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.

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

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...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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. 

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.

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 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.

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...

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.  

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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! 

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.

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.

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!

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. 

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. 

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. 

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). 

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...