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.
Humanity
Understanding the social forces behind progress: identity, fairness and what it means to be human.
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.
