For Paul, a finance administrator, things came to a head when his report mistakenly included 7,000,000 of costs rather than 700,000. Fearing accusations of fraud, Paul disclosed his recent dementia diagnosis to his boss.
Six weeks of sick leave became six months, and then a stepping stone to early retirement. Several years later, Paul regrets his unwanted unemployment, but at the time there didnt seem to be an alternative.
Paul was participating in an unrelated study about public transport when he told us about his unemployment. As researchers, we had heard many similar accounts so we decided to dig down into the research on work and dementia. We were curious about how typical Pauls experience was of the trajectories of people diagnosed while working.
The ageing of populations around the world is influencing our lives in many ways. More people are extending their working lives beyond traditional retirement ages, and many more are being diagnosed with dementia. Around 9% of the worlds 55 million people with dementia are under 65, with around 370,000 new cases of young-onset dementia annually.
It is striking then, that despite government and business commitments to support longer working lives and inclusive employment practices, workers with dementia are largely ignored. What little evidence we have paints a picture of widespread and unwanted unemployment.
For some, this takes the form of redundancy or retirement. For others like Paul a period of temporary leave gradually evolves into a permanent exit.
Alongside workforce ageing, digital transformation is perhaps the single most important development in modern industry. Almost all our working lives are now shaped by digital technologies in some form.
Older people are often stereotyped as technologically incompetent. This can be even worse for people with dementia. When exciting digital innovations are discussed in relation to them, the focus is almost always on providing care. But someone diagnosed with dementia in their 60s today might have been blogging in their 30s, scrolling social media on a phone in their 40s and using a smart home assistant in their 50s.
The tech is here already
The reality is that many people with dementia use digital tools every day. This ranges from familiar products like Google Maps to more cutting-edge technologies. A person with dementia recently introduced us to their voice-activated AI companion, with which they watch and discuss films. These companions can provide vital social interaction for people fearing judgement or isolation because of their cognitive decline.
Far from being a barrier, digital technologies could offer ways to help people with dementia to enjoy positive working lives, just as they help workers who dont have dementia. The trick is to use them to tailor work and workplaces to the individual.
For example, if a worker is struggling to remember appointments, automated and shared calendar scheduling can take care of that. If a worker has impaired wayfinding, mapping apps can be tailored to working environments and live location data can be used to guide staff around complicated sites. This is hardly futuristic tech. Many of us would struggle without our online calendars and maps.
Research shows that touchscreens can be particularly challenging for older people with dementia. To make interfaces more suitable, developers could encourage the integration of voice-operated smart assistants into employee workstations (think of Amazons Alexa or Apples Siri).
While discussions of dementia often focus on memory loss, the various types of dementia are associated with a wide range of symptoms. One very common symptom is the struggle to find the right words. But recent developments in generative AI (like OpenAIs ChatGPT) are proficient at predicting and expressing the next word in a sequence.
These tools are also excellent at transforming text into different formats. Guidance on dementia-friendly information recommends features such as large fonts, single-clause sentences and single-syllable words.
A generative AI tool could quickly transform documents into dementia-friendly formats. The integration of these tools into emailing and writing applications could make a lot of work far more accessible to people with dementia.
These days, it makes little sense for workers to be manually entering costings into a spreadsheet. Dementia or no dementia, these practices are ripe for human error. By outsourcing them to digital technologies, we can free up our ageing workforces to use their unmatched skills, such as networking and experience.
In practice, employers will likely be responsible for supporting positive working lives with dementia in the future. The best way to do this will be to develop strategies, in consultation with people with dementia, that identify interventions suitable for the workplace. Then, when an employee is diagnosed, they can pick and mix a personalised collection of tools to address their needs.
Right now, we are not aware of any workplace that has such a strategy. But many organisations already have robust policies for other conditions. Our own employer, the University of Bath, has a repository of reasonable adjustments that can be tailored to support staff and students experiencing mental illness. Dementia could be approached in much the same way.
The UK government is currently attempting to increase the number of people with disabilities participating in the labour market. It is simultaneously driving an agenda to increase the use of AI throughout the country.
The potential of a digital working life for people with dementia highlights both promise and peril. Simply forcing every person into work is a surefire way of turnin challenging situations into real problems. But providing tailored support for those who want to work can enrich organisations and workers alike.
James Fletcher is a lecturer (assistant professor) of management information, decisions & operations at the Institute for Digital Security and Behaviour at the University of Bath.
