This presentation outlines how digital agency, and Azure specialist, Sequence, worked with Storm to leverage the benefits of Azure, and in doing so how the brought a new lease of life to the Storm models web application real estate. Richard will outline how Storm use digital as part of their business, the challenges they faced in migrating a legacy platform, how Sequence made use of the Azure toolset and...

The spirit of entrepreneurship in Finland is strong. No longer do ambitious youngsters automatically think about getting a job. Creating a start-up straight out of college is now seen as a valid and exciting career choice.

In the field of cancer detection, prevention and treatment, new ideas are helping to save lives and to improve quality of life during and following treatment. Ideas Matter hosted an impressive event on 14 May in London, during Cancer Prevention Week in the UK, to present some innovative technologies that are making a difference in the battle against cancer, and to ask innovators to describe how...

This month, we celebrate the success of a small Dutch start-up named Atomblock that has recently evolved and become a division of a much larger European company named ALSO.  Atomblock is now called ALSO Digital.  It is a cloud-based infrastructure company that helps game publishers, software publishers and retailers to sell their products on a global scale – in other words, providing a cloud...

Felienne Hermans is proof that it’s possible to start a successful company while still a student. Set up two years ago, Netherlands-based Infotron is not only generating revenue, it can count among its customers impressive names such as PWC, ING and KLM. The concept is brilliantly simple but powerful: Infotron analyses Excel spreadsheets so that companies can reduce the risk and cost that hidden...

It’s exciting enough when we hear about developers taking existing apps and putting them on our new Windows 8 platform, but it’s even more exciting when it’s a brand new app that is breaking new ground – and in children’s education. Infantium is one of a number of W8 apps being developed by innovators and entrepreneurs in Spain. CEO and co-founder Karen Marquez tells us about...

Anlock, a Greek company founded in 2010 that develops educational apps for children. Currently, more than 50 language-based educational apps, across 6 different languages (English, Greek, Spanish, Italian, German and French), help children between the age of 3-6 to learn letters, words and spelling. Working together with teachers and university professors from different countries, Anlock manages to have an...

The mis-predicted Mayan apocalypse behind us, 2013 has brought renewed hope to Europe. There is a sense that the worst is behind us, a near-death experience in the more than half a century old European project has been averted, just. The Euro is back as one of the world’s most favoured currencies and the European Union is marching forward on key strategic agenda issues like the game-changing,...

Finnair’s customers soon will be the first airline passengers in the world to have the opportunity to try the Windows 8-powered HP ElitePad 900 tablets as in-flight entertainment.

In today’s tough market, why bring one app to market when you can launch 10, 20, even 30?  That is the ethos of a dynamic team of young Finnish developers who go by the wonderful name of the Magnificent Eight. As the name might suggest, this is an award-winning team of eight who have known each other since high school and have turned their shared fascination for computer technology into a stream...

Following a tough process the jury of the European AppCup 2013 has chosen the winners of our competition.

One of the greatest opportunities in ICT right now is developing apps. Mobile innovation is no longer tied to things like hardware design but to app development.

Today we are celebrating a key milestone with the latest release of Office 365, which recognizes that the modern workplace is changing; that business success is now determined by how quickly people can connect, interact and share information; and that collaboration has a real business value.

The SME receiving recognition this week is GINA, a Czech Republic company founded in 2010 by one of the finalist teams of Imagine Cup 2010, a worldwide student competition. Turning student projects into real businesses is the type of innovative economic activities needed for growth in Europe, and GINA is another fine example.

The IAMCP European Summit is the annual event that brings together members of the International Association of Microsoft Channel Partners from all across Europe.

Today marks an important milestone for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and Microsoft as we enter into a new partnership to address the digital divide across our Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies around the globe that touch the lives of more than 150 million people each year.

Europe’s Nordic region  has already gained its notoriety  as a cluster for innovation, talent, skills as well as for creating opportunities in the ICT industry. Microsoft has also been supporting the Nordic region by investing in high-potential companies, through open-innovation programmes for developers and start-ups, like AppCampus, as well as by supporting education programs for young...

With cheap Asian imports eroding its market share in the late 1990s, Belgian bicycle parts maker Curana needed a new business model – and fast. Curana CEO Dirk Vens bet that design and innovation could catapult him past the competition, even in the low-tech sector of making bike accessories.

Have you ever wondered why some regions in Europe differ from their neighbours on the same continent? We asked ourselves this question to better understand the fundamentals of where innovation flourishes and in turn how that can drive the growth of new start-ups.  As the EU is a big region to tackle, where Microsoft has made multiple investments throughout, we decided to start with the North. The...

Most students graduate facing the challenge of getting a job, but for Chai Botta, the CEO of GameIn this isn’t a problem.  He and his co-founders are already running their own successful start-up, with a fast-growing game in the Windows 8 store, even though some of them are still in full-time education, including Chai. 

