VP of the European Commission, Neelie Kroes, is leading an effort to boost Europe's economy through the adoption of cloud computing.  This effort includes a €10 million European cloud partnership of local public agencies and private companies created in January to bring government agencies' IT systems to the cloud.

On March 21, Forum Europe is bringing together policymakers and executives from companies like Dell, VMWare and Intel at the 2012 European Cloud Computing Conference to develop the continent's cloud strategy.

Europe already has private-sector internet companies that host data in the cloud, but Kroes is pushing for greater synergy in Europe's telecoms and copyright licensing rules to allow for easier licensing of content to rent and sell across the European Union.

Building a European Cloud Partnership by NeelieKroesEU