Olivia Brown is an associate professor in digital futures at the University of Bath.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
It would seem unlikely for clothing designers to get their wheels turning by thinking about what happens to garments when people are through with them, but thats exactly the sort of backward thinking that led to Under Armours new regenerative sportswear collection, created in collaboration with Portland, Oregon-based Unless Collective.
The collection, which is making its debut in Italy this week during Milan Design Week, comprises footwear and clothing made entirely from plants and plant-based materials. That means theyre biodegradable and compostable.
All of our products make good dirt, says Eric Liedtke, Unless cofounder and Under Armour EVP of brand strategy, who spoke with Fast Company from Milan.
Unless was acquired by Baltimore-based Under Armour last summer, and Liedtke says that its allowed Unless to tap into Under Armours large base of resources and partnerships to expand its offerings and development operationsthe new regenerative collection is the result. Were here to introduce the idea of regenerative fashion,” he says. “What we mean is that things come from plants and minerals, natural materials, and then go back to being natural materials. . . . When youre regenerative, you add value back to the ecosystem, rather than being destructive.
Liedtke says that 70% of clothing is created from petroleum-based feedstock, mostly various types of plastics, which never completely vanish or go awaythey break down into microplastics and end up in the food and water supply. But his new clothing line does break down and go away; once youre through with one of Unlesss garments, for instance, you can bury it in your backyard garden, and itll compost away. In an industrial composter, an Unless tee shirt will decompose within weeks.
[Photos: Under Armour]
The new collection features shoes, jackets, vests, shirts, and more that are made from a variety of plant materials. For instance, shoe liners and soles are made from coconut husks and natural rubber latex, buttons are made from corozo nuts, Kapok cotton is used for insulation in vests and jackets, while cotton remains a staple for shirts and other garments.
Liedtke says that the garments are built to last, too, and could be compared to products from companies like Russell, Champion, Carhartt, or Dickies. And for those worried about their clothes decomposing while they sit in a dresser, he says not to worry: It takes very specific conditions to initiate the composting processconditions hopefully not present in the typical closet or bedroom.
The collection is meant to be provocative, in some ways, and bring attention to the pollution that modern fashion and clothing manufacturing produces. In that way, its not too different from how companies like Beyond Meat and Impossible Meat disrupted the meat industry, or how EVs have shaken up the auto market in recent years.
Liedtke hopes that at least some clothing manufacturers will follow suit and start using more natural materials, rather than plastics, to cut down on waste and pollution. The future is regenerative, he says. The question now is scaling it, and telling people about it.
What does the future of computing look like? Is it voice chat? Floating holographic displays? A generative AI fever dream with no escape?
At Salone de Mobilethe annual design fair in MilanGoogle is suggesting something less literal: Its light thats as pliable as fabric.
[Photo: courtesy Google]
Since first attending in 2018, Google has become a staple of Milans annual design festival, where the installations draw long lines and buzz. The company has measured how different rooms make you feel, demonstrated that water informs their design, and explored the ties of color and emotion through immersive spectacles.
This year, Googles project is called Making the Invisible Visible, on display at Garage 21 in Milan from April 7 to 13. Its a series of what I might only describe as a series of light showers that stand six feet in diameter. Laser light rains down from a halo above, and by running your hands through the beams, they react in a dynamic animation that falls somewhere between a draping textile and the strings of a harp.
The architectural approach was inspired by conversations Ivy Ross, chief design officer of consumer devices at Google, and artist Lachlan Turczan had around the role of technology in our lives. Turczan explores the intersection of light and the environment, with surreal works placed in nature that blend the wild and the technological. Squint and you can almost see a vision of ambient computing.
[Photo: Lachlan Turczan/courtesy Google]
Over several conversations, Ross and Turczan spoke about how Humanity shapes technology, and technology shapes humanity back. Turczan has been developing these sculptures, dubbed Lucida, out of those conversations.
At this moment in time, we’re questioning what role does technology have? What does it mean to be human? says Ross. We have to come to that place where we’re not competing [with technology], but we are interacting together, moving modern life forward.
The light showers in Making the Invisible Visible are meant to explore that theme, not necessarily literally, but as a more generalized ethos.
[Photo: courtesy Google]
Then through the rest of the installation, Google goes on to articulate how its made the invisible visible within their own products. That includes the Pixel Buds which required laser scans from 3,200 ears to get its one-size-fits-all geometries, along with the new Nest thermostat, which sits quietly until it senses your approach, and displays its user interface. Then in the final room, Google designers share some of the actual objects that have inspired their approach to productslike river rocks for an earbud case, and a macron for a speaker. (The design team is given a budget to acquire bits of inspiration in their travels around the world, which they deposit inside their design studios private library.)