The SME receiving recognition this month is BizSpark start-up, OpenRatio from Sweden. This company was founded in 2011 by Rabih Kanaan and Agustinus Prasetyo Widodo and it enables mobile publishing for a broad range of mobile devices and platforms. OpenRatio offers solutions that respond to the current problems that designers and developers are facing: continuous market evolution (current consumers are...

Only 50 percent of startups in the EU make it to five years, according to OECD. After the initial first years of getting established in a corner of the market, and generating and acquiring funds, startups face an additional type of challenge, one much less talked about - talent management.

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.

The Nordic region has been providing many great examples of successful SMEs using cloud computing to develop and sell ICT services. This month, we will feature fluxLoop, a very young Norwegian company that chose to build their businesses on the Windows Azure cloud platform and who joined the Microsoft BizSpark Plus program, which supports thousands of IT startups around Europe.

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.

Hilverse is a Polish company founded in December 2011 that runs a flagship project, LifeCircle+, which aims to revolutionise lifesaving methods by offering a comprehensive solution to existing challenges of the blood collection system.

Microsoft’s biggest global hackathon has recently taken place (between 9-11 November), with more than 16,500 student developers registered to attend events across more than 112 locations in 53 countries. Two of Europe’s largest events took place in Athens and Helsinki with hundreds of students taking part in the hackathons, which attracted 820 and 560 registrations respectively. We asked the...

Being a start-up is never easy but some markets are particularly challenging. The healthcare sector is arguably one of these, because of the (understandably) often complex layers of legislation and scientific validation required, so adoption of new innovation can be lengthy.

Take a look around you. The way we work has changed fundamentally in recent years, and technology―in particular cloud computing―is a key driver. Traveling across the region and having conversations with hundreds of business leaders across the CEE region over the past two years, it’s clear what cloud computing represents for these businesses: a flexible response to customer’s needs, delivering...

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...

In celebration of the Windows 8 launch, this month our featured SME is Captain Dash, a French company that has developed an app for Windows 8 devices providing a business analytics service powered by the Windows Azure cloud. This app enables the aggregation and synchronization of business data from several web 2.0 services into a unique platform. This allows Captain Dash’s clients to better understand...

CEO and founder Sindhu Joseph took time out of her busy schedule running her very successful business to tell us her story, talk about working with Microsoft, winning Tech All Stars and what it’s like being an entrepreneur in a tough economy.

The SME deserving recognition this month is Monolith Advertising, an Estonian-Croatian company. It began operations just 3 months ago with the single purpose of revolutionizing offline advertising by transforming existing advertising displays into smart and interactive tools. Monolith Advertising is run by a team of 6 people who, since May 2012, have already managed to partner with major corporate...

In order to celebrate both SME Week and Single Market Week, Microsoft is organising the first out of a bi-monthly series of roundtables in Brussels that aim to bring face to face policy makers and innovative entrepreneurs. They will highlight the success and debate the challenges of small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) in Europe.

Berlin’s Trifense, an EIT Entrepreneurship Award winner, takes a new approach to Internet security – and starts to gain traction in the market.

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.

The SME receiving recognition for the month of August is JamPot Technologies, a company of 12 employees from Northern Ireland. JamPot invented an application that allows other companies and individuals to build their own mobile applications without needing any technical knowledge. JamPot’s innovations simplify the use of sophisticated technology, enabling any of us to create smartphone apps for any...

Victor Henning, co-founder of Mendeley, an online service that helps academic researchers organise and share the mounds of documents they collect, hardly looked up from his computer screen when Lehman Brothers collapsed in 2008. He was immersed in the day-to-day routines of his start-up, including getting more users and securing the next round of venture capital.

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.

Social stability, economic prosperity, and cultural richness all depend on educational excellence. Over the past thousand years, European universities have been at the forefront of shaping art, science and commerce.

Our July SME of the Month is Admiral Dynamics, a Belgian company that offers expertise in cloud-based solutions with particular focus on the powerful and efficient Microsoft Dynamics CRM and SharePoint tools. Its specialty is providing innovative, dynamic and flexible solutions that allow its customers to increase the efficiency and standard of their operations without making unnecessary...

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.

Commerce Guys, a young company based in France, was also the winner of the Microsoft BizSpark European Summit. This innovative eCommerce specialist uses the open source Drupal technology on top of the Windows Azure cloud platform. It provides online merchants with the powerful, responsive and innovative eCommerce solutions needed to succeed with Drupal Commerce.

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.

With over 16,000 innovative start-ups part of BizSpark in Europe, you’d expect the calibre of the top 15 chosen to pitch in the annual BizSpark European Summit to be pretty high.  On June 7th, we had the chance to hear about the future of apps, the business of cloud, and the evolution of tech talent.  More than that, we also witnessed to an impressive showcase of innovative technologies...

Take your place among the leaders of Europe’s innovation community!

Holding this year’s European BizSpark Summit in London gives me a good chance to put the spotlight on why the UK’s capital city has become one of the best places for start-ups (and business in general).

The SME receiving recognition this month is Avaelgo, a Romanian company of 10 employees that offers IT consulting services, software development, and technical training for customers worldwide. Their flexible and innovative solutions are based on rapid adoption of cutting edge cloud platform technologies, and they ensure that their customers are at the forefront of their respective fields.

