Innovation entries related to Health modernization

As I’ve stated several times in the past, I believe that cloud and technology innovations can empower governments and public administrations. In order to come up with the best technology innovations, it is necessary to understand the challenges that governments face every day. We have had many discussions around this topic at the Worldwide Government Solutions Forum 2012 in London.

At Microsoft, one of my primary roles is leading our Local Software Economy initiative, which aims to accelerate the development of innovative software industries worldwide. The initiative—which is also a passion of mine—involves working closely with entrepreneurs to help them foster the skills, IT solutions, partnerships and, ultimately, businesses that will have a large impact on their local...

The decade of genomic revolution following the complete determination of the human DNA sequence, has produced significant medical advances, and yet again, revealed how complicated human biology is, and how much more remains to be understood. Biology is an extraordinary complicated puzzle; we may know some of its pieces but have no clue how they are assembled to orchestrate the symphony of life, which...

With economic headwinds buffeting Europe, governments are confronted by many difficult challenges. But in these unpredictable times, one thing is certain – that Europe has to embrace change, to do things in a better, more efficient and innovative way.

Following on from a previous event on  Natural Computing,  we recently hosted an event on Social Computing, and how innovative minds are developing different avenues for people to share and exchange information online. Speakers included David Osimo from Tech4i2 and Paul Steckler and David Raskino, both of Microsoft Research FUSE Labs.

The first Innovation Convention and the publication of Horizon 2020 – the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation – last December were an essential part of the Innovation Union flagship initiative, as well as an important milestone in the development of the Europe 2020 strategy. The Innovation Convention brought new energy to the discussion of how Europe can become even more...

If doctors could use natural user interfaces, like gestures, surgery could be quicker and safer.

Today, citizens in developed countries look for increased engagement and efficient services; they want more responsiveness and collaboration with Public Sector entities similar to the experience they have as consumers with industry and businesses. Governments need to adapt to these needs while working hard to build economic growth and prosperity in their countries. There is a need to look for approaches to...

It’s hard to believe that the well-known term ‘BRIC’ has now been in use for a decade, yet November 2011 marked the ten year anniversary since Goldman Sachs analyst Jim O'Neill established the phrase grouping Brazil, Russia, India and China together as ‘emerging markets to watch’. Aside from this anniversary reminding us all how fast a decade can pass, it’s remarkable to...

2011 was a year dominated by discussions around the debt crisis, but from a technology point of view Europe saw its fair share of milestones and breakthroughs which can greatly contribute to the economy.  Among others, Vice-President Kroes, endorsed the adoption of cloud computing, a technology solution that gives everyone access to scalable computing power and resources, by promising to make Europe...

More than ever now, the European Commission needs to focus on building and growing the high-performance computing (HPC) market. High-performance computing (HPC) uses supercomputers to solve advanced computation problems and is a key enabler of ground-breaking innovation that creates high wage jobs and allows Europe’s competitiveness to be maintained.

Organisations of all types are adopting cloud computing technologies to gain flexibility and strategic advantage in their environments.

Educate, inspire, connect – three words that describe the unique summit taking place this year: the 61st annual Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting.  It is an exceptional conference which illustrates just how meaningful and fascinating science is for society.

If you have ever needed to be away from the office to look after your child at the last minute, run an important personal errand or even accept a midday delivery at your home – then you will appreciate the advantages that flexible working offers. In fact, there are multiple benefits for employers and for wider society too: greater employee satisfaction and retention, increased workforce...

Flexible working is the norm in many Microsoft subsidiaries across Europe. Employees are empowered to use our own technology – from Lync to Windows Phone to Sharepoint and Office – to communicate and collaborate, creating a culture of trust and transparency where people may work in a way that better suits work-life balance. These efforts have paid off, as today, the Great Place to Work Institute...

This week I had the pleasure of participating in the eHealth Conference as part of the CIEN (Crossroads for the Electronics and Digital Industry) in Paris. The event was very stimulating, having identified some key challenges in the adoption of eHealth in France as well as the rest of Europe. It brought together representatives from industry, academia, and government.

Finland has set out to create a university that has innovation built into its foundations, merging three institutions into one along the way.  Is Aalto a model for universities in other countries?

Are our schools and universities teaching the right skills to enable a new generation of IT practitioners to drive forward innovation? The question has to be asked, since everyone accepts that IT has a critical part to play in an innovation-based economy. It’s not just about companies selling IT products and services, but about how industries wield information technology to innovate in...

Belgian IT engineer Didier Beka had a new idea: software that would enable people with hearing or speaking disabilities to communicate by telephone. Beka knew he had the technical expertise to develop the product but he lacked business experience to build a company around it. “I needed commercial advice,” he says.

In this case study, you can read about a Catalonian centre which is helping Spanish businesses become more productive through collaboration with Microsoft in providing Microsoft Office 365, an enterprise-class, cloud-based solution.

In this case study, you can read about LoveCleanStreets, a cloud-based application that helps London authorities manage street care with the help of crowdsourcing – supported by an innovative SME bbits.

Go is a game so complex that raw computing power was never going to be enough to turn it into a competitive computer game. But two Cambridge researchers found a way – with a programming language used for analysing financial risks.

In this case study, you can read about how Chronorace, a logistics company, handled huge demands for accessing multimedia on its Brussels Half-marathon website after the event with Windows Azure, the Microsoft cloud platform.

Superbowl Sunday is big business in the US as people all over the nation tune in to watch the American football match of the year. Pizza deliveries soar on what is one of the highest days of food consumption in the US. This year Domino’s Pizza found a new way to cope with the sudden burst of demand on its computing resources: using “the cloud” for extra capacity.

The cloud is one of the most popular terms in IT today but perhaps also one of the least well defined. FUTURES guides you through the how and the why.

In this case study, you can read about how the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) worked with Active Web Solutions (AWS) to develop a cost-efficient, cloud-based application to help them save more lives at sea. High numbers of deaths at sea is a major concern for anyone in the fishing industry, with an estimated 24,000 crew members drowning worldwide each year. To try and prevent these...

In this case study, you can read about how Aviva, a global organisation who unites its operations in 28 countries with cloud computing. Aviva is a global life and general insurance services company built around the needs of its customers. It has offices in 28 countries with 54,000 employees serving 50 million customers, and first started operating more than 300 years ago.

In this case study, you can read about the Royal Mail Group has improved their efficiency by giving its employees reliable & simple ways to access information through the adoption of Microsoft’s cloud solution. In the United Kingdom the Royal Mail Group has expanded their IT services agreement with CSC to include Microsoft’s Business Productivity Suite from Microsoft Online...

In Europe and elsewhere, computing is experiencing a powerful transformation. Driven by continuous innovations in software, hardware and the Internet, traditional models of computing are gradually shifting.   

Ray Ozzie introduced the term Software plus Services about 3 years ago and since then it’s where I have focused all of my time at Microsoft.

Big challenges can encourage big solutions, and at the end of last year there was no challenge bigger than Europe’s response to the economic turmoil caused by the global credit crisis.

Is a European Innovation Act what’s needed to make Europe more innovative and strengthen growth and competitiveness in the EU? Policymakers, analysts and businesses are currently debating that very question as the EU considers what to do post-Lisbon.

When the new Commission is appointed, it will find a raft of proposals waiting for it – all aimed at putting research, development and innovation at the heart of policy.

Garbage Information Gathering eases up the clean-up in Roskilde Festival using mobile technology