[Photo: courtesy Google]
While the installation is built for the public, Ross sees the benefits this annual practice brings to her own team. Its giving them an opportunity to work at a different scale with a different set of challenges, which I think is really good to feed their creative muscle, says Ross. And [the other benefit] is the joy they get from manning these exhibits. Because we dont usually get to interact with the public about what we do.
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From AI resources to upskilling growth programs, LinkedIns annual Top Companies list reveals top employers are investing in making the workplace a place to grow and succeed.
“These are companies that make a commitment to their employees and their employees know that they’re not alone in their career,” said Andrew Seaman, editor at large for Jobs & Career Development at LinkedIn News. “I think you can use the methodology in your own job search too.”
Published on Tuesday, the list uses LinkedIn data on upskilling, attrition and retention, gender diversity, ability to advance, and more to rank the top 50 U.S. companies for career growth. The list not only honors the companies, but serves as a tool for members looking for jobs. Each honoree will receive a badge on its company page. And according to LinkedIn, all of those top companies are hiring right now, with more than 129,000 job openings across the companies.
Landing at the top of the list, Googles parent company Alphabet takes the number one spot, followed by Amazon and Wells Fargo, which ranked last year as well.
AI companies also took the spotlight, with NVIDIA and ServiceNow landing on the list for the first time.
Among the 50 honorees, which span across various industries, employers are using AI-powered resources for employees, like Bank of America’s (no. 11) AI virtual assistant Erica; Moderna’s (no. 43) AI academy which customizes learning for employees’ needs; and AT&T’s (no. 7) conversational productivity assistant “Ask AT&T.” AI upskilling initiatives further advances this year’s top skill on the rise, equipping employees with AI literacy.
Beyond AI, many top companies shared growth programs for employees like cross-practice rotations. Some of the companies include Walmart (no. 10), which invested $1 billion in week-long training and certificate degrees, creating a pathway for in-demand jobs; and Kearny (no. 46), which offers rotational programs and six-month individualized coaching programs.
LinkedIn’s methodology is based on eight pillars: ability to advance, skills growth, company stability, external opportunity, company affinity, gender diversity, educational background, and employee presence in the country.
It can feel really lonely navigating your career, and it’s nice to see companies that invest in their employees and have a vested interest in seeing them succeed, Seaman said.
Here are the top ten companies for 2025 in order:
Alphabet
Amazon
Wells Fargo
Northrop Grumman
PwC
Capital One
AT&T
JPMorgan Chase
EY
Walmart
Giving money away has never been so easythanks to AI.
Daffy, a platform that facilitates charitable giving, is rolling out a suite of new AI-powered tools thats making it easier than ever to donate to charity. So easy, in fact, that a Daffy user can feel like a billionaire making a quick donation to their chosen charity without having to fill out forms, mail checks, or any of the other tedium that can slow the giving process downsimply hit a button, or make a verbal command, and make a donation.
Specifically, Daffys new tools include a Quick Donate feature, which converts free text or voice commands into an immediate donation. Daffy will need some direction (users choose a charity, donation amount, etc.), but from there, you can simply say to the application make a donation to the ACLU, or something similar, to facilitate the donation.
The idea was to leverage AI to improve the giving experience, says Daffy CEO Adam Nash. We looked at the real world to see what benefits the wealthy getthey get concierge service. They dont need to fill out a bunch of forms or track down an EIN from a database. They tell an assistant they want to make a donation, and it gets done, he says. The goal, then, was to get as close to that experience as possible while leveraging AI to make it happen.
Over time, too, the feature will learn the specifics of a users desired causes or charities, so a user could tell it to make a donation to their childs school, for example, and Daffy can handle the rest.
And by allowing Daffy to handle the rest, Nash believes that people will give more. Because friction is the enemy of generosity, he says. In other words, the easier it is to make a donation, the more donations people will make. If the process is tedious and time-consuming, fewer people are going to do it. We feel like weve proven the hypothesis that technology can help people be more generous, Nash says. And we think AI has a role to play.
Users can also use the AI features to set up recurring donationslike a donation to a local food bank every year on Thanksgiving, for example. In all, Nash thinks that the AI features could open the floodgates to potentially millions of dollars more in donations every year.
A lot of people are using AI right now and are just playing with it, Nash says. Were trying to use it for something important.
