Deutsche
Telekom IT
Solutions
Slovakia

Memorandum 2030 – Signing the Memorandum 2030 means that as part of the Business Leaders Forum (informal association of companies committed to being leaders in promoting CR and CSR principles in Slovakia) our company commits to creating a culture of respect, trust, empathy, learning, and inclusion, together with other member companies.

As a member of the forum, we regard responsible business as part of the everyday decisions taken within a company that strives to respect the needs of all its stakeholders .

DT IT Solutions Slovakia has been a leader in information technology and innovation in Slovakia for a long time. Close cooperation with local academic and national institutions allows our developers to analyze the current situation and apply new technologies based on the region’s position and create unique projects that aim to help disabled people.

One example is the social innovation project Cognity Care which connects virtual reality with mental healthcare. Using virtual reality, it offers a new type of non-invasive treatment and a safe environment in which patients can confront their problems. Patients train their brain’s cognitive functions, relax, and reduce stress. The project was also awarded by the Pontis Foundation in the category entitled Socially Innovative Company in 2021.

Sustainability partner of the Slovak-German Business Forum – The signing of another Memorandum is further evidence of cooperation on a national level. Under the initiative of AHK (Slovak-German Business Forum) called #partnerforsustainability we committed ourselves together with twelve German companies in Slovakia to act responsibly and apply sustainability in our business and other activities too. The initiative provides for regular calls with representatives of each company to share our best practices. Roundtable discussions are organized with representatives of the Ministries of the Environment and Education.

Cognity Care is a social innovation connecting virtual reality with mental healthcare. This project enables the company to bring a unique innovation to the field of mental health treatment. Patients often undergo invasive forms of treatment and at the end of hospitalization they have problems in returning to life outside and self-realization. DT IT Solutions Slovakia has therefore developed a new non-invasive interactive-exposure therapy in virtual reality, which is unique in our country and indeed the world. 

The app moves the patient from the institutionalized atmosphere of the psychiatric clinic to a pleasant and relaxing virtual space. Patients perform various mind-training tasks there without realizing. The solution also offers benefits for the staff in the form of attractive treatment, simpler diagnostics, and enthusiasm for new technologies.

The project was also awarded by Pontis Foundation in the category entitled Socially Innovative Company for 2021.

The social innovation “Zvedavo” (Curious) is a mobile application which uses augmented reality  to show 3D models of forest animals, and educates children about the forest and nature around them. Using the phone’s camera, it presents 3D models of animals in a real environment and allows the user to take a photo with them. It then offers information about the animals discovered, additional quizzes that can be answered, and in-App  prizes for doing so. All this in the form of discovery based on GPS  location or movement activity.

“Zvedavo” is a mobile App that serves as an educational tool for children to learn about nature. But it's also a new technology for them, bringing the children closer to the world of augmented reality.

The Carpathian Foundation is our long-term partner and focuses on development and quality of life in the region. We have therefore agreed on the common goal of supporting education in primary schools. Two grant programs were launched for the academic year 2021/2022: “School of the Future” and “Teacher of the Future”. 

The “Teacher of The Future” program supports projects organized by teachers from Eastern Slovakia who use an innovative and unconventional approach to teaching. A personal grant can be awarded to teachers who want to incorporate innovation, creativity, and experiential forms of education within the teaching process. The aim of the program is to actively contribute to improving children’s education and to support innovative methods of education and incorporate them in primary schools and extracurricular activities. 

The “School of The Future” program supports primary schools in Eastern Slovakia with an innovative, active and community approach. The program allows schools to adopt current trends, try out novel approaches, and innovations, and adopt a creative approach to teaching. 

In October 2022, we launched the fourth new edition of the grant programs – “The Power of Community” and “Schools of Tomorrow” for the academic year 2022/2023.

The new grant program “The Power of Community” supports beneficial activities within communities in Eastern Slovakia, promotes volunteer cooperation and connects people with common interests. The program aims to link the traditional rural area with the modern way of life in cities. The intention is to empower the potential of the natural beauty and culture of Eastern Slovakia by bringing new experiences to people from all over the region and beyond. 

“Schools of Tomorrow” is a new grant program focusing on the education of future generations, starting with children in primary schools. We want to prepare children with strong digital skills so that they can tackle the numerous challenges in the world that require innovation and creativity. The program will support innovative primary school teachers and their creative and novel approaches to education. It will help them follow new trends, try out new methods, contribute innovations, and adopt a creative approach to teaching primary school children. 

The T Kids Team is made up of enthusiastic volunteers from our staff who are passionate about inspiring children, giving them opportunities to learn new things and have fun at the same time. 

T Kids helps children to prepare for a future where change is a daily reality and there is a need to be able to react quickly to changing conditions. Our staff create unique, interactive activities to encourage children in an experiential way so that they stay curious and aspire to explore new things, try innovative approaches to learning and achieving goals, and use new IT technologies in the process. 

Children learn about the new IT technologies, robotics, programming, and modern agile  methodologies, the importance of teamwork and communication, creativity, empathy, and develop their critical and analytical thinking skills along the way.