A year is a long time in the start-up world: in this fast-paced environment, a lot can change quickly.  So, I was delighted to catch up with Alessandro Rizzoli, founder and CEO of Mopapp, to hear just how far the company has evolved since winning the pitch competition at last year’s BizSpark European Summit. Mopapp aggregates information from all major app-stores, giving mobile application...

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.

Small businesses can provide valuable solutions to the Public Sector, as Portuguese SME CaveDigital has demonstrated since 2005. Its 8 employees are committed to increasing the value of their clients’ technological investments by offering cloud-based solutions. Based in Portugal, their operations have extended across Europe, and North and Latin America since they formed 12 years. CaveDigital reaches...

A start-up created by two British medics combines social networks and cloud computing to make hospital staffing more efficient.

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.

Globally, SMEs are one of the world’s most powerful engines of growth and jobs. It is estimated that 85% of net new jobs in the EU between 2002 and 2010 were created by SMEs, so clearly this community is critical to the overall health of the European economy. It is a community that too often feels its voice isn’t loud or large enough to impact policy level discussions, however we believe that...

I believe that SMEs are key to Europe’s economic recovery and I have several reasons that support my thinking. The first reason is sheer volume: there are almost 21 million SMEs in the European Union and 90 % of these have fewer than ten employees. Imagine the potential if every SME could hire just one more person!

NetIntegrate is a Swedish IAMCP partner (International Association of Microsoft Channel Partners) that provides cloud based solutions for SMEs. The 2 employees of NetIntegrate are committed to providing customers the piece of the digital communications puzzle that allows them to shift focus from ICT maintenance to business processes, thereby increasing levels of productivity.

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.

General theme: Innovative SMEs: the key to economic regeneration in Europe Time & Date: 09:15 – 13:00, Tuesday 27th March 2012 Venue: Renaissance Hotel, Rue du Parnasse 19, 1050 Brussels

The global financial crisis has challenged many businesses across the region, both large and small. In the fight to get Europe back to broader economic health, technology may not solve all of the problems but it does have a major role to play. By freeing up investments made to maintain technology infrastructure, businesses can instead focus on core operations and their talent. A new Microsoft-commissioned...

French company and IAMCP (International Association of Microsoft Channel Partners) member, ASCOT, demonstrates the potential for a small company to tailor cloud computing services for particular sectors: in this instance, the hotel business.

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.

The Kingdom of Denmark: the Southernmost of the Nordic countries, bordered by Germany, Sweden and Norway.  Its governance comprises three countries: Denmark itself, the Faroe Islands and Greenland.  Original birthplace of the legendary Vikings, it also happens to home to a vibrant entrepreneur community. After working with startups in Denmark for many years, I can definitely say that despite...

As always on our website, we try and bring you a wide variety of opinion pieces from specialist guest bloggers from both the private and public sector.

Our January European Cloud SME of the Month is Link, a Portuguese company that provides businesses with innovative consulting, management solutions, and specialized services. Link helps their customers to streamline business operations and achieve their goals without having to maintain cumbersome processes. Cloud computing platforms are now enabling Link to provide these services more effectively.

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...

In just 15 years, Switzerland’s government and universities have worked to make the country a leader in entrepreneurship. It may be known for snow-covered mountains and cold-weather sports, but in terms of innovation, Switzerland is hot. The Alpine country with a population of 7.6 million is home to 61 technology parks, and its universities churn out dozens of science-based start-ups every year.

In this case study, you can read about how Aer Lingus scales up their operations with cloud computing and improves customer experience to drive revenue for the company.  

In this case study, you can read about Belgacom, a telecommunications company being able to focus on increasing competiveness after unifying its IT systems with cloud computing.  

This month’s European Cloud SME of the Month is MailTalk™, a Danish company that provides a platform for “digital dialogue”, enabling more effective and productive marketing and communications.  MailTalk is a very young company, with 10 employees, but sees global potential.  MailTalk’s sells advanced software tools that can help any organisation both automate and...

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.

In this case study, you can read about the Irish Music Rights Organisation (IMRO), a non-profit that has not only gained transparency with its operations through cloud computing, but has also helped protect music rights of musicians and producers who are an integral part of the SME economy in Ireland.

Online messaging hasn’t changed much since it was introduced more than a decade ago. But German start-up Cooee, based in Kaiserlautern, is seeking to liven up the chat experience with elements from computer gaming and social networking.

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.

KMS Sales and Services offers data solutions to help the healthcare industry manage facilities, staffing, and patient needs. Its service is especially useful for healthcare providers, including hospitals, clinics and insurance suppliers struggling to implement healthcare reform and to manage shrinking budgets. It helps them estimate future demand for healthcare and plan business development, when market...

The world is changing. We now have something called cloud computing!

In 2001, when chartered accountant Jacob Wandt set out to create the e-conomic accounting software – an online cooperation platform for accountants and their customers – “the cloud” was not a yet common phrase in the software industry.

