SmallBusinessNewz

Google held in event in Brussels this week, along with small businesses, European Commission officials, European parliamentarians, business associations and others.

The event was held to discuss how the Internet can drive growth and jobs. 

The event was held at at time while the Commission is looking at Google's competitive practices. In fact, this week, Consumer Watchdog (based here in the US) wrote a letter to Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia, saying, “The Commission’s role in keeping Google’s abuses in check is essential. Its executives have close relationships with many U.S. officials and the company just spent a record $9.7 million in 2011 lobbying policymakers in Washington. We have faith the Commission will not succumb to such influence. The Internet is too important to allow an unregulated monopolist to dominate it. We call on you to take the steps necessary to prevent it: block the Motorola merger and file a formal antitrust complaint against Google.”

The group's privacy project director John Simpson went to Brussels to discuss standards for a Do Not Track mechanism at a meeting of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Tracking Protection Working Group.

The group expects the Commission to decide its position on the Motorola deal by mid-February, and a decision on whether to file a formal antitrust complaint by the end of March.

But about Google's event... 

Google Comunications Manager Al Verney offered some recap on Google's Euopean Public Policy blog: 

The Commissioner said Europe must put the Internet at the heart of its economic strategy. “I think of the third industrial revolution – information technologies are at its heart,” he said. Instead of “destroying” jobs, he insisted that it powers employment, saying that for each position displaced, the Internet creates another 2.6 new positions. Companies with websites grow twice as fast as companies that stay offline, he added. “Our goal is to double the amount of commerce online by 2015,” Tajani said. “We need exponential growth” to get Europe out of its present economic crisis.

Our own European Vice President Matt Brittin announced a new collaboration between the Lisbon Council and Google. In some countries, Matt noted, the Internet already generates more than 7% of GDP - a figure that is set to grow rapidly - with much of the growth coming from small companies. “SMEs are the unsung heroes of the economy,” he said. “But the internet can give them a voice.” In order to prove the point, we assembled small business owners from 15 countries, including a Polish butcher, a Swedish sweet shop, a Dutch clog seller, a Spanish baby clothes retailer, and a Greek travel agent. All power their businesses by leveraging the Internet. 

The focus of the event then turned to the platforms (generally large companies) that support online commerce. Martin Tidell, Telenor’s Head of Business Management for SMEs, joined by Google+ hangout from Stockholm and said that the Internet is not just for high tech businesses. “I cannot think of one business that wouldn’t benefit by going online,” he said. 

Also at the event, several small businesses spent some panel time talking about their growth from being online, and referenced the Getting Businesses Online initiative. Here's the explanation for that: 

Google, along with partners all across Europe, has helped over 250,000 businesses to get online and grow their businesses online with the Getting Business Online initiative. This program is now live in 10 EU countries, with more to come during 2012.

The blog also featrues a video from Google's event.