The European Congress of Culture that just ended in Wroclaw, Poland, has been one of the most important European events during this year’s Polish presidency in the EU. Run with impetus, packed with intellectual and artistic personalities, the congress made an attempt to highlight Europe's most important art initiatives. What about this cultural project could be interesting in the context of the NetSquared Community?

I'm president of BDR, small polish NGO. I'm interested in finding new, better ways to serve non-profits through technology.

Hi

I'm Ian Clifford from Telecentre Europe, and (like many I have two hats) UK online centres. I have been helping people to get online for about the last 15 years, and I now represent the network of telecentres across Europe. The network is massive: about 30,000 centres at last count, but my day job is with the network of 4000 centres in England.

I am Ari Katz, deputy director for technology and civil society at IREX, a international development nonprofit based in Washington, DC. I work on programs that use technology to help organizations and institutions better fulfill their missions in a variety of ways - with youth, with libraries, with schools, and with governments.   My priorities include figuring out how to bring access to information in new and engaging ways to those who could benefit from it, and trying to integrate libraries more into the development dialogue. IREX brings well-managed projects in a number of countries to collaborations.

(This post is cross-posted from the Guidestar International blog here.)

You've heard of poetry slams, events where poets compete to perform the best delivery of orignal poerty, but have you heard of pitch slams? Innovate!100 is a new competition challenging start-ups to create the best pitch and compete for money, prizes, publicity, and the opportunity to be introduced to world-class partners and investors.

The Social Innovation Camp Central and Eastern Europe (SICCEE) brings together talented software developers/designers and social innovators from the non-profit, commercial and public sector. Over the course of 48 hours, teams will build effective web-based solutions to real social problems.  But, they need to make sure those teams have all the geek-power they can!

Get Your Ticket to Join SICamp CEE

A new draft curriculum for primary schools in England gives teachers more freedom to decide what's interesting for their pupils...and brings Youtube and Twitter to schools. The question is: who will be the teacher? European correspondent Sven Haertig weighs in. (More...)

The European Cultural Foundation is an, "Amsterdam-based foundation that stimulates and promotes cultural cooperation and strong cultural policies across the broader Europe and its neighbouring regions." The ECF created Rhiz.eu, a social networking site for artists, journalists, filmmakers, writers, photographers, funders and arts organizations, to celebrate cultural diversity and to facilitate connections between cultural communities. The site is part of the Foundation's activities leading up to (and going beyond) the 2008 European Year of Intercultural Dialogue.

Have you tried Rhiz.eu? How did it work for you?

Thought I'd pass on this info about the Global Institute for Social Innovation that the folks from StartingBloc sent over this week:

StartingBloc (www.startingbloc.org), a non-profit dedicated to educating and connecting socially conscious young leaders, is bringing together 100 young professionals and undergraduate students from more than 25 countries during its first-ever Global Institute for Social Innovation in London from July 18-22, 2007.

The Institute, which will be held at London Business School, will explore the latest theories and case studies in corporate social responsibility, social innovation, social entrepreneurship, cross-sector collaboration and sustainability. Seminars, keynotes and workshops will be facilitated by leaders from Google, AccountAbility, General Electric, Business in the Community and the World Resources Institute among other pioneers in social innovation.