Making Germans Tech Savvy

Bill Gates was in Germany Monday to announce an "IT Fitness Initiative." Microsoft Corporation, of which Gates is the co-founder and chairman, plans to partner with German organizations to offer IT training to German workers.

With globalization moving high-tech work to countries such as India and China, Germany needs to focus on training its workforce more than ever before, Gates said during a speech at the Audi Forum in Ingolstadt on Monday.

"IT fitness and the practical knowledge of knowing how to use computers forms the foundations of global competitive ability," Gates said. "With the IT Fitness Initiative, we want to energize Microsoft as well as its partners to extend and contribute in such a way so that their abilities will make German companies more successful in a global economy."

German workers need technology training

Germany has Europe's largest economy and a technology sector, with big-hitters such as software maker SAP, Siemens and Infineon Technologies. Yet there's a sense that Germans have been slow to jump on the IT bandwagon. In Germany, 42 percent of the population doesn't use the Internet. Yet more than half of Germans must use IT skills in their jobs.

Unemployment among workers with low skill levels has reached 20.5 percent. Microsoft and its partners want to train four million Germans in IT, giving them a job skill that will make them more employable. Technology academies have been set up to teach skills and trades. Two pilot projects include the German Confederation of Skilled Crafts and the Saxon Technology Center in Zwickau. Both projects are partnered with Cisco Systems and the German high-technology industry group Bitkom.

Getting ready for a high-tech future

"Skilled knowledge-based work and qualifications are vital for Germany's readiness for the future," said Economics Minister Michael Glos, who added that companies have become more aware that making sure workers have the latest training can help their profits.

"By using comprehensive IT qualification offers, even people without previous knowledge can learn to use computers and, therefore, increase their own changes on the job market," he said.

Hans-Jörg Bullinger, president of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, a large German applied research organization, also warned against a Germany where people get technologically left behind.

"We must prevent society from breaking apart into one group of people who can deal with new technologies and another without any access," Bullinger said.