June 19 2013, Sao Paulo -  Wayra, Telefónica’s global accelerator program, today announced that it has signed a global agreement with Evernote to support the company’s 2013 developer programs.  As part of this agreement, Evernote and Wayra will create a new award category for the 2013 Evernote Devcup competition, through which Wayra will select and sponsor a team to participate in the Evernote Accelerator program.

Wayra will work closely with Evernote to encourage the creation of cutting-edge apps and services for consumers, with a special focus on supporting the Wayra global startups. In addition, Wayra will have a newly established “Wayra Global Startup Prize” category for Evernote DevCup that will be awarded to the most promising Evernote integration from the Wayra startup program.

In addition, Wayra startups across the globe will also receive eight months of Evernote Business, a premium tool for businesses to share ideas, research, and expertise, creating a more collaborative, productive, and smarter workplace.

The announcement was made today in Brazil, where Evernote CEO Phil Libin participated in the Wayra Demo Day taking place at the São Paulo Academy.

“Evernote is a global company, and that doesn’t just mean having customers all over the world, it means building products all over the world,” said Phil Libin, CEO of Evernote. “We are thrilled to welcome Wayra to our Devcup competition and our Accelerator. This partnership opens the door of opportunity for their startup teams that work with the Evernote platform to compete with other world-class teams and to work directly from the best entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley. Partnering with Wayra will also give all the Devcup participants visibility into Wayra’s accelerator program that is helping propel technology startups across the globe into successful businesses.”

“We are delighted to keep strengthening our relationship with Evernote,” noted Gonzalo Martín-Villa, CEO of Wayra. “In particular, because they were born as a startup and became a big company keeping their original culture and spirit, sharing with us the same passion to support talented entrepreneurs around the world. Furthermore, this agreement will take Wayra and our founders a step further, taking profit from all the tools, knowledge and experience Evernote can provide us abroad.”

Evernote and Wayra have already held three joint events for developers at Wayra facilities this year (two events in São Paolo, one in Bogota). Through this partnership, there will be additional in-person and online events that encourage developers from all over the world to create new apps on the Evernote platform that benefit users. Evernote and Wayra encourage these developer teams to enter these products in the Evernote Devcup competition, where they will compete with an anticipated 2,000+ participants.  During the 2013 developer program, these participants will create and submit more than 200 apps that use the Evernote Platform.

Through this agreement, the deadline for applications to the Devcup by Wayra teams has been extended until July 19, 2013. More information about the Evernote Devcup including submission dates and in-person events around the globe can be found at devcup.evernote.com.

The Evernote Accelerator serves as the culmination of Evernote’s 2013 developer program activities. It is a month-long residency program at Evernote’s headquarters in Silicon Valley, where six hand-picked teams will learn how to build their ideas into successful products and businesses. As part of the agreement, Wayra will sponsor a team to participate in the Evernote Accelerator this year.

[ends]

About Wayra 

Wayra is a Telefónica initiative whose main aim is to promote innovation and identify talent in Latin America and Europe. Its global project acceleration model helps entrepreneurs develop, providing them with technological tools, qualified mentors, a cutting edge working space and the financing required to accelerate their growth. Already present in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, Spain, the United Kingdom, Perú, Czech Republic and Venezuela, Wayra’s calls for projects have received more than 20,000 applications from new digital businesses, making it one of the leading global platforms for identifying technological talent in the ICT world. Its academies in Bogotá, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Lima, Madrid, Barcelona, Caracas, Sao Paulo, Santiago de Chile, Munich, London, Dublin, and soon to be opened in Prague, currently host more than 230 startups.

Acerca de Evernote 

Evernote is helping the world remember everything by building innovative products and services that allow individuals to capture, find and interact with their memories. Evernote apps are available on all major computer, web, mobile, and tablet platforms. For more information, please visit http://www.evernote.com.

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The G8 Innovation Conference taking place today sets the stage for the UK to show G8 that Britain really has got talent. All eyes will be on UK innovators as they’re joined by delegates en route to next week’s summit.

With home-grown entrepreneurs given the chance to mix with potential investors, scientists and policymakers from across the globe, it will be a meeting of minds reflecting the Prime Minister’s G8 theme of innovation as a driver for growth and trade.

Whilst the Prime Minister has emphasised that the UK’s success lies with the ‘ideas people’, it’s also the doing and demonstrating that will set us apart competitively.

I hope the nation’s role in making the smart home of the future a reality will get the attention it deserves both in terms of the connected devices brought to the table and the UK’s delivery of a smart meter in every home and small business by 2020.

This is a theme discussed by 3 global experts in our latest Digital Futures episode (also see below), which paints a fascinating picture of what the connected home of the future will look like. It’s this future-proofed hub that will pave the way for the likes of smart appliances, home security systems and e-Health services.

