Cloud – capturing the silver lining for Europe

This report explains why cloud is important, how the market for cloud is growing and changing and how to ensure policy promoters rather than hinders the opportunity for Europe to capture the silver lining from cloud.

Cloud computing is a key building block for digitalisation providing storage, compute, software applications and AI training and inference on demand. Cloud underpins tech and provides a valued input for European startups and scaleups who benefit from the flexibility, range of applications and pay as you go nature of cloud.

The key to success is allowing cloud providers to get on with the job whilst focusing on removing input bottlenecks – in particular permitting, grid and energy. Applying a fee to data flows, regulating cloud like telecoms, or taking an a priori view of where compute should be located or who should provide it, as has been variously suggested, would in contrast prove counterproductive and widen rather than narrow the productivity gap.