In this case study, you can read about innovative entrepreneurs that opened the doors to Italian small business in helping ministries with commercial waste management.

In this case study, you can read about a partnership between Microsoft and the Spanish company, Telefónica in creating a solution for software developers to minimise their business risk by simplifying revenue collection.

SMEs form the fabric of the European economy; are they also the fabric of the European cloud?  This week, as a contribution to SME Week in Brussels, Microsoft hosted another of our Cloud Computing Policy Roundtables, this time on the topic ‘Building a European cloud by and for SMEs’.  The intent was to explore the opportunities that cloud computing has for European SMEs, and any...

I am coming back with another example of an innovative business that helps build the European cloud market, Cigler Software.

We had the great pleasure to chat with Julie Meyer, one of the leading champions for entrepreneurship in Europe, at this year’s Microsoft BizSpark Summit. Julie talked to us about the business ideas that get traction with investors, gave us some tips and tricks on successful entrepreneurship, and the role of cloud computing in driving business and economic growth in Europe. Julie introduced the...

In recognition of SME Week and in celebration of entrepreneurship in Europe, we are hosting a roundtable discussion on the benefits of cloud computing for European SMEs – as creators, service suppliers, and consumers. We invite you to join this discussion, as well as a short tour of technology demos, which will concentrate on cloud services developed by European SMEs.

As we mentioned several times before, cloud computing is an evolution in the technology industry that promises significant economic benefits in Europe – for both users and technology providers. SMEs are the engine of economic growth in Europe, and as users, SMEs will quickly take advantage of the cost reductions and productivity gains enabled by cloud computing.  Added to this, there are also...

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...

The ICT sector is a very fluid and aggressive global market where technology is driving change, in fact it’s driving innovation across all sectors. There’s a huge amount of innovation coming from Russia and across the East. Look to Asia and you’ll see the Japanese ‘eBay’ coming our way which will undoubtedly put pressure on eBay. In the coming years we are going to see some...

Founded three years ago, Kobojo develops games for social media such as Facebook. Now it is developing a business model that transforms virtual currencies into hard euros.

In this case study, you can read about how cloud computing helps the Hungarian Water Rescue Service free up more than 1,500 man-days to focus on saving more lives, with the help of an innovative SME - Central Europe On-Demand (CEOD).

In this case study, you can read about Procore, a Dutch company setting precedence for other SMEs with its flexible, forward thinking business model and way of work with the smart use of cloud computing.

Firstline Doctor/Patient Demonstration is an intelligent exchange platform developed specifically for the healthcare sector. By automating the communications flow between doctors and patients, the system will result in a number of important benefits for both providers and consumers of healthcare services. Simple but often time-consuming tasks such as making appointments, writing prescriptions and accessing...

It’s nearly impossible for companies to stay on top of the explosion of useful information about markets, competitors and customers that crops up daily on social media and other websites. But that’s also a business opportunity – and one seized by British start-up, Artesian, which seeks to transform the torrent of web-based information into a wellspring of business intelligence.

With this year’s edition of the European BizSpark Summit just behind us, we wanted to see what winning the competition meant for last years’ finalists.

To paraphrase Fidelity Growth Partners Europe’s Simon Clark, one of the judges at this year's BizSpark European Summit: it’s pretty tough pitching your business to a panel of seasoned investors in five minutes, with over two hundred people watching – media, VC’s, and movers and shakers from the tech industry.

I’m glad to see that alongside the topic of sustainable cloud computing, a central theme at this year’s BizSpark Summit will be on funding solutions for small and medium-size businesses (SMEs). It needs to be discussed.

In this case study, you can read about how TradeFacilitate, an Irish company successfully scales-up its operation to serve a larger market without proportionally adding more personnel and technology resources.

Cloud computing brings great benefits to Europe’s start-ups and SMEs in terms of cost benefits, ease to up-scale their businesses and efficient computing capabilities. Besides using the cloud power to operate their own business, SMEs also have the opportunity to widen their portfolio and innovate by building new applications and services on the cloud platforms.

Now in its 7th year, the BizSpark European Summit brought together thought-leaders in the entrepreneurial community across Europe - investors, government representatives, start-ups, journalists and Microsoft’s network partners. The summit provided a unique platform to debate the issues facing tech entrepreneurs in Europe and see some of the best start-ups in Europe. The summit was brought to you...

What a great market Europe is for tech entrepreneurship and innovation. Hundreds of start-ups from across Europe were entered into this year’s BizSpark European Summit and I’m awed by the great ideas, business acumen and sheer commitment and energy of our region’s start-ups.

For Irish entrepreneur John Dennehy, the arrival of cloud computing offered a powerful argument to launch a new company. Dennehy was convinced that many smaller businesses would shift to buying software and computer services delivered and managed over the Internet – the so-called cloud – because it would allow them to save money, grow faster and go global at a fraction of the cost.

SMEs working in the ICT arena  are very aware and started to take advantage of the significant benefits in cloud computing - particularly how it can help drive efficiencies and make products and services available to a wider audience.

