Microsoft Corp and The Technological Centre for the Textile and Clothing Industries of Portugal (CITEVE) has launched a new Technology, Innovation and Initiative programme (TII), a new project to provide workers in Portugal's textile industry with new skills and qualifications to enhance their long-term employability prospects.

The TII project is a three-year initiative to train at least 3,000 workers from Portugal's textile sector, which is being significantly affected by increasing global competition, with an estimated 20,000 already unemployed in the sector. The training courses will equip the participants with new skills needed in the local economy; and CITEVE, together with the Instituto do Emprego e Formacao Profissional (The Institute for Employment and Professional Training of the Ministry of Work and Social Solidarity), will also work with local companies and unions to help the trainees find new jobs or start new businesses.

Helder Rosendo, CITEVE's general manager, said, "The European textiles industries are experiencing a paradigm shift due to the undisputable competitiveness of Asian countries in the sector, forcing Portuguese companies to make stronger bets on research and development, design, logistics and distribution. In this scenario, IT and human resources skills and training are of great importance. The paradigm shift creates an unchangeable reality of decreasing employment, and the impact is especially acute for the least qualified workers.”