Author's entries

Worldwide, online auction sites are the way that many people buy a variety of products, but often they lack local feel and focus. This is one of the main reasons that Swiss based ricardo.ch online auction site has been so successful and since launch a decade ago, is now used by over 2 million registered users and 340,000 unique visits per day.

Publishers are keen to take advantage of the mobile revolution and get their content available on smartphones and tablets, but this can be a laborious, time-consuming and expensive process. With Paperlit’s cloud-based service, publishers only upload content once to make it available to millions of tablet, smartphone and Facebook users.

Recently, we launched Windows Phone 8, so it seems timely to put the spotlight on mobile innovation in Europe. And the good news is that mobile apps are driving some great opportunities for start-ups and students across the region.

Start-ups not only need all the help they can get during these tough economic times, but they are also fundamental to helping European climb its way back to economic prosperity. Equipping the next generation of entrepreneurs and innovators with the tools and support they need is therefore vital and is one of the reasons why so much of our focus on the launch of Windows 8 has been around working with the...

Worldwide, diagnosis of autism is traditionally a very manual process, one that is labour intensive, expensive, prone to error and without any room for observation. Dutch-based Autitouch has developed an innovative solution that uses Microsoft Surface technology to enable children to play ‘serious games’ that help the medical profession make more accurate diagnoses.

It is Olympics time again and how fast the world of technology has accelerated in four years since the last Games. In 2008, social media still felt relatively new, now it is a ubiquitous part of our daily lives, including how we talk and track sport.

In this case study, you can read about Desmoweb and their cloud-based solution jotURL that helps manage web content such as html, text, video & audio.

A major power outage in downtown Brussels did not mar the UNConvention, held in Brussels in June and which brought together young Europeans with innovative ideas, investors, business leaders, academics, policy and decision makers, including European Commissioner Neelie Kroes.

It may be a cliché, but our collective future really does depend on the brightest and best of youthful talent. Here in Europe, Microsoft has initiated a huge focus on nurturing the next generation of entrepreneurs, across a wide variety of projects and programs. Our latest involvement is at the UN Convention Young Innovators event taking place in Brussels 26-27 June.

According to the European Commission, the 23 million SMEs in the EU represent 99% of businesses, and are a key driver for economic growth, innovation, employment and social integration. It is therefore crucial that EU institutions, governments and the private sector nurture new innovative companies, promote successful entrepreneurship and improve the business environment for SMEs and start-ups.  This...

In this case study, you can read about Global Business Register (GBR) and their cloud-based solution that aims to make the internet a safer place.

When we lifted the hood on Windows Mobile 7 for developers a while back, there was a lot of excitement from the BizSpark startup community here in Europe.  While we’d like to think that was just about the quality of the platform, the other reason has to be that startups here in Europe are ahead of the game when it comes to realizing the potential of mobile apps.

Most successful entrepreneurs are naturally enthusiastic and optimistic people.  They have to be, because they have to believe in their potential to turn dreams into reality.  And this positive attitude is pervasive, even in these tough economic times.  Why?  Because an increasing number of start-ups and other small businesses know that turbulent times create opportunities.

In this case study, you can read about Zartis, a company bringing job-hunting into the 21st century with cloud computing.

In this case study, you can read about SkillPages, an Irish business that developed a platform to transform the way people with skills connect to the people who need them.

Look at the glass – what do you see?  Is it half full?  Is it half empty?  To a lot of start-ups, neither matter because they see a third way. Maybe they can do something totally different with the glass and on a big scale.  And it is this ‘out of the box’ thinking that is behind a whole new generation of start-ups, who if we give them a chance, could bring revenue into...

Video games are a worldwide boom industry and Europe is one of the strongest regions for potential growth. And much of that is being driven by small businesses and young entrepreneurs, who could turn their ideas into something big. Take Angry Birds from Rovio which started out as a small mobile games development studio in Finland. Now it’s a worldwide phenomenon.

Wall Street Journal Tech Europe has become established as one of THE go-to places to find about the challenges and trends facing Europe’s ICT start-up community.  It’s also a great showcase for some of the brightest and best examples in the region.

10 capitals in just 20 days: this is the plan of Ben Rooney, editor of the Wall Street Journal’s Tech Europe, with the aim “to take the temperature of the continent and talk to the hottest start-ups in the coolest places.”  Starting on September 10th in Tel Aviv, the tour ends of 30 Sept in Dublin, fitting in Istanbul, Paris, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Tallinn, Moscow, Berlin and Barcelona...

In this latest video recorded at the European Summit earlier this year we ask: Is Europe prepared for cloud computing?