The IT industry’s constant evolution is what makes it so exciting.  Our annual BizSpark European Summit is a great demonstration of this: in its 7th year, this event seems to be reaching new heights and attracting an increasingly impressive list of speakers, judges and delegates from the entrepreneurial community.

I firmly believe that entrepreneurial initiatives are crucial to the growth of European economy. Startups should be able to operate in a supportive environment while pushing their innovative ideas.

Portugal has appeared in the news a lot in recent months due to its severe economic problems, but what is perhaps less well-known that Portugal has a high level of university education. In this recession we are seeing that many students are starting their own companies when they graduate, rather than trying fight for scarce employment vacancies.

A question on a lot on Irish people's minds at the moment is: where next for Ireland?  What areas do we need to focus on to restore competitiveness in the country?

It has been widely acknowledged that SMEs and start-ups are key drivers for countries’ innovation and economic prosperity. Microsoft is proudly partnering with these innovative organizations in order to develop successful IT solutions.

Size doesn’t matter anymore, the over-riding lesson we are learning worldwide is that a business that gets ahead of the curve is a smart one, not necessarily a big one.

In this case study, you can read about how a French software development company is managing to stay competitive in the gaming industry by having an easily scalable IT cloud infrastructure that can meet demands of the unpredictable social, casual gaming market. Headquartered in Paris, France, Kobojo is a software development company that produces social, casual games that customers can access...

As mentioned in an earlier post, Ireland is one of Europe’s key hubs for innovation where entrepreneurial initiatives, crucial to the growth of European economy, should be able to operate in a supportive environment.

In this case study, you can read about how cloud computing has provided the Associated Press (AP) with new opportunities to open its revenue streams and find new customers for its content. The Associated Press (AP) provides up-to-the-minute news and information for newspapers, radio, television, and the Internet, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Small and medium-sized enterprises – SMEs – will be the powerhouse of the Innovation Union that the EU must become if we are to enjoy sustainable prosperity in the face of ever stronger global competition.

Valentine’s Day isn’t the only day in the year to show someone you care! My colleague Claire Lee spoke with one of our partners, ParcelGenie, and learned how they make gift giving simple.

In this case study, you can read about an Irish company which is enabling SMEs in Europe by developing multi-featured and highly customisable HR management tools through cloud computing.

It’s a humbling experience talking with CEOs of European start-ups, particularly in the ICT sector.

In this case study, you can read about the new way a UK based company is engaging with its customers and building its software business due to the simplicity cloud computing is enabling the deployment of its services.

Andreas Klinger’s 18-month struggle to find money for a new company helps explain why Europe doesn’t produce more start-ups. Klinger pursued investors for his Internet-based fashion company across a continent, from the beer gardens of Munich to plush hotels in Moscow. “It was a crazy circus. We had to produce our business plan in several languages, accompanied by 15-sheet spreadsheets...

See what Microsoft’s Blaise Vignon and Brigitte Baumann, President of EBAN, had to say on the event which provided opportunities for growth and highlighted the contribution of early-stage investors to the Europe 2020 strategy.

As we’ve highlighted in previous posts, one by the President of the SME Union and another on European Commission’s initiative: ACCESS-ICT 2010, great innovation needs to be partnered with access to capital and it remains one of the biggest challenges that the entrepreneurial community in Europe faces.

We had the chance to chat to Peter Jungen, the President of the SME Union and Chairman of Economic Policy council of EPP at the European Parliament. He shared with us his view on European innovation and entrepreneurship.

In this case study, you can read about how cloud computing helps a Nordic hotel chain save up to 3 million SEK on IT maintenance costs annually.

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

When Steve Ballmer visited Microsoft’s French HQ in Paris a few weeks ago, he seemed pretty impressed with the entrepreneurial community here that puts France as one of Europe’s most competitive ICT markets, not least due to the Windows Phone 7 competition for developers.

Government grants are often so complex and costly to obtain that small companies never bother.

Joe Wilson, new Western European lead, speaks from the heart about what Microsoft is trying to do for start-ups in Europe.  As a veteran entrepreneur himself, Joe brings a very personal perspective and talks about his first exposure to the European Venture Capital (VC) community.  Expect to see more blogs from Joe and his team in the months to come.

Economic Challenges:  Last week the European Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (EVCA) reported healthy signs in the Nordic investment market: €1,9 billion invested in 450 companies (25% more) in the first half of 2010, an increase of 23% compared to the second half of 2009. While we don’t see a detailed breakdown for ICT companies, we know that many start-ups in that...

While there are some great success stories for us to highlight, it’s important we don’t lose sight of the major hurdles that entrepreneurs still face in Europe. 

In this case study, you can read about an Italian company that was able to quickly develop and deploy its software to new markets just by using a cloud computing platform.

In our second video from this year's Microsoft BizSpark European Summit series, we hear from some of the region’s most promising start-ups.

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.

Bulgarian firm Fresh Up Label wanted to implement an electronic system to help manage an increasingly complex production process.  Funding secured with the help of EUGA met 65% of the technology investment costs.