We’ve found consumers to be hugely receptive to this vision (see report here), and the key to a successful smart meter implementation lies with engaging them. The UK has what it takes to become the case study for other countries to follow, not just with smart meter deployment but across other fields of innovation too.

It’s great to hear that David Cameron will today launch a new global prize for inventors or scientists, setting our brightest and best the challenge of solving the biggest problems of our generation. With a £1million fund ready to back the winner, I’m sure we’ll see some inspirational innovators step forward with their proposed creations to change the world.

The UK should seize opportunities like this where we can be stepping up and showcasing the nation’s compelling successes and innovation-driven roadmap for the future.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

(main article image courtesy gov.uk)

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13 June 2013, Mountain View - Telefónica Digital today announced the appointment of Joshua Ramirez to Director of advertising product and innovation. Ramirez will head a newly established team focused on developing new mobile advertising formats. Based in Silicon Valley, the new team will drive innovation within the advertising sector, including video, data and other new formats, producing effective and engaging advertising solutions.

Ramirez, who was most recently Senior Director, Product Management at AOL and previously Worldwide Product Marketing Manager at Apple, will report to Shaun Gregory, Global Director of Advertising at Telefónica Digital.

Telefónica Digital was formed by Telefónica to drive growth opportunities in the new digital world. Advertising represents one of its key focus areas in digital services as it unlocks the huge potential within mobile for advertisers. Mobile’s share of overall media spend is currently disproportionate to the increasing amount of time that consumers spend using their smartphones, representing a significant market opportunity. Currently, mobile advertising accounts for 3 percent of spend versus around 12 percent of consumer’s time (source – Mary Meeker).

“We have only just begun to understand the power of mobile advertising,” said Shaun Gregory, Global Director of Advertising at Telefónica Digital. “The establishment of this new team is recognition of the need to evolve beyond current advertising formats. Silicon Valley was the natural place to build a team whose mission is to shake things up and innovate on a global scale. Joshua has the perfect experience and capabilities to lead this team and is a further demonstration of Telefónica Digital’s commitment to bringing in the best talent.”

Mobile advertising sits at the center of a very disruptive advertising market, transformed through technology, data and, ultimately, personalization. However, to date, the formats haven’t leveraged the true opportunity, nor have they been winning the hearts and minds of consumers. Telefónica Digital believes there’s a huge gap in the market, and one it plans to exploit. The future growth in the industry will be driven by innovative formats that appeal to consumers, ones that provide a marriage of targeting and true relevancy. For this reason, Telefónica Digital is focused on video, data products, rich media and more – all forms of communication that provide experiences that work for consumers, brands and agencies.

Joshua Ramirez commented, “As the mobile environment evolves rapidly, a new approach to advertising is required and Telefónica is well placed to drive that change. With the ability to reach more than 315 million people around the world, Telefónica Digital has an incredible platform upon which to innovate.”

Ramirez joins Telefónica Digital from AOL where he was responsible for leading the full-scale redesign of the AOL Mail experience, resulting in a significant increase in user retention and double-digit increases in display and search monetization, as well as the development of Alto by AOL – a complete reimagining of what email could and should be. Prior to that, Ramirez was Principal Product Manager at eBay where he was responsible for the overall search experience. Ramirez also spent several years at Apple where he defined and launched numerous products key to Apple’s .Mac consumer-based suite of software.

[Ends]

About Telefónica Digital

Telefónica Digital is a global business division of Telefónica. Its mission is to seize the opportunities within the digital world and deliver new growth for Telefónica through research & development, venture capital, global partnerships and digital services such as cloud computing, security services, mobile advertising, M2M and eHealth. It is also driving innovation in over the top communications under a new umbrella brand called TU and in Big Data through Telefónica Dynamic Insights.

Telefónica Digital will deliver these new products and services to Telefónica’s 316 million customers as well as entering new markets. It is headquartered in London with regional centres in Silicon Valley, Sao Paulo, Spain and Tel Aviv. Jajah, TokBox, Terra, Media Networks Latin America, 48, Eleven Paths and giffgaff are all managed under the Telefónica Digital umbrella.

To sign up for news alerts and read commentary on Telefónica Digital, visit www.telefonica.com/digitalhub and track them on Twitter @tefdigital.

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• Telefónica Digital launches new JetSetMe Channel on IFTTT – empowering O2 UK customers to build personalised products or services using their own travel data

12 June 2013: How about this – wire your phone to create a status message on Facebook as soon as you switch your phone on when you arrive in a new country. Or let your loved ones know you’ve just landed and will be home soon.

That’s right – get your phone to really work for you.

Today we’re excited to officially roll out the new JetSetMe Channel on IFTTT (If This Then That) that can be used by O2 UK customers to personalise their own products and services using the data from their mobile phones when travelling abroad.

By launching our JetSetMe Channel on IFTTT, we’re putting tools and technology in your hands, letting you co-create and innovate in a really simple and accessible way. It’s currently offered free of charge and you can try it out at https://ifttt.com/jetsetme

Above graphic courtesy: ifttt.com

Here’s how it works:

• O2 UK customers need to opt-in and activate the JetSetMe Channel on IFTTT to create their own ‘Recipes’ or use ones we’ve already created.

