Actu
EuroCloud Highlights European Growth Opportunity of Cloud With Launch of 2012 Awards
May 2012 by Marc Jacob
Cloud industry network EuroCloud UK (http://eurocloud.org.uk/) is aiming to highlight cloud computing’s contribution to European economic growth with the launch this week of its Awards and a special event for cloud startups later this month.
Both link into Europe-wide initiatives being organised by EuroCloud across the continent. Winners of the UK Awards, to be announced in July, will go forward to compete to win the European contest in Luxembourg in October.
The UK’s cloud start-up event on May 23rd is part of an event held simultaneously in 10 European countries. Attendees at every venue will view keynotes from Neelie Kroes European Commissioner for the Digital Agenda; Rainer Zinow, SVP On-Demand Strategy at SAP; and Forrest Lin of the Chinese Institute of Electronics. Local sessions will take place in between the shared keynote webcasts.
"The Internet economy is growing fast* and those who understand how to foster online success – whether they’re entrepreneurs or economic policymakers – will prosper in the coming years," said EuroCloud UK chair Phil Wainewright. "With our Awards and the EuroCloud Day event on May 23rd, EuroCloud is putting the spotlight on those growth opportunities and on proven best practice by European cloud providers and their customers."
The London event, held at the new Google Campus in London Tech City, focuses on growth opportunities for cloud start-ups. Speakers include the founding CEOs of a crop of high-growth UK cloud providers, such as Alastair Mitchell, CEO of cloud collaboration vendor Huddle; Duane Jackson, CEO of online accounting provider KashFlow; and Piers Linney, Co-CEO of cloud infrastructure provider Outsourcery. Other speakers include Tim Barker, CMO of fast-growing social data platform DataSift and Bernard Dallé, a partner with leading global venture capital firm Index Ventures. A Silicon Valley perspective will come from Tien Tzuo, CEO and founder of subscription billing provider Zuora, who previously held strategic roles at Salesforce.com during its early years.
The London event is sponsored by global data centre operator Equinix and Zuora is the closing reception sponsor. Full details and online registration for the event are here: http://www.eurocloud.org.uk/day2012 Short URL: http://bit.ly/IGU82Z Hashtag: #eurocloud. Registration is free to EuroCloud members and cloud start-up founders. Early bird pricing for other registrations ends on Wednesday May 9th, two weeks before the event.
In the EuroCloud UK Awards contest, there are five categories:
· Best Cloud Offering
· Best Cloud Startup
· Best Case Study - Commercial sector
· Best Case Study - Public administration
· Best Business Impact
Providers are invited to enter for the first four awards, while the final category is open exclusively to end user organisations. UK entrants have until 6th June 2012 to submit their entries free-of-charge. The winners will be announced at a special event in mid July, and will then go forward to compete for the overall European awards, to be announced at a special Gala dinner at our annual EuroCloud Congress in Luxembourg on October 8th. Full details and registration for the Awards are here: http://www.eurocloud.org.uk/awards
Countries participating in EuroCloud Day include Italy, the Netherlands, UK, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, France, Portugal, Denmark, Sweden and Finland. Full details of events across Europe are available here: http://www.eurocloud.org/events-euro-cloud/eurocloud-day/
Ian Moyse, Sales Director of cloud CRM vendor Workbooks.com, a EuroCloud member, commented: "There is a rush to the clouds and marketing on the subject from vendors is rife. What’s needed is increased education. There continues to be a lack of knowledge and understanding past the surface level across the majority of vendors and channels. EuroCloud is an ideal forum for suppliers to come together at these events and share experiences, ideas and challenges in what is a huge opportunity for the economy and individual suppliers."
* Cloud computing alone is expected to contribute about 0.1-0.2% growth in GDP (http://www.forbes.com/sites/sap/2011/12/06/is-cloud-the-answer-for-the-european-economy/), and a cloud economy would significantly stimulate Europe’s labour market across all industries, with potentially significant job growth (Survival of the Fittest – RolandBerger Strategy Consultants and SAP, 11/2011 – downloadable at http://de.news-sap.com/files/2011/11/SAP_Cloud_Ecosystem_final_E.pdf). According to IDC, "Spending on public and private cloud services is predicted to generate almost 14 million jobs worldwide between 2011 and 2015."
About EuroCloud and EuroCloud UK:
EuroCloud (http://www.eurocloud.org/) is the first pan-European network of cloud vendors and industry experts, with a presence today in more than 24 European countries. EuroCloud UK (http://www.eurocloud.org.uk/) brings together companies engaged in cloud business activity to network together, share best practice and build the profile of the industry.
