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Europe’s old pilgrimage routes preserve more than religious heritage. They offer another relationship with time. Through walking, hospitality and unexpected encounters, they reveal what modern societies risk losing when every journey — and even rest — must deliver measurable results.
Years after leaving telecom journalism, Siu Lie Tan reappears in Tuscany—working across circular innovation, European regulation and natural cosmetics. In this Coffee Talk, she reflects on curiosity, changing direction and learning that not everything needs to follow the plan.
Europe’s agricultural landscape still shapes the continent far more than many people realise. This opening Perspective explores how land, technology, science and demographic change are transforming one of Europe’s largest and most essential systems: its food landscape.
Most people think of loneliness as a personal problem. Yet organisations such as Mental Health Europe and the European Public Health Alliance increasingly see it as a broader societal challenge. As Europe becomes more digital and interconnected, questions about social connection, wellbeing and community are moving higher on the policy agenda.
At MWC 2026, the promise of frictionless technology masks a deeper failure: systems designed for speed, not usability. Inclusive design reveals a critical truth—innovation succeeds not when it impresses, but when it enables real human autonomy.
Inclusive design is often reduced to accessibility and compliance. Yet in an age of AI-mediated systems, design determines whether citizens retain agency or are silently processed. Inclusion is no longer ethical decoration — it is Europe’s social infrastructure.
The MedTech landscape in 2026 is defined not just by innovation, but by how technology earns trust. As AI, robotics and data-driven care accelerate, the real differentiator is no longer what technology can do — but how human it feels. The Big Five—Philips, GE HealthCare, Medtronic, J&J MedTech and Siemens Healthineers—each navigate this tension differently.
Healthcare is becoming increasingly electronic. From wearable sensors and smart patches to remote diagnostics and continuous monitoring, digital technologies now sit directly on the human body — sometimes even inside it. These innovations promise earlier detection, better outcomes and more personalised care. Yet beneath this progress lies a growing contradiction.
In the world of medical technology, five giants dominate the landscape: Philips, Siemens Healthineers, GE HealthCare, Medtronic and Johnson & Johnson MedTech. They shape hospitals, diagnostic labs and operating rooms worldwide. But their influence goes far beyond machines and software: their story is one of technological innovation intertwined with human care, navigating governance challenges, mergers and ethically complex healthcare decisions.
In a global technology landscape dominated by speed, scale and spectacle, Philips is pursuing a different ambition. Not to reclaim market leadership in the traditional sense, but to redefine what leadership in medical technology means in the first place.
