Brussels, 20/03/2014 (Agence Europe) - Is Europe ready for the “Big Data” revolution and can it become a leader in this area? These are the questions that participants at the European Data Forum considered in Athens on 18-20 March. Commissioner for the Digital Strategy Neelie Kroes believes that there is no doubt that the Data Economy will be the basis of the economy at large. If it is to develop, however, the digital economy must have an appropriate environment and Commissioner Kroes said: “I want to respond to this economic imperative” by tackling “the obstacles, from standards and certification, trust and security, to ownership and copyright. With the right skills, so our workforce can seize this opportunity. With new partnerships, getting all the right players together”. The European Commission has put a number of initiatives on the table to use digital data effectively, such as the ISP directive for re-using public sector information and “open data portals”, single access points to an increasing range of data produced by the European Union institutions and bodies. The commissioner stated that we should “turn this asset into gold (…) working together for a European future that thrives on data”. (IL)