Europe’s 32 Million Micro-Enterprises Are Getting More Productive: Trends, AI Adoption Gaps, and Growth Barriers

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Bar chart showing SME performance scores by EU member state in 2025. Ireland scores highest and Bulgaria lowest. Yellow Bar chart titled "Figure 38. SME performance inside the Single Market by Member State based on the SME 2025 Scoreboard." Shows 2025 performance scores (scale 0 to 1) for EU Member States and the EU27 average, alongside yellow dash markers indicating 2024 scores. Lithuania leads at 0.71, while Bulgaria ranks lowest at 0.26, with the EU27 average at 0.49.

The European Commission’s report reveals that micro-enterprises, constituting 94.5% of EU SMEs, show remarkable productivity growth, projected at 13.5% by 2026, surpassing larger firms. However, significant barriers such as regulatory burdens restrict their growth potential. Policymakers must enhance AI and digital adoption while reducing compliance costs to support these businesses.

Jeff Dean’s Vision for AI: 5-Year Bets and Scientific Automation

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Computer scientist Jeff Dean sits smiling in an olive green armchair on a dark stage. He is wearing a dark blue collared polo shirt with a small clip-on microphone, grey trousers, and a black wristwatch, with his hands clasped together in his lap.

On his first day after leaving the tech giant, the computing pioneer took the stage at Stanford to share why the future belongs to five-year bets, quick mental math, and automating the scientific method. Twelve hours after concluding a 27-year run shaping modern computing at Google, Jeff Dean walked onto the stage at Stanford University. … Read more

Europe’s Tech Sovereignty Package: the right diagnosis, an honest question about the cure

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Futuristic cityscape with CPU circuit overlay and glowing transportation lines

On 3 June 2026 the European Commission unveiled its Technological Sovereignty Package: Chips Act 2.0, the Cloud and AI Development Act, an Open Source Strategy and an energy roadmap. The diagnosis is finally honest. The harder question is whether €2 billion and a hedged equity mechanism are anywhere near the size of a €264 billion dependency.

AI Ethics and Human Dignity in Magnifica Humanitas

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Futuristic skyscraper with DNA helix spiraling and explosion at top under dark sky

Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, emphasizes the need to “disarm” artificial intelligence to prevent its misuse for domination and exclusion. It advocates for a moral framework governing technology, aligning with European AI policies that prioritize human dignity and inclusivity over mere efficiency. The document encourages collective responsibility in AI development and governance.

Our study looked at teens’ social media behaviour in 43 countries – those from disadvantaged backgrounds face greater harms

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Digital world map with multiple smartphones interconnected by glowing lines indicating global mobile communication networks.

EF Stock/Shutterstock Roger Fernandez-Urbano, Universitat de Barcelona; Maria Rubio-Cabañez, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, and Pablo Gracia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona As social media becomes a central part of young people’s lives, concerns are growing about its impact on their mental health. Yet public debates and measures tend to treat adolescents as one homogeneous group. We … Read more

Two verdicts in two days: How American courts are rewriting the rules for Big Tech and children

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smartphone display with popular app icons

Carolina Rossini, UMass Amherst Within 48 hours, the legal landscape governing social media and children shifted in ways that will take years to fully understand and verify. On March 24, 2026, a Santa Fe jury ordered Meta to pay US$375 million for violating New Mexico’s consumer protection laws. The next day, a Los Angeles jury … Read more

Everyone Used to Wear a Hat — What History Teaches Us About Agentic AI

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A tan fedora with a light band sits on a wooden table, while a group of people in vintage clothing and hats socialize in the softly focused background.

The hat didn’t disappear The hat didn’t vanish because it lost its usefulness. It disappeared because the social context it represented ceased to exist. That story is more revealing than it initially seems — especially if you’re trying to understand what agentic AI is about to do to the modern organisation.because it became useless. It disappeared because
the social world it expressed stopped existing. That story is more instructive
than it first appears — especially if you’re trying to understand what
agentic AI is about to do to the modern organisation.

Workplace Support for Endometriosis: Lessons from Recent Cases

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A woman with dark hair in a bun, wearing a navy blue polka dot shirt, stands indoors looking down with a concerned or worried expression, arms crossed, with a blurred city view outside the window behind her.

Aishwarya Viswamitra, De Montfort University Sanju Pal built a successful career in management consulting, winning major awards and working at a senior level. Then her health changed. After being diagnosed with severe endometriosis and undergoing surgery, she returned to work but struggled with pain and fatigue. Months later, she was dismissed for not meeting performance … Read more

The Fourth Industrial Revolution: Navigating the Hidden Risks of AI, Cybersecurity, and Global Power Shifts

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A futuristic robot with glowing blue and red lights stands in a high-tech office, while people work at desks. The background features a modern cityscape and large digital screens displaying data.

The Cambridge Centre for Risk Studies highlights three major risks of the digital age: AI and automation displacing middle-class jobs, escalating cybersecurity threats from state-sponsored attacks, and geopolitical tensions over semiconductor resources. These forces threaten economies and global stability, emphasizing the importance of proactive decision-making in shaping the future.

AI’s Impact on Digital Accessibility Platforms

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A laptop screen displays a video call with four people, each in their own window. The participants appear to be engaged in conversation, with various backgrounds behind them, including a green wall and some artwork.

In our latest AXSChat, we spoke with Gina Bhawalkar from Forrester about their WAVE report on digital accessibility platforms. The discussion explored how organizations can use these tools to scale accessibility, the growing role of AI, and the importance of keeping human oversight at the center. Discover key insights on trends, challenges, and the future of accessibility in this detailed conversation.