Irish company InishTech Software specializes in helping Europe’s technology entrepreneurs adopt flexible licensing terms that help them be more competitive, while safeguarding their Intellectual Property (IP).

How can small businesses succeed in a market as internally varied as Europe? Will current EU regulation further help the growth process for businesses?

One of the most important ways in which we are supporting European technology companies is helping them find access to capital in those crucial early years.

The BizSpark European Summit in Paris proved to be a great platform to exchange ideas and best practices for start-ups in Europe.  In fact, we came away with so much good information to share that we decided to save some of it for after the summer break.

In the final video in our cloud computing interview series we have taken clips from a number of speakers like Geert Ferranti, Sale Director – Ferranti; Jean Michel Davault, Managing Director – Hommes & Process; Wolfram Borchers, CEO – ITA systemhaus.

In our latest video looking at cloud computing today, Henk Kok, Director of Perrit, explains how cloud computing is enabling a competitive European business environment.

This video looks at the experience of entrepreneurs using the Azure platform. Aidan Gallagher, CEO Inishtech & Conor O’Riordan, CEO Tradefacilitate give us a quick overview to why they chose to use Azure for their businesses and the benefits cloud computing brings.  

In this case study, you can read about the cloud solution developed by a French SME currently deployed to more than 3500 users in 300 offices around France.

In this case study, you can read about how MiniLiner, an air-cargo firm is managing chaos caused by scaling up and saving up to €50,000 annually by switching to a cloud-based communications solution for its employees.

In this case study, you can read about cloud provides a simplified communications solution for a Spanish company who went virtual, helping them boost competitiveness and reduce costs.

During the BizSpark Investor Summit in Paris last month our Chairman for Microsoft Europe, Jan Muehlfeit, was interviewed by CNBC to give his views on the opportunities for small and medium-sized companies to grow in today’s “gloomy” economic climate in Europe.  The fast-paced interview also touches on cloud computing, software for devices market and the growing problem of piracy in...

In the third video in our cloud computing interview series Andrea Ferravante - Diamante, gives us the Italian perspective on the potential challenges of cloud computing. 

Talking to start-ups, there’s often one reoccurring challenge: getting early investment. To find out more we talked with the CEO of Tradefacilitate  Conor O’Riordan, & Aidan Gallagher, the CEO of Inishtech  who have both had to work hard to win investment to grow their business. To accompany their views, and to offer a slightly different perspective, we also spoke with Diane...

In the second of our cloud computing interview series we hear from Juan José Amor Cazorla, Director General – Nextel who gives some insights into the benefits of cloud computing from a Spanish perspective.

As part of the Emerging Business team at Microsoft, I have been working closely with start-ups and entrepreneurs across the world for quite a few years. In my first post I spoke about BizSpark, our programme for helping start-ups with software and support and in the second one, I mentioned the importance of cloud computing and the opportunities it has created for start-ups .

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 the first of our 3 videos on the EUGA Irish launch in Dublin we hear from Nicky Martin, Managing Director - Affect Network, who explains the process that the start-ups go through to receive their European funding. Nicky Martin gives an interesting perspective on the EUGA process, his company supports the companies throughout the process of assessing suitability and grant applications. I think this is an...

What?   A one-day event in Paris on May 25th hosted by Microsoft and broadcast LIVE online. Bringing together key entrepreneurs in Europe for a start-up investment pitch. Followed by presentations and a debate on the scope and challenges of entrepreneurship and innovation in Europe as we together seek to reach the goals of the Europe 2020 strategy.   Who? Silicon Valley entrepreneurial...

 Have a look again at the first session of the BizSpark Summit that took place on May 25th in Paris and was hosted by Guy Kawasaki.  

The challenges faced today by a startup in Europe are clear: you have to be innovative, fast, and stay ahead of the competition.  

In this interview Nigel Gibbons, Executive Chariman – Unitech talks about the cloud and how it is changing the way we do business. 

Every year we bring together and discuss trending topics with business start-ups  and growing companies developing products and services on Microsoft platforms. This year we interviewed some of these developers about their views on  cloud computing.

The European Commission has recently released the results of a survey around public attitudes on various issues leading to entrepreneurship, such as risk-taking, start-ups, entrepreneurial education, and “Entrepreneurship in the EU and beyond”.

The 6th BizSpark Summit was a great success, with some dynamic speakers including Sillicon Valley entrepreneur and host of the summit, Guy Kawasaki. It was fantastic to see and experience the buzz from this event as starts-ups discussed with potential investors, as well as hundreds of people twittering their impressions throughout the day, either as they watched in person, or followed the live stream...

I’m trying hard to contain my pride right now as Microsoft recently won the award for the number one best place to work in Europe, for the third year in a row!  

You may have caught one of my earlier post in this video series in which I discussed why Microsoft is so involved with start-ups and entrepreneurs and give a few insights into some of the programmes we run to support them.