If youve been online the past day, you may have seen that Lowes stores closing has been trending on various platforms. But fans of the home improvement chain, which has over 1,700 stores in America, shouldnt fret.
Lowes is not falling victim to store closures like many other chains have recently. Instead, the company will be closing all of its stores for just one day. Heres what you need to know.
Are Lowe’s stores really closing?
Yes and no. Lowe’s home improvement stores will all be closingbut only for one day. Thats according to a statement the companys CEO Marvin Ellison released, reports Washington D.C. news affiliate FOX 5.
Ellison confirmed that all 1,700+ Lowe’s stores in America will be closed for one daySunday, April 20, 2025. That day is Easter Sunday.
Lowe’s confirmed Easter Sunday’s closures of its stores to Fast Company.
As most Lowe’s stores have opening hours from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. local time each day, that means that when Lowe’s stores close at 10 p.m. on Saturday, April 19, they will not reopen again until 6 a.m. on Monday, April 21.
Why are Lowe’s stores closing on April 20, 2025?
Lowes is closing its stores on April 20 because that is the date of Easter Sunday in 2025. However, Easter Sunday is not a federal holiday, nor is it a day that most retailers are closed. The day is an important day for members of Christian religions, as it is the day Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
“I’m extremely proud of the commitment of our 300,000 associates who support our communities while providing excellent customer service not only in spring but all year-round,” he said. “In recognition of our teams’ continued hard work, we are pleased to provide a well-deserved day off so they can spend Easter with their loved ones.
It should be noted that this is the same statement Ellison and Lowes have used in past years when announcing their stores would be closed on Easter Sunday.
Can I still shop at Lowes.com on Easter Sunday?
Yes. Lowes physical retail stores will be closed on Easter Sunday, but their online store will be operating as normal.
Store closures in 2025 could top 15,000
Its no wonder customers grew concerned when they saw Lowes stores closing trending. 2024 and 2025 have been rough years for retail store chains.
A January 2025 report from Coresight Research estimated that retail store closures could reach 15,000 this year aloneand that report was made before Trump unleashed his tariffs on the world, which has since thrown the stock market into economic turmoil.
By January, the chains with the highest number of store closures announced for 2025 included Party City (738 closures), Big Lots (601 closures), Walgreens Boots Alliance (333 closures), 7-Eleven (148 closures), and Macys (51 closures). That was on top of all the chains that closed stores in 2024.
However, Lowe’s customers can rest assured that its closures are not a permanent part of any store closures list. The company will be closing all its stores for one day only, in recognition of Easter Sunday 2025.
Its only 9 a.m. and Michelle, a middle manager in a government organization, just received her eighth panicked email from a team member asking about the impending layoffs that were announced yesterday afternoon. People are clearly worried, and Michelle is beginning to feel overwhelmed.
Shes in an unfortunate, yet common, position. She wants to keep people calm and focused, but information comes in drips from leaders above her. The culture she worked so hard to build is becoming flooded with uncertainty. People are scared. What can Michelle do to minimize feelings of threat and help the team keep running smoothly?
Layoffs arent the only context in which uncertainty reigns. It shows up wherever theres rapid change, which research suggests has become the norm within organizations. One study shows that organizational change accelerated by 183% between 2020 and 2024, and by 33% in 2024 alone. In other words, change isnt just increasingit’s increasing faster every year.
All this flux makes working life feel much riskier and less stable, as people fear for their livelihoods amid ever-evolving governmental reductions and corporate restructurings. With so much uncertainty in the air, is it any wonder employee engagement hit an 11-year low in 2024? People cant predict whats coming next, so theyre checking out entirely.
To help team members perform their essential tasks, leaders must learn to reduce uncertainty, minimize threat, and, ideally, create productive feelings of comfort and safety in an increasingly volatile world.
Provide clarity if you cant provide certainty
A feeling of certainty isnt just a nice-to-have. In life and in work, humans crave a sense of predictability about their environmentand we can think of this craving as a genuine psychological need. Thousands of years ago, a need for certainty kept us physically safe, whether from predators or suspicious-looking berries. Our sense of certainty was rewarded with survival.
Today, a need for certainty shows up less in matters of survival and more in being able to predict whats coming next in our professional, social, and personal lives. Thats why C stands for certainty in the NeuroLeadership Institutes SCARF Model of social threat and reward: When we can predict certain outcomes in our environment, we feel a sense of reward, which motivates us to take action. When we feel uncertain, however, we tend to feel threatened, which makes us freeze or retreat from the situation. At work, uncertainty leads to impaired judgment and reduced productivity.
