Celebrating the spirit of entrepreneurship with the new Google for Entrepreneurs

Posted by Mary Grove, Head of Global Entrepreneurship Outreach

Cross-posted from the Official Google Blog 

Startups and entrepreneurs have the power to build technologies and creative solutions that transform the world and move us forward. Innovation is happening everywhere: There are approximately 400 million entrepreneurs across 54 countries, and 69 million early-stage entrepreneurs offering new products and services. As Google turns 14 this month, we’re celebrating this creative spirit and officially launching Google for Entrepreneurs, the umbrella for our several dozen programs and partnerships around the world that support startups and entrepreneurs.

Our focus is threefold:

1. Partnerships with strong organizations that serve entrepreneurs in local communities
2. Google-led programs to bring our teams and our tools directly to entrepreneurs
3. Placing relevant Google tools in the hands of startups as they are getting off the ground and ready to scale

We’re already on a roll, with current projects ranging from support for the annual journey of entrepreneurship through India by train, to partnering with a number of accelerator and incubator programs around the world, like iHub in Kenya and Le Camping in France. And, this week, we’re rolling out our newest partnership: teaming up with Women 2.0 to bring their Founder Friday events to more cities. These events bring together current and aspiring female entrepreneurs once a month to connect with mentors and one another to build community. We’re partnering to launch Founder Fridays in Detroit, New Orleans, Sao Paulo and Moscow over the next year.

To celebrate both our birthday and the spirit of entrepreneurship that’s helped get us where we are today, we are hosting our first annual Google for Entrepreneurs Week, which will bring together more than 3,000 entrepreneurs and Googlers around the world. We kicked off over the weekend with a Startup Weekend event hosted at the Google Ventures Startup Lab in Mountain View, Calif., where Bay Area entrepreneurs came together to create their own startups in 54 hours. Over the course of the next week, Googlers in 28 cities across 13 countries will be hosting an event in their communities to bring their passion and expertise to local entrepreneurs. We’re teaming with a number of partners to make this happen, including the Idea Village in New Orleans, Communitech in Waterloo, Tetuan Valley in Wroclaw, the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship in Johannesburg and the Council Bluffs Chamber of Commerce in Iowa.

For more on these existing programs and to stay connected on upcoming events, visit google.com/entrepreneurs and follow us on G+.

Let’s Stand on a Platform for Good

Posted by Anne Toth, Head of Google+ Privacy 

At Google, we believe in the incredible potential for harnessing technology and the compassion of the human spirit to do good, to learn, and to help each other grow. We have seen inspiring examples of this with the extraordinary projects from the Google Science Fair and on YouTube with the It Gets Better Project.

In step with our commitment to expand and promote digital citizenship, Google is a proud sponsor of a new initiative -- A Platform for Good.

A Platform for Good, a Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI) initiative, is an interactive online portal that empowers parents, teachers, teens and kids to connect and share knowledge about being responsible digital citizens.

With the support of companies, organizations and experts within the tech industry, A Platform for Good (PfG) will focus on the positive power of the Internet, using fun and engaging interactive elements to support online safety learning. One of the many exciting elements of PfG is the Teach Teachers Tech video series, led by Adora Svitak and sponsored by Google. Adora, 14, starts the series off with what inspires students about technology and ends with a challenge to students and teachers to submit their own stories.

A Platform for Good will reach students, parents and teachers in a new way, while addressing the need for a comprehensive approach to digital citizenship. See you at aplatformforgood.com!