• To activate the Channel, you’ll need to type in your mobile number and will receive a PIN code to activate the Channel. This isn’t just for smartphone users by the way – it works from any O2 UK SMS-enabled phone.

Users can connect the JetSetMe Channel to services such as Facebook, Evernote, and Yammer with “If This Then That Recipes” that work “If” your activated phone travels to a new country.

• The Triggers activate automatically whenever customers travel abroad (and switch on their phone!) and return to the UK.

• Each new country generates a new Trigger which fires once, upon arrival.

• The ‘this’ part of a Recipe is a Trigger (e.g. “I’m tagged in a photo on Facebook” or “I check in on Foursquare”) and the ‘that’ part is an Action (e.g. “send me a text message” or “create a status message on Facebook.”)

To get you started and help fire your imagination, we’ve created three straight-forward Recipes that use the JetSetMe travel Trigger:

World Tour – Update my Facebook automatically to create a travel blog as I travel around the world. Great for bands on tour, DJs or even students going euro-railing.

Don’t call me – I’m asleep! – Update my Facebook or Yammer feed automatically to let friends or colleagues know I’m abroad – and where I am – so they don’t call me in the middle of the night!

Arrived Safely / I’ll be home soon – link with your internet-enabled Philips Hue light bulbs and let your loved ones know you’ve arrived safely at your destination or you’ll be home soon from the airport by blinking the lights.

JetSetMe is a new service from Telefónica Digital that is initially available for Telefónica’s O2 UK customers and there are plans to make JetSetMe available to other markets in due course. It provides opted in customers with access to their phone roaming status for services such as IFTTT.

Looking forward, Telefónica is also exploring other potential uses for the technology. For example, if a customer chooses to share this information with their bank it would remove the need for the customer to inform their bank that they are travelling and thereby reduce the likelihood of having their card declined while abroad.

Try out the JetSetMe Channel at https://ifttt.com/jetsetme

Give us your feedback or make suggestions for new features via email (feedback@jetsetme.com) or on Twitter @jetsetme

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• Telefónica’s in-house development can be flexibly adapted in order to accommodate customer preferences

12 June 2013, Munich: Telefónica has launched its new M2M platform in Germany. Smart M2M is an intuitive, web-based solution for automatic machine-to-machine (M2M) communication. This solution is intended for business customers who want to manage, display and monitor their devices efficiently and centrally. Telefónica guarantees the global support of their SIM cards by all Telefónica networks and roaming partners. First German trial customers can already test the new platform.

Whether in vehicles, power meters or consumer electronics: more and more devices automatically send information via SIM cards. Vending machines, for instance, give alerts as soon as the inventory falls below a specified minimum. Intelligent management and monitoring of these connections is becoming increasingly important. For this reason, Telefónica developed the Smart M2M platform in order to make managing M2M solutions secure, flexible and reliable.

“The decisive factor for successfully operating M2M solutions is to combine effective management of large SIM card contingents and to have customer solutions that can be handled easily”, said Kai Brasche, Vice President M2M at Telefónica Deutschland. “With technical expertise, years of experience, and extensive knowledge of many local markets, Telefónica has developed a simple and flexible platform that offers our customers a complete overview of their M2M business processes and that can be used all over the world.”

Smart M2M connects machines from different manufacturers with different data sources. This makes it possible to analyze sensor data such as temperature, tilt angles or the device condition based on standard protocols and then to send that data to other M2M products.

Devices that used to be incompatible regarding their data flow can now easily be connected. The data is consistently edited, individually visualized and logically included into business processes.

This platform is unique to the market and has been developed by Telefónica Digital itself. Smart M2M is not only a ready-to-use solution that enables users to easily manage business processes. The new M2M platform also flexibly adapts to individual customer requirements. Thus, companies do not have to invest into own M2M developments or reorganize their IT processes for machine-to-machine-communication.

The API offered by Smart M2M Platform allows customers and suppliers of the service to integrate their backend systems and processes with the Smart M2M platform to access its data and capabilities. By means of this API, the customer applications can perform some of the tasks available via web such as Customer & Inventory Management.

In addition to real time monitoring of M2M traffic, including volume and advanced diagnostics, Smart M2M also features innovative fraud detection functionalities, including the ability to restrict communications between a list of given devices or the possibility to establish traffic caps.

Telefónica launched Smart M2M at the beginning of this year. The new platform is already being deployed in Argentina, Brazil and Spain, and now is offered in Germany as well.