If a team faces a large amount of uncertainty, the task for leaders is to manage peoples sense of threat. There are several ways to go about this. In the best-case scenario, a leader in Michelles position could immediately send certainty rewards by sharing whos safe from layoffs and whos not. This would address the uncertainty head-on, and it would have the side benefit of minimizing the spread of office rumors, which only amplifies the uncertainty.
Even delivering bad news to the people who are getting laid off will send a small reward signal, as research shows uncertainty tends to feel worse than the bad news itself. One study, for example, showed people experienced more dread about the possibility of a small electric shock than people who knew for certain a shock was coming. Uncertainty is that uncomfortable.
And yet, providing certainty isnt always feasible. A leader wont necessarily have all the answers right when employees need them most. Sometimes, a leader can only share some of what they know, or they might not know anything at all. Here, neuroscience suggests the best practice is to share what you do know and what you dont, both in terms of information as well as the ongoing process.
Michelle, for example, might be able to share that while other departments have received the news of whos being laid off, shes still waiting on her supervisor to tell her. She might also share that the list of names is supposed to be shared with her in the next couple weeks, giving team members a window into the process.
While not as rewarding as certainty, this sense of clarity sets peoples expectations, which creates a calming sense of predictability in the brain. Clarity is best offered in a three-pronged approach: making timelines explicit, taking unlikely outcomes off the table, and reminding employees about the organizations key values, as a way to recommit to a higher purpose and shared vision.
In practice, clarity acts as a helpful substitute for certainty. For instance, even if people dont know if theyll have a job next month, having the clarity theyll find out in two weeks is easier to deal with than waking up each day wondering if todays the day. Thats the wisdom of offering clarity when certainty is in short supply: When people know what to expect, they feel more oriented and secure in the situation, putting their minds at ease.
Offset the threat by reassuring in other areas
Providing clarity about information and processes isnt the only tool available to leaders dealing with uncertainty. They can also work to boost peoples sense of reward in the other four SCARF domains: status, a feeling of prestige within the group; autonomy, a sense of control over our environment; relatedness, a feeling of belonging and connection to the group; and fairness, a sense of just and equal treatment within the group.
Sending these reward signals creates whats known as an offsetting effect. If one domain is threatened, we can compensateor offset itby amplifying feelings of reward in the other domains. That said, offsetting effects wont make everything better, especially against very strong threats. But they can soften the blow. For example, heres how Michelle could offset a certainty threat through the other four SCARF domains in an all-hands meeting about the layoffs:
Status: Michelle emphasizes that the layoffs have nothing to do with peoples individual performancethey are purely a cost-cutting measure.
Autonomy: Prior to the meeting, Michelle asks people to submit questions via an anonymous form. She sorts the questions and answers a handful during the meeting.
Relatedness: Michelle announces a partnership shes leading with HR to help outgoing employees with résumé coaching and finding their next job.
Fairness: Michelle explains how the process of creating severance packages was based on a standard rubric across all employees, based on their tenure with the company.&nbp;
Again, none of these efforts will make the pain of losing their job any easier for employees to bear. The goal with offsetting is to reduce the pain brought on by the uncertainty of the situation. A leader might not be able to save an employee from getting laid off, but they can at least make the process of waiting feel more dignified, less isolating, and, hopefully, less threatening.
Finding a balance
In a rapidly changing work environment, including public-sector downsizing, uncertainty becomes a default state of mind. It becomes the air people breathe. But the constant vigilance needed to cope with uncertainty is exhausting. So unless leaders can replace uncertainty with certainty, their responsibility falls to offering clarity whenever possible, as well as boosting other SCARF signals to offset peoples negative feelings.
Otherwise, one thing that is certain is employees will struggle to be effective at their jobs. Theyll spend enormous amounts of cognitive energy resolving the feelings of threat, leaving them feeling drained and slow to respond to works many challenges, rather than being energized and proactive. This is also a drain on the organization as it struggles to maintain a high level of performance.
However, when employees feel those rewarding signals being sent, despite how painful a situation may be, theyre much more likely to navigate uncertainty with a calm and focused mind. For creatures highly sensitive to social threat, that serenity counts for a lot.
