The role of European structural and investment funds in financing cloud computing projects : executive summary

This study on "The role of European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) in financing cloud computing projects" (SMART 2015/0014) was promoted by the Directorate General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG CNECT) of the European Commission. The main objective of the study is to assess the role of European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) for supporting cloud computing and to provide guidance on how to accelerate the development of cloud computing infrastructures and services in Europe through the ESIF. This study analyses both the 2014-2020 ESIF Partnership Agreements and Operational Programmes and the cloud-related projects supported by the ESIF during the programming period 2007-2013 in nine EU Member States (Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia). The study is accompanied by Guidelines (a collection of good practices and lessons learnt) to Managing Authorities and stakeholders, in particular SMEs on the promotion of cloud computing through the ESIF (the Data Collection phase for this Study was closed as at 30/04/2017). The study also includes a set of recommendations to the European Commission on possible future measures that would streamline the use of ESIF in the current programming period as well as beyond 2020 for the development of cloud computing in the European Union.