Telefónica Deutschland Holding AG, listed at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in the Prime Standard, and its wholly-owned, operationally active subsidiary Telefónica Germany GmbH & Co. OHG belong to Telefónica Europe and are part of the Spanish telecommunication group Telefónica S.A. The company offers its German private and business customers post-paid and prepaid mobile telecom products as well as innovative mobile data services based on the GPRS, UMTS and LTE technologies with its product brand O2. In addition, the integrated communications provider also offers DSL fixed network telephony and high-speed Internet. Telefónica Europe has more than 103 million mobile and fixed network customers in Spain, Great Britain, Ireland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Germany.

Read the story on telefonica.de

Further information:

Press Office

Telefónica Deutschland

Markus Oliver Göbel, Press Spokesman

Georg-Brauchle-Ring 23-25

80992 Munich

t +49 (0)89 2442-1280

f +49 (0)89 2442-1209

e markus-oliver.goebel@telefonica.com

www.telefonica.de/presse

blog.telefonica.de

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12 June 2013, London – Legendary programmer and champion of Free Software and Free Culture – Jon ‘maddog’ Hall (@maddoghall) – was today confirmed as a Keynote Speaker at Campus Party Europe, one of the world’s biggest tech festivals which is being staged at The O2 in London, UK, from 2-7 September 2013. More leading lights from the world of innovation and technology will be added to the Speaker Programme in the coming weeks.

Europe’s biggest and most ambitious electronic entertainment event, Campus Party is a week-long, 24-hour-a-day technology festival for thousands of “campuseros” – hackers, developers, gamers and geeks. Equipped with computers and other high-tech devices , they camp on-site and immerse themselves in a truly unique environment.

A massive digital skills marketplace will sit at the heart of the festival alongside 8 stages, more than 100 speakers and over 500 hours of content across five action-packed days. Early Bird tickets with an 80% discount are now available at www.campus-party.eu

Jon ‘maddog’ Hall, Executive Director of Linux International – a non-profit organisation of IT professionals who support and promote open operating systems – sees Campus Party as an important driver of progress. Hall said: “Billions of people already live and breathe everything digital – but currently see technology as something to consume, rather than something they can actively shape. Campus Party is a gathering of extraordinary young innovators who are already demonstrating how digital users can become digital makers, tapping the full potential of technology that will one day be open and available to everybody.”

There was clear evidence of the importance of technology to future generations in Telefónica’s Global Millennial Survey, which was published last week www.telefonica.com/millennials. The study found that the vast majority of today’s 18-30 year-olds – members of the ‘Millennial generation’ – are true believers in all that technology has to offer, with more than two-thirds – 69 per cent – believing that technology creates more opportunities for everyone. More than 80 percent believe technology has made it easier to get a job and 36 per cent believe an education in technology is most important for ensuring future personal success.

José María Álvarez-Pallete (@jmalvpal), COO Telefónica, sees events like Campus Party as crucial in helping a global drive to improve digital skills. He said: “We stand in the midst of a digital revolution yet there is an astounding gap in the ability of the population to properly use the very digital technology that is transforming the way we live and work. The Millennial Survey shows that technology should be the study of choice for the future and digital skills, in fact, must become our ‘fourth literacy’ if we are to keep pace with the transformation of business and society that digital technology is creating.”

Notes to Editors

Telefónica is one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world in terms of market capitalisation and number of customers. From this outstanding position in the industry, and with its mobile, fixed and broadband businesses as the key drivers of its growth, Telefónica has focused its strategy on becoming a leading company in the digital world.

The company has a significant presence in 24 countries and a customer base that amounts close to 316 million accesses around the world. Telefónica has a strong presence in Spain, Europe and Latin America, where the company focuses an important part of its growth strategy.

Telefónica is a 100% listed company, with more than 1.5 million direct shareholders. Its share capital currently comprises 4.551.024.586 ordinary shares traded on the Spanish Stock Market (Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao and Valencia) and on those in London, New York, Lima, and Buenos Aires.

More on Campus Party Europe: at: www.campus-party.eu Twitter @campuspartyeu

Live Twitter Interview with Jon ‘maddog’ Hall, 13 June 13:00 GMT #askmaddog

Media contacts:

Simon Lloyd | Telefónica Europe Natalie Homer | Telefónica Europe

European Head of External Communications Media Relations Manager

m +44 (0)7912 072777 m: +44 (0)7718 188591

simon.lloyd@telefonica.com natalie.homer@telefonica.com

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11 June 2013, Dublin — Wayra, Telefónica’s start-up accelerator, today hosted its first dedicated Investor Day in its Dublin Academy connecting start-ups with major investors and venture capitalists seeking investment opportunities in high growth markets. Over 100 investors and influencers attended the session.

Since September 2012, eleven companies have been accelerating their business in Wayra Dublin, in different areas of Internet and new technologies. Wayra’s acceleration programme provides financing of €40,000; expert mentors; dedicated workspace in O2’s headquarters in Dublin’s Docklands; and favourable commercial terms with leading technology suppliers including Amazon, Google, Paypal and Microsoft.

