I did not grow up thinking I would dedicate myself to the field of artificial intelligence (AI). I am from a middle-sized Mediterranean town in Spain and come from a humanities family: my father is a philosopher and a Latin-to-Spanish translator, and my mother is a teacher in humanities-related topics. In my last year of high school, a friend of my brother who was studying tele-communication engineering in Madrid came to Alicante for Spring break and spoke to me about the great potential technology holds to improve society. That conversation inspired me to study computer science; that moment marked the start of my career in technology. Since then, I have built smart rooms, clothes, cars, and phones.

Welcome to the second Communications Regional Special Section spotlighting European countries and Israel. On a relatively small portion of the Earth, this region includes almost 50 countries with enormous cultural and socioeconomic diversity that is also reflected in the richness of its business structures and computer science research. The first Hot Topic article in this section illustrates the high overall share of European public research on a global scale, and further highlights significant differences within the region. We are happy to report the authors in this special section represent 15 countries throughout Europe plus Israel. An important goal emphasized by the European Union (E.U.) and many individual countries is to attain digital sovereignty of the private and public sectors, while further developing areas of traditional industrial and design strengths into the future.