In this case study, you can read about how a Swiss consultancy uses cloud to boost business agility and take more time to invest in the people and in their business without worrying about infrastructure. Lodestone is a management consultancy that ensures a lean operational structure by selectively outsourcing its IT functions. It is based in Switzerland and operates across 13 countries.

In this case study, you can read about how cloud computing helps a German company expand its service offerings in new ways, opening new doors and creating new opportunities for growth. Computacenter is one of Europe’s leading independent providers of IT infrastructure services.

As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, Ireland is one of Europe’s key hubs for innovation, offering an environment for tech entrepreneurs.It is crucial that in Ireland and the rest of Europe, SMEs can operate in an environment supportive of innovation.

Hosted by Guy Kawasaki, Silicon Valley entrepreneur Follow the highlights of the event on Microsoft.eu

In this case study, you can read about YouSAAS, a software vendor who achieved an increase of over 20,000 users in six months due to cloud computing. Founded in 2006, YouSAAS is a Microsoft® Gold Certified Partner that offers its reseller and independent software vendor partners a shared platform to sell hosted solutions.

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.

As part of the Emerging Business team at Microsoft, I have been working closely with start-ups and entrepreneurs right across the world for quite a few years.

The Italian company, Threeplicate, is the latest European start-up to be named Startup of the day in the Startup Zone, the online space for all things BizSpark related (p.s. BizSpark is a Microsoft programme which helps start-ups get off the ground by providing them with software, support and a network of contacts to help improve their visibility to the wider world.)

I recently read this article on BizSpark in Ireland on siliconrepublic.com (check out their website, there’s some great tech articles) and it draws upon interesting points relating to what we at Microsoft are doing with the BizSpark program.

Our guest blogger today is Riitta Raesmaa, partner and co-founder of Sopima, a Finnish SME and part of the Microsoft BizSpark programme!

Sweden’s public employment service has launched a project to help more people achieve long-term employment in the ICT sector, made possible by a grant of over one million Euros, secured through the European Union Grants Advisory (EUGA).

We’ve said it before but we’ll say it again: Ireland is one of the most exciting countries for tech entrepreneurs and one of the strongest for BizSpark   www.microsoft.com/BizSpark/, our programme to help early stage start-ups by providing them with software and support. 

In this case study, you can read about how the Swedish Red Cross (SRC) has boosted communication within its organisation by 50%, after implementing the Microsoft Online Service cloud offering. The Swedish Red Cross (SRC) is the largest humanitarian voluntary organisation in Sweden. Their work improving conditions for people requires a great deal of coordination across the organisation, especially...

In this case study, you can read about how a French SME was able to provide a flexible, hosted, and worry-free communication solution for its consultants through cloud. Based in Lyon, France, Peaks is an IT company with a mobile workforce of consultants deployed at customer sites. Peaks wanted better messaging and collaboration tools for its consultants to share data and expedite service. It...

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 this case study, you can read about how Finnish company used the Microsoft Azure cloud platform to achieve rapid deployment while reducing capital expenditure in a secure way. Microsoft BizSpark member Sopima Oy, has launched an innovative business contract service. Use of the Microsoft Azure platform has helped rapid deployment while reducing capital expenditure.

As we’ve been doing for a few months now, we once again bring you European companies that have been selected as start-up of the day on Microsoft’s StartupZone, the online space for companies in BizSpark.

Le Web is the biggest web event in Europe, and the organisers have increasingly looked to make start-ups the stars of the show, giving great companies the visibility they need to get them past that initial gestation period when so many don’t make it.

I was pleased to read that Shout’em, a Croatian start-up that’s part of our BizSpark programme for start-ups (read more about the programme here) was selected as one of the top 5 start-ups to look out for in 2010! Read about it in this article from PC World.

We love to see start-ups grow and it’s especially encouraging to see the next generation of entrepreneurs make a flying start.

What do HSBC and the BizSpark program have in common?  They are both focused on supporting innovative SMEs across the world.

It has been brought to our attention that we have not yet featured European Grants Advisor (EUGA) in our Growth & SMEs blog, which is a crying shame, given that it is a highly successful programme which we’re very proud of! 

Nomadesk - a BizSpark member from Belgium - provide on-demand file sharing, synchronization and data security for the world’s increasingly ‘nomadic’ workforce.  

We’ve regularly been reporting on European start-ups featured in the Microsoft StartupZone, a site which showcases and brings together Bizspark companies (BizSpark being a programme we’ve developed to help out start-ups with access to software and support.)

Jan Muehlfeit, Chairman of Microsoft Europe, on unlocking human potential through inspiring creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship; and improving European competitiveness by re-aligning education programmess and providing support for start-up companies.

I was asked to describe in 5 minutes how we can help to overcome the challenges facing Europe.

While competitions are great to win, they are also a great way for start-ups to network with investors and possible partners, hone their presentation skills and generate some visibility. That’s why we were pleased to sponsor the Eurecan European Venture Contest which drew to a close this month.

Recently, we were reminded that the Nordic region is a vibrant community for technology innovation and entrepreneurs. We took part in two events in recent weeks: firstly the EBAN Winter University in Stockholm and Finland’s Money Talks Forum.