Since entering Wayra, the start-ups have closed or are in the process of closing over €3 million in investor capital. Investor Day is an opportunity for them to secure further investment to take their business to the next level, both in Ireland and globally.

Commenting, Karl Aherne, Director – Wayra Ireland, said, “The Irish start-up ecosystem is incredibly bouyant and is continuing to evolve driven by the influx of digital multinationals to Ireland, support from Enterprise Ireland and the never-say-die attitude of the Irish entrepreneur who continues to build in difficult economic times. A proof point is the fact that Ireland has consistently generated the highest number of submissions per capita from amongst all the Wayra countries”.

Started by Telefonica in April 2011 to support the growth of innovation and technological entrepreneurship, Wayra has consolidated its position as one of the largest accelerators in the world, operating in twelve different countries in Latin America and Europe.

The common factor in the businesses that Wayra ultimately accelerates is that they make the most of the advantages of Internet and new technologies to innovate. Globally, Wayra has received over eighteen thousand proposals through its calls for technological businesses and has financed over 240 new companies with funds amounting to over €7.5 million.

As the current eleven start-ups prepare to leave the Wayra Academy in Dublin, Wayra recently completed its call for entries for its latest round of funding. The most recent global application process which included Wayra Ireland, received over 3,000 applications from entrepreneurs who submitted their digital ideas and businesses with the aim of securing a place in Wayra. The selection process to identify the 10 successful projects for Wayra Ireland has commenced with the winners expected to be announced in early August.

[ends]

For further information please contact:

Nuala Buttner

Q4 Public Relations, 085 174 4275

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• Reflects increasing importance of security in the digital world
• To be led by world-renowned security expert, Chema Alonso, who joins Telefónica along with a number of employees from his former company, Informática 64
• The new company, Eleven Paths, will act as a security hothouse driving radical innovation in security for Telefónica

7 June 2013, Madrid - With security becoming increasingly important for business and consumer customers, Telefónica Digital today announced the creation of Eleven Paths. Led by former Informática 64 CEO, Chema Alonso, Eleven Paths will adopt a hothouse approach with the intention of radically changing the way products are developed in this area.

The business will comprise a number of engineers and security experts from Informática 64, the company from which Eleven Paths has been born, bringing specialist security skills to Telefónica. It will be run as an autonomous business unit within Telefónica Digital, being as flexible and agile as a start-up. This will enable fast and innovative product development especially in the areas of cyber security.

“We want to radically change the way companies provide security services to customers and big corporations. The digital world is changing the rules and security services need to adapt to this new challenge very fast,” says Chema Alonso, Eleven Paths CEO.

Privacy and the integrity of personal and corporate data is becoming one of the most significant areas of the digital world, driven by trends such as BYOD (‘Bring your own Device’), increasing the use of cloud computing in the corporate space, or the continuous use of social media in the consumer space.

As online fraud, e-crime and many emergent threats move into the tablet and smartphone space, Telefónica is committed to offering products and services to protect customers and their digital lives. “Security must be a key pillar of internet and services architecture from the beginning”, Chema Alonso comments. “Pentesting by design is one of the trends companies should be adopting in the near future.”

Chema Alonso is a world leader in information security, regularly presenting at the most prestigious security forums, including Black Hat. He formed Informática 64, 14 years ago to provide security consulting and auditing services. His team has been responsible for the development of well known computer security tools such as FOCA or MetaShield Protector and the publication of research into security and new hacking techniques such as Time-Based Blind SQL Injection, LDAP Injection or Connection String Parameter Pollution, among others.

Chema will report directly into Matthew Key, CEO of Telefónica Digital, who commented, “As more and more data is held and accessed in the cloud and through an ever increasing number of devices, the integrity of this data is critical as threats become more sophisticated. In Chema and his team, we have world leaders in information security who bring the necessary skills in this area to reflect the nature of the market and bring the right solutions to our customers.”

“For us, the agreement means having the ability to create professional solutions in a faster and increasingly globalised market like the world of security”, commented Chema Alonso. “Threats are growing daily, as is the integration of our lives into the digital world; without a global platform like Telefónica Digital, with a strong presence in all layers of the Internet, it is nowadays impossible to create these kind of innovative security solutions”, adds Alonso, who will be CEO of Eleven Paths.

Follow Eleven Paths on:
http://www.elevenpaths.com
http://blog.elevenpaths.com
Twitter @elevenpaths
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/elevenpaths

About Telefónica Digital
Telefónica Digital is a global business division of Telefónica. Its mission is to seize the opportunities within the digital world and deliver new growth for Telefónica through research & development, venture capital, global partnerships and digital services such as cloud computing, security services, mobile advertising, M2M and eHealth. It is also driving innovation in over the top communications under a new umbrella brand called TU and in Big Data through Telefónica Dynamic Insights. Telefónica Digital will deliver these new products and services to Telefónica’s 316 million customers as well as entering new markets. It is headquartered in London with regional centres in Silicon Valley, Sao Paulo, Spain and Tel Aviv. Jajah, TokBox, Terra, Media Networks Latin America, 48, giffgaff and Eleven Paths are all managed under the Telefónica Digital umbrella.

