In the European Digital Single
Market Strategy, the European cloud computing initiative and the initiative to
build a European data-driven economy define the key role of cloud computing.
The latter has led to the adoption of a free flow of non-personal data, which
introduces self-regulating codes of conduct to facilitate data portability and
the change of cloud service providers. The European cloud initiative focuses
on: European Open Science Cloud: a trusted, open environment for storing,
sharing and reusing scientific data and results, and European Data
Infrastructure: a world-class digital infrastructure for secure access, transfer,
sharing and processing of data in Europe. The initiative is based on the
results achieved under the European Cloud Strategy of 2012. It is complemented
by other Digital Single Market (DSM) initiatives to promote the development and
implementation of cloud services, focusing on certification, switching cloud
service providers and security . These activities include the contribution of
the European Cloud Partnership (ECP) and Cloud Select Industry Group (C-SIG).
Other initiatives to strengthen the digital economy include:
Communication on building a European data-driven economy that supports the free flow of data and data services in the EU by analyzing the possibilities to remove legal and technical barriers - including the cloud. In the first months of 2017, the European Commission consulted groups interested in the free flow of data. Based on the evidence collected, the Commission proposed in September 2017 a Regulation on the free flow of non-personal data, which has been in force since May 28, 2019; The industry digitization initiative includes cloud-related activities, in particular for SMEs. The European Commission has defined cloud computing standards as one of five priority areas in its communication on standards; The Internet connectivity package as part of activities related to the Digital Single Market aims to provide secure, ubiquitous high-quality connectivity (Gigabit) that will increase the use of cloud services and applications.
The public consultation on the
regulatory environment for platforms, internet brokers, data and cloud
computing, and the sharing economy ended on January 6, 2016.
A summary of input data is available. The evolution
of cloud computing Cloud computing is growing rapidly. Estimates indicate that
these changes may lead to an increase in the European cloud computing market
from EUR 9.5 billion in 2013 to EUR 44.8 billion by 2020, i.e. almost five
times compared to the size of the market in 2013. The latest available Eurostat
data (end of 2014) show the current situation in the European Union regarding
the use of cloud computing by enterprises. The main findings are summarized
below: 19% of enterprises in the EU used cloud computing in 2014, mainly to
host their email systems and store files in electronic form.