T Kids won first place in the Telekom Team Award 2021 in the category Stay Curious and Grow.

Digital coordinators will bring new knowledge to schools – SCRUM as a framework for project management with an initial emphasis on software development.

The program is run by our employees as volunteers. The program of digital competence coordinators aims to improve IT education, and to help schools make effective use of digital technologies.

The program builds on the training of teachers of computer science in schools, where the employees of DT IT Solutions Slovakia have a role as professional consultants. Teachers learn the basics of SCRUM as an agile  way of working in teams, in a playful, interactive way, making use of Lego Mindstorms® Robots as a tool to understand the topic in a practical way.

More than 100 teachers from all over Slovakia were introduced to SCRUM with the aim of enlivening their classes, as they successfully complete the introductory SCRUM workshop at the practice stage.

The ambition of DT IT Solutions Slovakia is to have teachers available in schools who will have the necessary know-how and support students in strengthening digital skills and integrating information technology within their lives. 

Donation and long-term support for “Usmev ako Dar” NGO (Smile as a gift NGO)
“Usmev ako Dar” is the oldest and largest non-governmental organization in Slovakia aimed at vulnerable children and their families. We have been cooperating with this NGO from the establishment of our company in 2006. 

In 2022, we provided financial support for the building of a home for four families with children who were nearly homeless even though they have a job. We are very pleased that DT IT Solutions Slovakia and “Usmev ako Dar” have provided these families with a home.

Help to Ukraine
More than 100 employees have been helping at the Ukrainian border as volunteers since the outbreak of the conflict. Deutsche Telekom IT Solutions Slovakia helped Ukraine with a donation of EUR 15 000 which was distributed to families and children.

Our City
In 2022, almost 120 of our employees participated in an all-Slovak event called Our City. This event inspires volunteers from companies all over Slovakia to help organizations in their city by painting a fence, renovating their furniture or making their surroundings greener. DT IT Solutions Slovakia has been a part of this event for many years.

Spring and fall collection
In cooperation with the Pontis Foundation, we took part in the spring and fall collection of clothes and accessories for people in two charity organizations. More than 300 employees gave clothes a second chance and helped people in need.

Hardware donations
HW donation is the project that allows us all to help and support our schools and civic associations in the regions of Slovakia by providing refurbished laptops or with other appropriate hardware.

We already donated 534 laptops this year and there is still scope to increase this number in the upcoming weeks. The project was launched in 2017 and we have donated more than 2 800 laptops, supporting almost 200 schools and civic associations in Slovakia. The donated materials were no longer being used in the company and they now serve people who really need them. 

Furthermore, DT IT Solutions Slovakia received a certificate based on its work in 2021 saluting the social and economic contribution made by the donated IT hardware.

Christmas Donation Campaign
The employees of DT IT Solutions Slovakia prepared Christmas presents for children at the Children's University Hospital, for seniors at St. Mary’s Centre for Social Services in Drienov, and for dogs and cats at the Small Farm near Košice.  

We very much appreciate the enthusiam of our employees and the time they spent preparing Christmas gifts. They have contributed to bringing happiness and brightening Christmas for children and seniors who were in hospital over the festive period.

Every year, we review environmental aspects, encompassing the activities that have impacted the environment or may do so in future. Since 2012, our company has regularly participated in various environmental activities, such as Earth Day, Earth Hour, World Environment Day, World Cleanup Day, European Mobility Week, and many others.

We are also extremely proactive in waste management, and we have introduced waste separation within our company. We have also launched various campaigns like: “Plastic Free Month” or “Be Eco-friendly” (drink water from public water supplies) and “Plant SWAP” (simply swap plants with other people).

Moreover, our employees were able to attend a range of lectures on recycling and waste separation. Furthermore, we didn’t restrict our activities to our own premises, but we also helped out elsewhere. Many volunteers from our company joined up with a citizen’s initiative in their free time.

We went to NGO Eco Centre Sosna and helped to build an ecological Hobbit house. Another activity took us to the “Čergov” Forest where we helped the forest protection association “Vlk” to mark trees there. We also tidied up the associated forest parks.

As a part of the foundation program “T for All, All for T”, we provided funding to not-for-profit organizations for various projects to protect nature. Highlights of this campaign included planting 36 Linden Trees along the Alley of Friends of Nature in the village Trstene pri Hornade, and we supported NO BeeLom in their project – Apidomcek –at the bee farm.

Our aim is to contribute to improving our environment through these activities and by constantly working on reducing CO₂ production. 

Year by year, we are gradually reducing our carbon footprint. We incorporated sustainability into DT IT Solutions Slovakia’s strategy. We have reached DT Group’s goal of purchasing 100 percent renewable energy. 

We have reduced 6 900 square meters of office space which equates to 1 200 workplaces. We cut the costs of renting and maintaining the building. As a consequence of the energy crisis, we have reduced the amount of energy used in office heating, ventilation and air-conditioning. We have set the temperature to 20 degrees and the ventilation airflow has been reduced.

We work more efficiently and sustainably to create a better future, and we believe that we are on the right track to become a green company.