To sign up for news alerts and read commentary on Telefónica Digital, visit www.telefonica.com/digitalhub and track them on Twitter @tefdigital

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Earlier this week in London I was fortunate to be invited to attend the FT – Telefonica Millennials Summit.

The event was timed around the release of a brand new report on the Millennial generation by Telefonica and the FT, and included some very interesting findings (see below).

We heard from some real-life millennial leaders such as Joe Gebbia (@jgebbia), Chief Product Officer and Co-Founder, Airbnb about how he initialy struggled to get his idea off the ground and opted to go for a “Visa round” of funding (paying for everything on credit) as a last resort. This shows true Millennial leader determination.

We also heard from The Rt. Hon. David Miliband (@DMiliband), President Designate and CEO of the IRC and former UK Foreign Secretary who spoke about how he saw the millennials of today, and their view of government and technology.

For me the highlight of the event was an excellent panel with Rokhaya Diallo (@rokhayadiallo), Founder and Former President, Les Indivisibles, Bobby Kensah, Founder, Phase One Network and Alan Mak (@alanmakuk), Ambassador and Member of the Global Advisory Board, One Young World.

One of the key learnings for any business leader is that you all have millennial leaders among you.

The important thing to understand is how to harness their energy, drive and passion in the technology space to help your business.

I am now in my mid-40s, and back when I was a fresh-faced 29 year old living in Sydney, I felt like (and in many ways still feel like) a millennial leader. Back in 2001, I was a member of the Rotary Club of Sydney (something none of my peers considered), and I delivered a speech to 200 business leaders about the need to embrace the younger generation (we did not call them millennials back then), and have them sit on your boards. You can read the speech I delivered online.

I met up one of the panellists, Alan Mak after the event, and he shared with me that he is 29. This reminded me of myself when back in 2001, no-one would listen to a millennial 12 years ahead of his time about the need to harness the next generation of leaders. I was therefore delighted to hear that Alan sits on the UK board of Havas Worldwide.

I just hope that the hundreds of leaders at the summit now also take a more positive view on how important millennials can be for their business.

The report can be downloaded from telefonica.com/millennials and is well worth a read.

In summary, here are five findings from the report that jumped out for me as particularly compelling:

1. Millennials are a smartphone generation – spending an average of 6 hours online every day.

2. Millennials see technology as a huge driver of opportunities for individuals and view it as a tool to help them find and keep their job, as well as break down language barriers.

3. Career progression also keeps millennials up at night, with 39% saying that they expect to continue working indefinitely and will not have enough money to retire. In fact they seem less concerned about finding a partner and marriage than economic worries.

4. Millennials think that education in technology is most important to ensure future success, ahead of economics, foreign language and science.

5. A key millennial subgroup called “Millennial leaders” live at the intersection of technology, entrepreneurship, and the belief that they can make a difference.

The survey showed that contrasted against their peers, these millennial leaders are more influenced by technology, have a highly optimistic view about the future, and believe they can make a global difference. Not surprisingly, they also see “making it to the top” as a very important life accomplishment.

Take a look also at this infographic built from the report findings – it summarises Millennial leaders quite aptly.

What’s your take on the subject? Continue the conversation on Twitter via @tefdigital and #TefMillennials. I’d be very interested to hear what you all have to say.

The post [Guest Post] So this is what’s keeping Millennials up at night appeared first on Telefonica Digital Hub.

4 June 2013, London: The vast majority of today’s 18-30 year-olds – members of the “Millennial generation” – are true believers in all that technology has to offer. More than 80 percent believe technology has made it easier to overcome language barriers and get a job and 36 percent believe an education in technology is most important for ensuring future personal success. A new Telefónica-Financial Times survey of more than 12,000 Millennials in 27 countries also shows that Millennials’ interests extend far beyond technology – to concern about the economy, the environment, social inequality, education and personal freedoms. 

Launched today at London’s Royal Opera House, Telefónica’s Global Millennial Survey is the largest and most comprehensive survey of Millennial adults aged 18-30 conducted to date. The new research indicates that Millennials – also known as Generation Y – are generally optimistic about their potential for achieving personal success. Take a look at photos from the event here.

For the full survey and videos of Millennial Leaders explore telefonica.com/millennials. To engage with us on Twitter, use #TefMillennials and mention @tefdigital - and share the infographic (below).

More than two-thirds of the respondents – 68 percent – believe they have the opportunity to become an entrepreneur in their own country or develop and bring an idea to the market. And, 62 percent are confident in their ability to make a difference in their local communities. Yet, while more than two-thirds – 69 percent – believe that “technology creates more opportunities for all,” 62 percent say it has also widened the gap between the rich and poor.

