Europe behind on ICT research

Making Europe the world leader in ICT is the goal of the new strategy proposed the European Commission, reports Zea Partners.

Today Europe represents 34% of the global information and communication technologies (ICT) market, and its value is growing by 4% per year.

However, the value added produced by the EU's ICT sector amounts to only 23% of the total, because both Europe's market and research efforts are fragmented.

Australian governments seldom put their purchases where their policies are when it comes to buying from local suppliers, according to BusinessDay Australia.

Many domestic technology providers outsell their fiercest rivals overseas but can't crack the buyers in their own state government.

Di Marco, founder and chairman of one of Australia's biggest software companies, Brisbane-based Technology One, continually loses out to a big foreign rival, despite the plaudits his financial software receives elsewhere.

IT start-ups springing up to support the current utility or cloud computing revolution hope their technologies will enjoy success, despite, if not because of, the global gloom, says Light Reading.

The reason being, during recessions, we are told, innovation is spurred and that some of the best-known IT companies began life during times of economic adversity.

Utility computing - or infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) - allows companies and individuals to rent ICT infrastructure rather than buying it, paying only for the resources they consume.