The Azure cloud computing incentives are pouring down. 

State and local government partners can rake in up to $10,000 by building a State/Local Azure Application.  Details are here.

The deadline for submissions is February 5, 2010, and winners will be announced at the CIO Summit on February 25, 2010.

Reminder: on Thursday/Friday of this week, we’ll be awarding $5,000 to the best Azure solution/company at Microsoft BizSpark Camp New York. 

This is only available to startups in the Microsoft BizSpark program.

P.S. I met with the local chapter of the International Association of Microsoft Certified Partners (IAMCP) last week.  This seems like a valuable way to tap into the Microsoft partner community.  Their focus is on building local business networks (connecting services partners and product partners).

Pinpoint is another good resource, for locating complementary partners and I always find the structured networking at the annual Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference (1/12/10 in Washington DC this year) to be incredibly valuable (and efficient!) at making partner connections.