Technology is also poised to be a new policy tool – 90 percent of Millennials agree technology has made them better informed about political issues in their country, despite 52 percent believing that their country’s current political system does not represent their values and beliefs.

“Our survey provides the first truly in-depth look at the Millennial generation that is both realistic about having to overcome a number of challenges related to the economy and career development, yet largely confident of their own ability to succeed,” said César Alierta, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Telefónica. “The research reveals new insights into what societal issues are impacting this generation, which will help us assess not only how we engage with our customers, but also to identify impactful solutions that will strengthen our global society, including promoting a spirit of entrepreneurialism, empowering digital literacy, and continuing our commitment to education and sustainable operations.”

Survey Reveals Regional Differences Regarding Optimism and Opportunity: China Viewed As Future Economic Leader

Despite their confidence in the promise of technology, Millennials are less optimistic about the economy: only half of those surveyed believe global (48 percent) and regional (50 percent) economies are headed in the right direction. They also are cautious about their job prospects. Most (63 percent) say it is difficult for people of their generation to make the progression from school to the workplace – this is felt most strongly among Western European Millennials (74 percent). And although 55 percent of Millennials worldwide believe that having a decent-paying job is a right, 45 percent consider it a privilege.

The survey results also show marked differences between regions. Asian Millennials expressed the most optimism about the economy: 65 percent believe that both their regional economy and the global economy are on the right track. In particular, Chinese Millennials are the most optimistic about their country, with 93 percent saying that their country’s best days are ahead, compared to 67 percent of Millennials reflecting similar confidence in their own markets worldwide.

Following this optimism out of Asia, Latin American Millennials are also positive about their region’s future. Seventy-eight percent believe their country’s best days are ahead, compared to 67 percent worldwide. Latin American Millennials also believe in their ability to create global change, with 62 percent saying they can make a global difference – more than any other region and surpassing the worldwide average of 40 percent.

Most Millennials worldwide predict that China will be the biggest driver of growth for the global economy in the next 10 years (58 percent). However, this sentiment is not shared by Millennials in India who believe (60 percent) that their country – not China – will instead be the economic leader. Additionally, the survey found a unique difference in motivation factors for Millennials in China and India. Chinese Millennials are motivated by a great economy, believing that their country’s best days are ahead and that the economy is headed in the right direction. In contrast, Indian Millennials appear to be motivated by a sense of opportunity and a drive to make a difference, more strongly believing that globalization creates more opportunities for all, believing they can make a local difference, and having a strong entrepreneurial drive.

Only 26 percent of respondents in Western Europe think the global economy is on the right track. And, only 33 percent of those in Central and Eastern Europe have a positive outlook for their regional economies. Likewise, North American Millennials are not as optimistic – only 47 percent believe the best days of their country are ahead.

“This generation has the guts, intelligence and awareness to tell all of us some important truths. They get that technology affects everything from equality to climate change. I really take the views of these Millennials, the digital natives, seriously, and so should smart companies and governments,” said Neelie Kroes (@NeelieKroesEU), Vice-President of the European Commission. “These young men and women are the future. If you want to succeed you need to know what they care about – such as reducing the gender gap, improving the quality of education and increasing access to technology – and work with them to make concrete positive changes.”

Millennial Leaders: Guiding Their Generation Into the Future

Even among such a large number of young people whose views and attitudes reflect generally positive attitudes toward technology, entrepreneurship and the ability to make a difference locally, the Telefónica survey identified some who stand out from the rest – the 11 percent of survey respondents who comprise a group defined as the “Millennial Leaders.”

The Millennial Leaders are those respondents that strongly agree they are on the cutting-edge of technology, believe they can make a difference in their local communities, and believe they have opportunities to become entrepreneurs in their country or develop and bring an idea to market.

“The Millennial Leaders are those who are most likely to drive change through their use of cutting-edge technology, participate in solving local and global challenges and strive for career leadership,” said José María Álvarez-Pallete, Chief Operating Officer of Telefónica. “They represent the greatest potential of their generation to improve our society and evolve into the global leaders of the future. The challenge we face as a society is how to shift the 11 percent to become the majority of Millennials.”

While 30 percent of all global Millennials surveyed say technology has been one of the factors that has most influenced their lives, 44 percent of those identified as Millennial Leaders believe technology has been a key influencer. Additionally, 72 percent of these generational leaders say they have an excellent personal knowledge of and comfort level with technology, compared to only 30 percent of all respondents.

More than two-thirds – 66 percent – of the Millennial Leaders believe that making it to the top of their career is very important, compared to 43 percent of all global Millennials, and 61 percent say that it was very easy or somewhat easy to make the progression from school to the workplace.

Millennial Leaders are civically engaged and use technology to keep themselves politically informed. Almost half (46 percent) say they always participate in their country’s political process (compared to 28 percent worldwide) and two-thirds (67 percent) strongly agree that technology has made them better informed about political issues in their country (compared to 38 percent worldwide).