If youre at all unsettled by the amount of power that Elon Musk wields on Earth, dont look up. There are now essentially three big players controlling what goes into space and who gets access to increasingly valuable space-based communications and surveillance services: Russia, China, and Elon Musk.In 2024, Musks rocket company SpaceX accounted for more than half of all orbital launch attempts globallymore than all countries outside the U.S. combinedwith 134 successful launches of its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets. His Starlink constellation of more than 7,000 satellites provides high-speed internet connectivity to more than 4.6 million customers worldwide, including residential users, businesses, federal agencies, and foreign governments. A classified Starlink offshoot, called Starshield, has a contract to provide the U.S. government not only with military-grade communications but space-surveillance capabilities, too.The turbulent global politics of the past few yearsfrom the Russian invasion of Ukraine to the reelection of Donald Trumphave shown the risks of overreliance on any one country (or person) for access to space resources. And in the wake of the administrations breakup with NATO allies, Europe and Canada are accelerating their efforts to achieve space independence, boosted by new investment and cross-border cooperation.Europe has always had a preference to buy local, but [it] didnt always happen, says Justus Kilian, partner at New York City-based venture firm Space Capital. Now that theres an urgency and necessity to develop domestic capabilities, local companies will get strong preference. (Though his firm focuses on North American startups, he says U.S.-based companies can set up shop in Europe to take advantage of the boom.) Jussi Sainiemi, partner at Helsinki-based Voima Ventures, an early-stage deeptech fund thats invested in hyperspectral satellite startup Kuva Space, says that European interest in dual-use technologywith civilian and military applicationshas grown since the start of the war in Ukraine. Now its peaking. Since the Trump administration has indicated decreasing support to Ukraine and Europe, he says, the rise of defense-related investment programs has dominated European news flow.In the next year, governments and companies in Europe and elsewhere will take major steps toward space sovereignty by launching new rockets and rapidly building out satellite constellations in low-Earth orbit. Heres how some of the best-positioned players are chipping away at Musks near monopolies in launch services, communications, and earth monitoring. SpaceX Launch CompetitorsOn March 30, a 92-foot-tall, two-stage Spectrum rocket made by German company Isar Aerospace crashed into the sea off the Norwegian Island of Andoya in spectacular fashion about 40 seconds after taking off. It was the first vertical orbital rocket launch ever attempted from Western Europe. (French company Arianespace launched its missions on behalf of the European Space Agency from French Guiana.) In 2025, there could be several more launch attempts. All will be small-lift rockets designed to get small satellites into low-earth orbitavoiding the hassle of shipping across the Atlantic to get up in space.Daniel Metzler, Isars chief executive and cofounder, called the recent attempt a great successwith a clean liftoff, 30 seconds of flight, and successful deployment of the rockets Flight Termination System, which safely scraps the flight in case of system failures. The Norwegian space agency has already tapped Isar to launch two Arctic Ocean spy satellites before 2028, assuming it can get its rockets up without exploding.Later this year, the action will move to SaxaVord Spaceport in Shetland, Scotland. There, the Scottish startup Orbex Space plans to attempt the first vertical rocket launch into orbit from UK soil. Its U.K.-manufactured rocket, called Orbex Prime, is a two-stage vehicle designed to be reusable, and powered by a renewable bio-fuel that produces 96% lower CO2 emissions than fossil-fuel systems. [Photo: courtesy of RFA]German startup Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) also aims for a 2025 commercial launch of its multistage vehicle from SaxaVord. (These northern launch sites are good for getting imaging satellites into sun-synchronous polar orbits that put them in continuous daylight, which is better for imaging.) Another German company, HyImpulse, hopes to launch its multistage SL1 orbital rocket this year; no launch site has been announced. Isar, Orbex, RFA, and HyImpulse were joint recipients of $48 million in funding from the European Space Agencys (ESA) Boost program in 2024; the German government committed an additional 95 million to Isar, RFA, and HyImpulse.Meanwhile, Rocket Lab, which was founded in New Zealand but is headquartered in Long Beach, CA, continues to offer the most reliable small-lift alternative to SpaceX. The companys Electron rockets have already launched five commercial payloads in 2025, after 15 successful launches in 2024, most from Rocket Labss Complex 1 launch site on New Zealands North Island. It plans to test-launch its larger, medium-lift Neutron rocket later this year. [Photo: Courtesy of Rocket Lab]For larger payloads, European and other international customers can look to future launches of the Ariane 6 heavy-launch rocket, operated by Arianespace and developed in partnership with the ESA and the French national space agency. The Ariene 6 made its second commercial flight this March, lifting off from Europes Spaceport in French Guiana. Five more launches are lanned in 2025. Satellite communications alternativesIt will take time for any competitor to catch up with Starlinks advantage in low-earth-orbit (LEO) broadband satellites. But Europe and Canada are ratcheting up their efforts with some major investments. Funded by the EU, the ESA, and private backers, IRIS2 is an $11.1 billion project to build a