As you’ll have gathered from my recent posts, LeWeb – the biggest web event in Europe - took place last week. I didn’t go myself but have heard from my colleagues who did, as well as the buzz online, that it was an awesome and inspirational event, as ever.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Portugal were struggling to use funding opportunities provided by the government. The awarding bodies’ policies meant that it took businesses years to receive the approved grant money. Santander Totta, a banking institution and member of the European Union Grants Advisor (EUGA) in Portugal, offered zero per cent interest loans to SMEs to cover the amount of...

As you’ll know if you read my last post, this week is Le Web week, and we’re quite excited about it. Besides the fact that we’re a Gold Partner along with Google, it’s just a really great event, which has brought together the best and brightest web entrepreneurs, start-ups, VCs, app builders, designers and so forth.

What is Le Web?

Last month, I posted an entry leading you to the MicrosoftStartupZone’s latest featured European start-up and promised that I’d keep you updated, so here goes. Over the last few weeks, two more European start-ups have been featured!

We were very proud to announce the grand opening of our Dublin data centre in September 2009.

Technology firms in Sweden were struggling to find skilled workers. With help from European Union Grants Advisor (EUGA) Sweden, the national employment agency and an association of Microsoft® partners organised a “matchmaking” event where employers could interview and hire suitable candidates. Companies hired qualified IT workers on the spot and nine out of 10 participating employers rated...

Who would start a business development for start-ups in a slump? That’s precisely when it has to be done, says Microsoft.

Microsoft’s Akhtar Badshah wants to be a disruptive influence

Heard of The Good Entrepreneur? It’s a TV show where entrepreneurs from across Europe compete for a hefty prize package of €250,000 by attempting to produce the most amazing, environmentally responsible business concepts imaginable. 

Erich Andersen, VP and Deputy General Counsel of the Windows Business at Microsoft, speaking about Windows 7 as a potential driver of the European ICT economy.

Cliff Reeves – General Manager of the Emerging Business Team (which in non-Microsoft speak means he works with start-ups and investors to help them make the most of their relationship with Microsoft and grow into super-successful companies!) – recently travelled around Europe to meet with a number of start-ups and Network Partners in the BizSpark program. 

Microsoft's Vice President for EU affairs blogs via video on how ICT can stimulate Europe's growth

Almost exactly a year ago, Microsoft launched BizSpark, a global program designed to catalyze the success of entrepreneurs by making Microsoft’s end-to-end software solutions available to early-stage startups with no upfront costs. 

Please click below to view a short 1-minute interview with Erich Andersen, VP and Deputy General Counsel of the Windows Business at Microsoft, filmed on a recent visit to Europe.

I just looked up the term Cloud computing on Google News and unless I’m doing something wrong, it appears that the term has turned up in as many news items in the last month as it has in the last year.

Microsoft BizSpark is a programme we’ve developed to help early stage startups by providing them with key resources - access to software, support and visibility - when they need it the most. Read more on the BizSpark site and see how to enrol (it’s dead easy). 

John Vassallo (Microsoft VP EU Affairs) outlines the crucial role small and medium enterprises active in the ICT industry play in strengthening the European Economy.

Microsoft's Vice President for EU Affairs talks about the role of ICT into driving European growth

Best the 4th EU SME Day Of with JP Courtois, J Figel & P Jungen

When Paris-based Pricing Partners SAS set itself the goal of becoming a global player in financial valuation software solutions, it enlisted support from Microsoft to expand its marketing and R&D capabilities.

To develop its world-leading 3D simulation technology, French startup SimplySim turned to Microsoft for advice and practical support. SimplySim gained access to technology, marketing networks and government funding for R&D.

Portugal’s national employment agency offers grants to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to train their new employees. The European Union Grants Advisor (EUGA) helps firms apply for these funds—it wanted to simplify the existing application process, which took months for approval. As a result of an agreement signed between Microsoft and the Portuguese government, SMEs have access to 500...

The European Research Council head urges basic research for economic growth – and charts a course for expansion

Since Hungary's accession into the European Union, the number of logistics operators in the country has been growing fast. This is particularly true for the region in and around the capital, Budapest, seen by foreign operators as a hub for distributing goods to other countries in Central and Eastern Europe. The boom in the logistics sector is expected to foster significant economic growth in the region.

Europe will see its first continent-wide prizes for academic spin-off entrepreneurs awarded in Stockholm on 5 December.

Budapest-based start-up eSpirit sought help from European Union Grants Advisor (EUGA) and applied for government funding to develop a new Web-based application. In just over six months, eSpirit received notice that it had secured a grant to cover 100 per cent development costs. The new product will result in significant rise in the company's market share.

The Lisbon Strategy's aim is to make the EU ‘the most dynamic and competitive knowledge-based economy in the world capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion, and respect for the environment by 2010'.

Vienna-based start-up IQ Mobile found that obtaining funding to develop innovative solutions was a straightforward exercise. It was awarded 15 per cent of the costs for its video telephony project and now names Sony BMG as one of its customers.