€2 BILLION: Steelie Neelie wants US to pay for her Big Data splurge

Not the best of analogies

"...big data without a digital single market was like a “human body without arms or legs”"

Intended to convey how pointless collection of big data would be without a digital single market, but I bet there are plenty of humans who would take issue with the implication that not having arms and legs makes them pointless.

Huh?

If the corporations see 5+% improved productivity then the id10ts that supposedly run them will invest accordingly without a financial incentive. Or rather shortly some other tool will be put in charge. If they were really concerned, the best avenue is to invest in scholarships targeting the subject matter. I was doing big data when it involved a forklift load of punchcards, I kid you not, and to be an actual practitioner requires raiding all the other departments to get the when, where, how, and why which mathematical/statistical and especially experimental design go in. (It's even more fun to program them to create all of this.)

I've yet to see all the coursework packaged up but without candidates, throwing millions at industry isn't going to achieve much.

Just for big guys?

I have little hope that small players/startups could have access to that nice millions...but Europe can have good alternatives to the american offers. And with lower operation costs, like installing the datacenters in Scandinavia or in the Baltic. The Baltic countries are a good place since they can buy cheap electricity from Ukraine and help the later strengh their economy.