constellation of some 290 satellites in low- and medium-earth orbits. The constellation, expected to be operational by 2030, will provide secure and resilient connectivity for government applications and commercial services. IRIS2 is being developed and deployed by three European satellite network operators: Luxembourg-based SES, Madrid-based Hispasat, and Eutelsat. The Paris-based Eutelsats OneWeb subsidiary also happens to be Starlinks biggest competitor in government and commercial markets, with a LEO constellation of nearly 700 satellites. OneWebs constellation is already being used by Ukraines armed forces as a supplementand potential replacementfor Starlink service. In Canada, the Ottawa-based Telesat is aggressively building out its Lightspeed Network, a planned constellation of 198 LEO satellites that will provide high-speed broadband to underserved communities in Canada and beyond, and help governments modernize their satellite communications technology and bolster NATO defense capabilities. Telesat has contracted 14 launches starting in mid-2026 to deploy all of these satellites within a year. The launch provider will be SpaceX. New approaches to monitoring and surveillanceIn early March, the Trump administration abruptly cut off Ukraines access to the National Geospatial Intelligence Agencys (NGA) commercial satellite imagery platform, which had provided the country with images aggregated from commercial providers. (The platform is managed by U.S. aerospace firm Maxar Technologies, which confirmed that it blocked Ukrainian users access.) Access was restored 11 days later, but the episode underscored the need for countries to diversify their sources of satellite intel. Several key players have emerged/are emerging to cater to the interests of anxious democracies in Europe and elsewhere.Founded in 2010, San Francisco-based Planet Labs sells satellite imagery from its constellation of cubesats to customers in industry and government. In the first few months of 2025, the company announced a multiyear contract worth an undisclosed amount with ESA and a $230 million contract with another, unspecified customer in the Asia-Pacific region. Planet operates more than 200 satellites that can image the entire Earth daily, using high-resolution electro-optical sensors, which detect light in the visible spectrum. It launched its first next-gen Pelican-2 satellite, featuring Nvidias Jetson edge AI platform, on a SpaceX rocket this January, part of a planned constellation of 32 such satellites.Iceye Gen 4 [Rendering: Iceye]Interest in imagery from Finnish-Polish satellite maker and operator Iceye is also surging. The companys constellation of microsatellites is equipped with synthetic aperture radar (SAR), which can see through clouds and darkness. Iceye has launched nearly 50 of its satellites into orbit since 2018, including nine in 2024, and plans to launch more than 20 per year in 2025 and subsequent years. Its customers include Ukraines Ministry of Defense, the Greek Space Agency, and the Polish Armament Group, as well as the U.S. Department of Defense. Paris, France SAR images [Image: Iceye]Another Finnish company, Kuva Space, launched its rectangular Hyperfield-1 hyperspectral nanosatellite last July, the first in a planned constellation of 100. Its hyperspectral camera and onboard AI allow it to distinguish Earth materials and conditions based on distinct spectral signatures, and to detect threats and anomalies for defense applications, such as creating an alert if a ship or vessel does not transmit an Automatic Identification System signal. With a second launch this year, the company aims to provide daily observation by 2027 and even more frequent monitoring by 2030. In January 2025, Czech startup TRL Space successfully launched its own hyperspectral TROLL satellite, and is supervising work on a second Czech-made satellite designed specifically for the Ukrainian Armed Forces in cooperation with Ukrainian specialists.Hyperfield 2 [Animation: Kuva Space]Finally, SkyWatch, based in Waterloo, Ontario, is a go-to source for earth observation data for business and government customers around the globe. It pulls together imagery from the worlds leading providers in one pay-as-you-use application, enabling European and other government customers to use sophisticated tip and cue services thatstitch together data coming from multiple sensor platforms to track areas of interest without contracts or major capital investments.The importance of fundingSpace infrastructure is hard to build and has traditionally required a level of investment well beyond anything thats been seen before in Europe. Funding is notching upin 2024, Europe accounted for four of the 15 largest private space funding deals globally. And last month, the European Commission introduced ReArm Europe, a $876 billion investment to strengthen Europes sovereign defense capabilities, including in space. Historically, Europe has invested much less in space than the U.S., devoting just 3% of total defense budget to space, versus 9% in the U.S. The European Space Agencys 2025 budget of around $8.4 billion is roughly a third of NASAs $25 billion budget request for 2025, which is not yet approved. Support from the U.S. government was key to establishing Musks space dominance: In 2006, SpaceX secured $278 million in NASA seed money to help fund the development and flight demonstration of the Falcon 9s Dragon capsule; in 2008, the company received a $1.6 billion contract with the agency to fly resupply missions to the ISS. I hope Europe is successful, says Kilian, of Space Capital. Its important that they are. But Europe is more than 10 years behind us. He notes that since fewer companies get funding in Europe, theres less competition driving results. Even so, he says, new companies serving sovereign needs will emerge and become decent investments. But it will take these companies more time and more money to achieve similar outcomes.