Among respondents in all 27 countries, the 10 countries with the greatest percentage of Millennial Leaders were, in descending order: Colombia, Peru, Saudi Arabia, Chile, Venezuela, India, Mexico, South Africa, Brazil and the United States. The future leaders of the world are expected to come from Latin America as the region has six countries in the top 10.

New Gender Gap Emerges in Views on Technology

The survey points to a new gender gap in how men and women view their use of technology and its impact on their lives. For example, 80 percent of men polled consider themselves on the cutting-edge of technology, compared to 69 percent of women. Among the regions surveyed, North American Millennials experience one of the largest gender gaps: 87 percent of North American men consider themselves on the cutting-edge of technology, compared to 70 percent of North American women.

Additionally, male respondents believe more strongly than women (39 percent to 22 percent) that technology has had an influence in shaping their outlook on life and that technology is the most important area of study to ensure future personal success (42 percent for men versus 29 percent for women).

The survey also provides a fresh look at Millennials’ views on a broad range of current issues:

• Millennials in North America, Western Europe and Central and Eastern Europe consider the economy to be the most important issue facing their region. Among North American respondents, education was considered the second-most important issue; in Western Europe social inequality was ranked number two; and Central and Eastern Europeans ranked two issues – social inequality and poverty – as the second-most important issues. In Asia, the economy was tied with social inequality as the most important regional issue.

• Millennials say the three most important ways to make a difference in the world are by providing more access to education and improving the quality of education (42 percent), protecting the environment (41 percent) and eliminating poverty (39 percent).

• Among Latin American Millennials, social inequality and education were tied at 19 percent as the most important issue facing their region, and in the Middle East and Africa, terrorism was considered the most important issue (19 percent), followed by political unrest (13 percent).

• Millennials have strong expectations for personal freedoms and privacy, believing that it is a right to choose who you marry, to vote, to be able to express yourself, to privacy and health care.

• Highly concerned about privacy, 91 percent are concerned about the security and privacy of their data and information online and 95 percent believe greater security measures should be implemented to protect their online identity.

• Globally, 53 percent of Millennials believe climate change is a “very pressing” issue. The numbers varied widely by region, however, with 70 percent of Latin American Millennials ranking climate change as a very pressing issue, compared to only 36 percent of North American respondents.

• Although they are confident about the opportunities they have to become entrepreneurs, 39 percent of Millennials worldwide believe they will have to work indefinitely and will not be able to retire. This is felt most strongly among Millennials in Western Europe and in Central and Eastern Europe (56 percent and 60 percent, respectively).

In alignment with the survey results that shed affirming light on the power of technology to affect societal change and empower this next generation of leaders and innovators, Telefónica believes that the possibilities of technology should be open to everyone and is engaged in several significant activities that make a real impact on the lives of people and society.

These programs include:

• Campus Party Europe: Bringing together the brightest young digital minds to innovate for Europe from 2 – 7 September 2013 in London. Speakers will include Vice-President of the European Commission Neelie Kroes.

• Think Big Youth Program: Investing in the ideas and digital literacy of thousands of young people.

• Talentum: Creating job and digital learning opportunities for young people and university graduates.

• Wayra: Supporting young digital start-ups with a worldwide average of investing in a new start-up every three days since it launched operations and creating nearly three new jobs every day.

• ProNiño: Eradicating child labour in Latin America.

• Open Web Device Platform: New operating system developed with not-for-profit Mozilla to allow developers to produce apps with fewer resources.

The survey results were discussed in-depth at the FT-Telefónica Millennials Summits: The Interactive Generation in London on 4 June and in Sao Paulo on 6 June, 2013. The series will conclude on 19 September, 2013 in Brussels with a call-to-action by policy makers chaired by Vice-President of the European Commission Neelie Kroes.

For more information on the survey, please visit telefonica.com/millennials.

Survey Methodology

Telefónica in partnership with the Financial Times, commissioned 12,171 online quantitative interviews among Millennials, aged 18-30, across 27 countries in six regions including North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, and Middle East / Africa. Penn Schoen Berland conducted the survey from 11 January – 4 February 2013. Millennials from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Korea, Mexico, Peru, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States and Venezuela were surveyed. Country sample sizes represented in the global number are weighted by the percent of the population in each country with access to the Internet. The global margin of error is +/-.9 percent.

About Telefónica

Telefónica is one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world in terms of market capitalisation and number of customers. From this outstanding position in the industry, and with its mobile, fixed and broadband businesses as the key drivers of its growth, Telefónica has focused its strategy on becoming a leading company in the digital world. The company has a significant presence in 24 countries and a customer base that amounts close to 316 million accesses around the world. Telefónica has a strong presence in Spain, Europe and Latin America, where the company focuses an important part of its growth strategy.

For more information about Telefónica, visit www.telefonica.com. Start the conversation with #TEFMillennials or tweet your feedback to @tefdigital.

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