The software giant’s European Chairman, Jan Muehlfeit, believes that “in the next ten years, I don’t think that, in our economy, we will change what we do, but there will be a significant change in how we do it.” This change will involve, he predicts, ‘smart’ jobs, where employees have a higher level of IT skills than currently.

He adds that in ten years,illiteracy will not mean those who can’t read or write, but those who possess few ICT skills. “That’s why the e-skills are so important, because they will be the driver of cloud computing.” This technological leap, means that computing power, will not reside in a laptop, but will use large powerful servers, who will process data and feed results to people’s computers. Examples of cloud computing that are already widely used include, Hotmail and Facebook. Muehlfeit is staggered by Facebook, “If you think about it, it is the 5th largest country in the world!”.

When companies migrate to cloud computing, they can make savings, he claims, “80% of ICT budgets are dedicated to maintenance of systems. This leaves very little for innovation”.

He does have a warning for the EU, “In general, it is lacking in competitiveness, lagging behind the US and Asia and 2020 is a good agenda” that will address the challenges of demographic change in Europe and promote green jobs.

Asked about how cloud computing might develop, he suggested that education could be one area. Several universities have put course materials online and this could enable people to study at their own pace, and indeed, place. Health is another issue, “imagine if you have a problem with blood pressure, I could get an alert to my device, where it tells me what I should be eating and so on.” He also suggested that medical records could be in the cloud, available to patients, wherever they are.

There are concerns about such sensitive data being stored, who knows where. “Privacy, security and data sovereignty are three issues facing cloud computing. Technology is getting very secure and we will have a generational change as the young share more information. We need to work with legislators to address these questions.”

Looking at business, he makes his case, “Today we have a free movement of people, goods, but not services. These can be done through the cloud, just like e-commerce, which is big in the UK but not elsewhere”.

“Europe should take the lead in cloud computing.” He argues, “today there are a lot of startups in Europe. With cloud computing, you grow with the cloud and don’t need additional investment. We have a proramme for statrtups and we have 9,000 in the programme. 70% are hosting applications in the cloud.”

“European startups, are facing tougher conditions that those iin the US, because venture capital in the US is 11 times larger than in Europe. European startups tend to move out of Europe.

If we build a digital single market, it will add 4% – 8% in GDP. This is huge”. “You can do perfect leapfrogging with cloud technology. Albania is a candidate for the EU, but the country is looking to what Estonia did with ICT and do the same with the cloud.”

Source:http://www.neurope.eu/articles/Microsoft-Head-says-Europe-needs-more-IT-skills-now/103784.php