Amazon is betting big on movie theaterseven if it isnt counting on mega profits.
The Silicon Valley giant told The New York Times last week that it is planning to release about 14 movies annually in theaters across the United States, an untraditional move for a company that has for years focused on streaming. Instead of simply dropping films directly onto Prime Video, its streaming service, Amazon wants audiences to see its movies on the big screen firsttypically for 45 daysbefore theyre available for streaming.
Three years after Amazon bought MGM for $8.5 billion, the tech giant is signaling that it is ready to compete more directly with Hollywoods biggest studios.
According to eMarketer analyst Jeremy Goldman, the theatrical push has more to do with earning customer loyalty than it does raking in game-changing revenues. By investing in wide releases with A-list talent and 45-day exclusive theatrical windows, Amazon is signaling that it wants its films to matternot just be content that quietly drops on a Thursday night, Goldman says.
In the past 10 years, Amazon has acted as distributor for a number of critically acclaimed films, including Nickel Boys, American Fiction, Sound of Metal, and Manchester by the Sea, all of which were nominated for Best Picture Oscars and received at least limited theatrical releases.
In recent years, Amazon has released five to eight films in theaters annually, often with varying time frames before they became available on Prime Video. The newly announced 14-film, 45-day-window strategy is in league with what the five major studiosUniversal, Paramount, Warner Bros., Walt Disney, and Sonydo each year.
The shift could be a boon for the movie theater business, which has struggled to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Box office receipts are down 20% to 25% from pre-pandemic levels in 2019, according to a research note Bloomberg Intelligence shared with Fast Company. Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Geetha Ranganathan and Kevin Near noted that this investment could fill a competition gap left when Disney bought 21st Century Fox in 2019.
In addition to award-winning releases, Amazon has blockbuster films at the ready. The company reportedly paid an additional $1 billion earlier this year to take full control of the James Bond franchise, and is expected to name a new Bond to replace Daniel Craig soon.
Amazon is honing its theatrical strategy as other streaming giants continue to tinker with theirs in an effort to fuel both streaming user and theatergoer demands.
Apple and Netflix have limited theatrical releases, while Disney is stuck between fueling its Disney+ streaming services and giving moviegoing audiences the theater experience they crave for blockbusters. Mike Proulx, vice president and research director at Forrester, sees a parallel to Amazons model in Disney: The company’s theatrical release strategy is akin to what Disney has been doing for years with Disney+ as the eventual beneficiary of the content.
Proulx adds that while Amazon is trying to find the right balance between its streaming and theater strategies, an uptick in quality films is ultimately a net positive for the company. Better content makes Prime Video more valuable, he says, even if some people opt to wait for it to end up there.
Meta is bringing its Teen Accounts, which have stricter parental controls, to its Facebook and Messenger platforms on Tuesday, expanding its teen service from just Instagram.
The social media giant rolled out Teen Accounts last year on Instagram that have built-in restrictions on who can contact teens, the content they see, and limits on their time on Instagram.
[Photo: Meta]
Tuesday’s announcement also includes updates to Instagram’s teen service that will roll out in the next couple of months. Instagram said that teens under 16 will be prohibited from going Live unless their parents give them permission to do so. Teens under that age also will be required to have parental permission to turn off a feature that automatically blurs imaged containing suspected nudity in DMs.
[Photo: Meta]
Meta has come under fire from parents and lawmakers for its platforms’ impacts on young users. Forty-one states and D.C. filed lawsuits against Meta in 2023, alleging that the company intentionally designed some features on Facebook and Instagram that they knew could harm teens and other young users.
Tuesday’s announcement is part of a broader push by the social media giant to beef up parental controls to drum up support.
[Photo: Meta]
Instagram said it moved 54 million teens into Teen Accounts. It added that 97% of teens aged 13 to 15 years old keep those built-in protections on.
