Brussels, 03/03/2011 (Agence Europe) - European Commission Vice-President for the Digital Agenda Neelie Kroes has been voted “IT Personality of the Year” by the German Chip magazine. She was granted this award whilst visiting the CeBIT2011 information technology (IT) 26th exhibition in Hannover, Germany, on 1st March. According to the Commissioner, 10% of the objectives set out by the Digital Agenda have so far been reached. 90% of these objectives still remain, 80% of them are on track and 10% are subject to delays. During her opening speech, the commissioner said that they would not allow the situation to deteriorate. Priorities for the next few months would be increasing investment in broadband and lowering roaming costs. She also said that broadband is “digital oxygen”, essential for our prosperity and well-being. She also said that it was the most solid structure for connecting everybody and that 1 million jobs depended on appropriate broadband functioning. Kroes examined the advantages of cloud computing, which enables users such as companies and public administrations to use networks like the internet, access data and software stored on a service provider's computers in another location. It is one of the keys enabling information technologies that can help European businesses - especially SMEs - to drastically reduce IT costs. The promotion of cloud computing in Europe is therefore an important objective of the Digital Agenda for Europe, explained the commissioner. Kroes promised to provide further details on progress in the Digital Agenda in May, when the European Commission publishes its first scoreboard on the subject. (I.L./transl.fl).