Brits largely endured frigid temperatures in September – but globally, the story was quite different. Last month was the second-hottest September on record, the EU's climate change programme has revealed. The global average air temperature for September 2024 was 61.1 F (16.17 C), which is 1.31 F (0.73 C) above the September average. What's more, it's just shy of the record set by September 2023 – 61.4 F (16.38 C). Worryingly, experts point to human-cased greenhouse gas emissions as the cause for this latest temperature'anomaly'.

Central and Eastern Europe is well positioned to take a leading role in the development of AI in healthcare, but the creation of a marketplace for data is crucial. Just how important a role will artificial intelligence (AI) have in medicine over the coming years? That it will revolutionise healthcare is now beyond doubt, particularly in early diagnosis. Even so, its importance – and the need to speed up its implementation – cannot be overstated. Ligia Kornowska, the managing director of the Polish Hospital Federation, and a leader of the AI Coalition in Healthcare, is clear: "not to make use of AI," she says, "will soon be viewed as medical malpractice."

Some people think that "sustainable eating" means shopping exclusively at over-priced chains like Whole Foods but we're here to shut that myth down with two words – Almazan Kitchen. Who knew that a couple of Serbian guys cooking organic food in a forest with their pet owl could generate nearly 20 million views for a single video? Serbia is just one of many countries found in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), a region that consists of relatively small countries that gained independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union around 1989. As these countries transformed into democratic states with capitalistic economies only 30 years ago, they had to overcome unique handicaps compared to more developed nations in Western Europe – like no organic grocery stores. Still, most of the region has registered rapid GDP growth over time that was only slowed by the global financial crisis of 2008.

Worldwide spending on digital transformation (DX) technologies (hardware, software, and services) is expected to be nearly $1.3 trillion in 2018, an increase of 16.8% over the $1.1 trillion spent in 2017. A new update to the Worldwide Semiannual Digital Transformation Spending Guide from International Data Corporation (IDC) forecasts DX spending to maintain a strong pace of growth over the 2016-2021 forecast period with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17.9%. In 2021, DX spending will nearly double to more than $2.1 trillion. The majority of spending on digital transformation in 2018 ($662 billion) will go toward technologies that support new or expanded operating models as organizations seek to make their operations more effective and responsive by leveraging digitally-connected products/services, assets, people, and trading partners. The second largest DX investment area in 2018 ($326 billion) will be technologies supporting omni-experience innovations that transform how customers, partners, employees, and things communicate with each other and the products and services created to meet unique and individualized demand.