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...

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.

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

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.

Landing at Zaventem airport during a snow storm last week, I suddenly felt as though the Euro crisis had taken physical form. Europe seemed stuck in a permanent winter since 2008 with no warmth in sight. Worse still, it seemed as though some of the EU’s politicians were busy perfecting ice-maker policies rather than helping to fix the central heating. 

October 15-21 marks SME Week in the European Union!  This is a time for the EU to recognise, promote and help small and medium-sized businesses, which are so important for Europe’s innovation, competitiveness, jobs and overall welfare.

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.

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...

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.

On March 27, I had the pleasure of attending the third annual Summit of the International Association of Microsoft Channel Partners (IAMCP) in Brussels. I was greeted by over 100 IAMCP partners who had come together to position innovative SMEs at the centre of Europe's economic recovery.

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

Atomblock’s solution is designed to take away all the hard work involved in publishing and selling content  - such as video games – online.  With Atomblock, companies can become e-retailers in less than a week, complete with links to social media.  It is ideal for retailers who want to create online stores, but do not want invest in the time, cost and expertise themselves.

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

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...

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).

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.

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.

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.

As part of Employment Week, Microsoft acted as main sponsors providing leadership to a series of events and awards where one of the highlights was the Skills for Employability ceremony. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

In this case study, you can read about an Italian company providing flexible, cost-effective communication and collaboration solutions to businesses, especially timely during tough economic times.

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.

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 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.

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. 

In June the "Enterprise & Industry Magazine" of the Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry of the European Commission included an important article on e-skills.

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 .

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...

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.

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.

Developers are the lifeblood of Microsoft. I know, I know, it’s a well-worn Microsoft mantra but believe me, it’s never been more true. Today, the hunger for new technologies is only growing.

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. 

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 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.   

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

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.)

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...

As part of its drive to foster innovation and the knowledge economy in Europe, the Commission has designated 2009 as the Year of Creativity & Innovation.

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

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. 

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. 

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

European Microsoft Innovation Centre leads a EU Cofunded project that aims to tackle information overload. Microsoft partnerships with Univeristies, industry & SMEs.

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 EU’s education commissioner, Ján Figel’, is pushing for change in European universities – to the economic benefit of all.

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.

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.

Innovation isn't just what scientists and engineers do: it's also a feature of many community-based organisations and social entrepreneurs. But the result is the same: new ways of doing things and new products and services that enable people to change their lives.