Good article about French and Finnish startups in the latest edition of Futures magazine and some of the latest start-ups featured on Startupzone from Europe. The Irish invaded Silicon Valley last week too, as part of our work with Enterprise Ireland - read more here . This week sees the much-anticipated...

Happy Birthday BizSpark - one year old this week. And what a year it's been. We now have over 7,500 start-ups in the program in Europe and I believe well over 25,000 in the program worldwide. Wow. Who'd have thought a year ago that would be the case? I am really chuffed to see Europe as a region...

Not long now until the buzz of Global Entrepreneurship Week becomes a reality - the countdown is on. Thousands of events happening globally. Very exciting. You can vote for the YBI Entrepreneur of the Year too, here . My vote went to the candidate in Saudi Arabia... From Saudi, to Helsinki and the...

I may be the anti-geek but even I am excited to see Win7 RTM made available on MSDN to BizSpark member companies. Check out the latest BizSpark news on Twitter . I finally joined the 21st century and signed up to Twitter myself a few weeks ago. Fascinating. It was down for a few hours today though (hit...

Last week the wonderful Diogo Vasconcelos from Cisco made me aware of the appearance of something we'd discussed while plotting over wine and carpaccio in Brussels some time ago - Fixing the Future is now live and ready to support. Perhaps that can help create some momentum around investing in innovation...

This morning we announced a new IP Ventures spinout company - InishTech - in partnership with Enterprise Ireland. The new company is being led by serial Irish entreprenerus Aidan Gallagher, John O'Sullivan and David Smyth. InishTech is a spin-off of Microsoft's Software Licensing and Protection Services...

Here I am in sunny Frisco and attempting to adapt to PST. My feet barely touched the ground in the UK after my time in Eastern Europe, before I boarded a plane bound for the West Coast. Yet again I am surviving on a few hours sleep and cramming in as much time with friends & colleagues and experiencing...

Sometimes I describe what I do at being at the intersection of technology and politics and education. No better example of two worlds colliding than the use of Twitter during the G20 summit . There must be a real movement afoot as I cannot seem to go anywhere without hearing a reference to Twitter these...

My good friend Mike Sigal from Guidewire Group will host a networking session (he calls it "Cocktails") for investors, entrepreneurs and other worthy people in London 5th Feb together with NESTA and partners. Worth going along if you are in town. Good way to connect to folks back in the Valley: February...

November saw the launch of the eagerly awaited new program for start-ups - BizSpark is now widely available across US and Canada, Western Europe, Central & Eastern Europe, UK, Germany, France; major markets in Asia Pacific from Indonesia and Malaysia to Australia; and Latin America. Leading up...

At Microsoft we are supporting this year's European Venture Contest - with semi finals in Eindhoven, Prague, Copenhagen and Pamplona, along with a summit in Dusseldorf and finals in Barcelona in December. If you are a start-up seeking funding, you should consider applying. For info on events take...

Last week we held our European Investor Summit in Brussels attended by 170+ VC and Angel investors and top tech start-ups from over 20 countries, as well as Microsoft execs. We saw the launch of our IP Ventures company Zignals, and 45+ exhibiting companies connect with potential investors. Feedback from...

It's been a while since I had time to reflect and update my blog. Where did May go? After my US trip in April, things have been a little hectic. I spent the first week of May in SA meeting Partners, Govt officials, seeing our facilities and programs and discussing our plans with the local Microsoft...

          Entrepreneurship is alive and well in Europe. I've spent the last few days in Brussels attending the Benelux Venture Forum . There is certainly no shortage of great technology start-ups and venture capital in the region from what I witnessed. Investors were various...

On 19 February at Stanford Uni, BillG announced a major move by Microsoft to give students around the world free access to a variety of Microsoft developer and design software - helping them turn their ideas into reality. Watch the interview . The program launches to 35 million college students...

Ah........I was wondering why there were so many people with little blue and yellow lapel pins milling around the entrance of the BA lounge at Seattle airport last Friday. Some of them had those earpieces you see in the movies - I'm guessing bodyguards. It transpires that the PM of Finland was in town...

On Tuesday entrepreneurs and policymakers from over 30 countries convened in Portman Square to plan for a worldwide enterprise week this time next year, designed to promote entrepreneurship and enterprise among young people around the globe. It is based on Enterprise Week - taking place this week across...

In case you haven't seen these - the East of England development agency (EEDA) - in conjunction with Library house - are hosting their Destination Growth event tomorrow with some great keynotes. Then Advantage West Midlands are holding their annual ICT conference on 22nd November. You'll find representation...

Worth signing up for the Library House event in London on 20th November. Here's the agenda . Their blog is great too. Lots happening the week before for Enterprise Week . Check out all the events going on here .

Time to move on and take on the world... Here's what I'll be up to in the coming year: As of 1 st December I will be part of Microsoft Corporation’s DPE group (and hence departing Microsoft UK Partner Group) focussing on Emerging Business and building our Local Software Economy initiative. With...

If you want to review the criteria for selection and sign up for this program, check out the updated UK Startupzone site

Getting into London on Monday morning to attend The Online Opportunity event which featured our own Steve Ballmer was challenging: I had a flat tyre on my car, got a late train, and Victoria was closed due to a security alert. And it was raining. But it was worth it when I did get there... Brent Hoberman...

Real Business magazine and Microsoft have teamed up to find "the nation’s most intelligent users of software". These firms are harnessing software to radically improve performance, transforming their sector in the process. The 30 most innovative will be featured in a 13-page report in the November edition...

Alas the summer is over and the opportunities to put the roof down are reducing dramatically. Now it's down to business. Thought it useful to share what the Emerging Partners team is up to in the coming months... We're focused on supporting and 'incubating' the next generation of software companies...

"Someone needs what you know. Someone knows what you need." This is the rather clever motto of Horsesmouth - a recently launched e-mentoring solution where people volunteer their expertise and experience to someone else's benefit. The reception at 10 Downing Street on 24th July was part of the Prime...