecologização de áreas comunitárias. Também concede dois ou três projetos maiores com as mesmas áreas de foco. Muitas organizações e iniciativas pequenas se candidatam a um pequeno subsídio que causa um grande impacto na região da Hollands Kroon.

TechSoup Global builds a dynamic bridge that uses technology to enable connections and innovative solutions for a more equitable planet.

• Nonprofits Digital Transformation Journey builds the digital resilience of EMEA nonprofits through the delivery of information, guidance, digital skills training, IT services, and access to technology products and solutions through a collaboration with Microsoft. The project raises awareness about the benefits of digital transformation and helps organizations move towards a standardized posture across the six digital capability areas in line with the TechSoup digital capability framework.

Vrijwilligerspunt stands as an independent expert in volunteering for quality, continuity, connecting parties, and making volunteering and language accessible to everyone.

• Programa de subsídios comunitários West-Friesland administra um minifundo hiperlocal com subsídios voltados para inclusão digital, saúde e ecologização de áreas comunitárias. Ele também concede dois ou três projetos maiores com as mesmas áreas de foco. Muitas organizações e iniciativas pequenas se candidatam a um pequeno subsídio que causa um grande impacto na região de West-Friesland.