1. European Day of Entrepreneur, 5 November 2004 Vesselin Spiridonov Vesselin Spiridonov Applications of information technologies for working by disabled persons

2. European Day of Entrepreneur, 5 November 2004 Distant and flexible working Information and communication technologies (ICT) allow new ways of working by people who process information, but not materials. There are more than 200 professions where the fixed working place is not required for most of the working time: Accountants, consultants, auditors, brokers, wholesale traders, marketing specialists, researchers, system analysts, journalists, translators, programmers, etc. can work from distance. They can do teleworking.

3. European Day of Entrepreneur, 5 November 2004 Distant and flexible working Teleworking is not just home working, because in addition it requires permanent contact with the company by the means of ICT. Working from distance (teleworking) is supported by the European Union. A Framework Agreement on Teleworking was signed on 16.07.2002 between the social partners- the 4 main European syndicates and the European Commission. The teleworking and all forms of flexible working benefit all – companies, workers and the society.

4. European Day of Entrepreneur, 5 November 2004 Distant and flexible working The people working from distance (teleworkers) need: computer, good communications, Internet, software for information retrieval (from company databases and other sources), office tools. If a company allows (in addition to teleworking) flexible working time and flexible relations with the workers, it applies flexible working. The management of flexible working is based on goals, not on the fixed working time in the office. Teleworking is a very appropriate way for working by disabled persons.

5. European Day of Entrepreneur, 5 November 2004 The Bulgarian Telework Association Founded in 1999 by persons from Sofia Univer- sity, Bulgarian Academy of sciences, some ministries, companies and organizations. Studies, Supports & Disseminates the telework and all forms of flexible working in Bulgaria and abroad in an independent way. Informs the companies & organizations and promotes teleworking, showing the benefits it gives to the companies, workers and the society.

6. European Day of Entrepreneur, 5 November 2004 3 main European Projects: FP5: IST-1999-20852: “Best practice pilot for the promotion and implementation of teleworking tools at European SMEs of the services sector” – PROTELEUSES FP5: IST-2001-33526 “Demonstrating and promoting the adoption of new ways of flexible working among outlying regions and SMEs” – FLEXWORK Leonardo da Vinci UK/03/B/F/PP-162_039: “European Enhancement of Early Years Management Skills” – EEEYMS

7. European Day of Entrepreneur, 5 November 2004 The new European project “IST re- qualification of disabled persons” Belongs to Leonardo da Vinci Programme. Period: 1 October 2004 – 30 September 2007. Target group: disabled people who already have some qualification and need to be re- qualified for using ICT. Aims: To develop training materials for teaching information technologies and to perform training to disabled people.

8. European Day of Entrepreneur, 5 November 2004 The new European project “IST re- qualification of disabled persons” Consortium: Universities and NGOs from Czech Rep., Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia, Italy, Bulgaria. Duties of the Bulgarian Telework Association: - Generation of study texts in English and translation of texts to Bulgarian; - Dissemination of all project outcomes; - Negotiations with government institutions and companies for disabled people employment.

9. European Day of Entrepreneur, 5 November 2004 Thank you for your attention! Vesselin Spiridonov Phone: (+359 2) 981 4762 Fax: (+359 2) 981 5541 e-mail: vspirid@virtech-bg.com BgTA e-mail: bgta@virtech-bg.com Web site: http://www.bg-telework.org