BIG DATA : BOOST TO COME IN 2014.

Over the last few months, Neelie Kroes, the European Commission vice-president in charge of the Digital Agenda, has been tirelessly driving home the message that big data carries enormous potential for Europe's economy and competitiveness. A closer look, however, reveals very few concrete proposals to boost this industry.

More tangible steps are expected in early 2014, when the Commission is preparing to announce a public-private partnership on big data to unite all relevant players in the field - a move which industry officials applaud.

Kroes hinted at a European public-private partnership during her speech in front of hundreds of ICT professionals in Vilnius, Lithuania, on 7 November. The partnership would bring together researchers, software makers and venture capitalists, who could support research and innovation, and stimulate demand for new products and services. "Then big data can be more than a fashionable slogan. It can become a recipe for a competitive Europe," Kroes said. This move would be the first joined-up effort to explore the opportunities big data can offer, Commission officials confirm. However, since the plan is still under construction, they shy away from detail.

Despite the vagueness, tech companies are cheering the move. "This is exactly what we need," says Liam Benham, IBM's vice-president of government programmes for Europe. "The Commission has got the right idea."

Others, however, are a bit more sceptical, emphasising that the Commission changeover next year may throw those plans out the window - or at least slow them down.

While Benham recognises the goal of the partnership is "to create capacity in your own...