HousingWire's 2026 Rising Stars honor industry leaders age 40 and under who are making an impact across mortgage, real estate and homebuilding. The honorees represent a range of roles and are recognized for driving innovation, supporting their organizations and contributing to broader industry progress.
Multinational firms are under rising pressure-from investors, regulators, and employees-to demonstrate positive societal impact in the places where they do business. With ESG-focused institutional investments projected to reach nearly $34 trillion this year and roughly 90% of large U.S. companies now disclosing ESG reports, these pressures are now a central part of corporate strategy.
The students are learning that the federal government and every state have laws establishing the public's right to request and receive public records. It's a bedrock principle of democracy: If a government belongs to the people, so do its documents.
What's changed isn't ambition, it's often the permission. More people can now see relatable examples of business owners building something successfully. Technology has reduced barriers and visibility has reduced fear. Owning a business no longer feels reserved for a select few.
Hospitality employs 2.6 million people in the UK, 7.1% of the entire workforce. It generates £69.5 billion in gross value added. It contributes £54 billion in gross tax receipts annually. It is, by any reasonable measure, not a peripheral cottage industry but a cornerstone of the British economy.
Europe's freelance market has been expanding steadily, but the post-layoff acceleration is notable. According to a 2024 report from Malt, the number of highly skilled freelancers in tech across the EU grew by 18% year-over-year, with a sharp uptick among professionals who had been in full-time roles for five or more years before making the switch.
The International Union of Architects (UIA), in partnership with UN-Habitat, has released the Stage 1 results of the third cycle of the UIA 2030 Award, identifying the projects selected as Regional Finalists. The shortlisted entries were drawn from submissions across the UIA's five global regions and will advance to the second stage of evaluation. Established in alignment with the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the award framework positions the built environment within broader discussions on sustainable urban development and global policy objectives.
Nominations for the 2026 Joseph C. Belden Innovation Award are officially open, inviting groundbreaking technologies and solutions to step into the spotlight and be recognized for driving meaningful impact across connected industries. Named in honor of Joseph C. Belden, a visionary who helped shape early telecommunications and connectivity, this award celebrates innovations that push boundaries and power the future. With more than 120 years of legacy behind it, the program highlights breakthrough technologies across sectors, including manufacturing, energy, healthcare, telecommunications, and more.
Every January, millions take on Dry January , a ritual of restraint and resetting after the holiday season. If that's the benchmark for kicking off the year with moderation, Europe's startup ecosystem clearly didn't get the memo. In the opening weeks of 2026, the region saw five startups join the unicorn club, crossing the $1 billion valuation mark across sectors as varied as cybersecurity, cloud optimisation, defence tech, ESG software, and education technology.
Does the strength of relationship between marketer and agency correlate with more effective work? Using two unique and robust sets of data we have, for the first time, answered this question with an emphatic 'yes' The implications of our latest report are profound for marketers and their agencies, and arguably for any business relationship. Our analysis of winners of effectiveness awards over a 9-year period discovered that award-winning client and agency teams had better relationships than the average.
Taking home the top prize, the Grand Prix, is Sips and Bites for its 'Doritos Silent' campaign, which saw it create the world's first AI-augmented snack. Despite being popular with gamers worldwide, Doritos had a problem in that its much-loved crunch disrupts and annoys other gamers subjected to the noise in their earphones. The brand turned this intrinsic snacking gripe into a marketing opportunity, creating the world's first AI-augmented snack that removes every Doritos crunch from every game.
Strategy and creativity are celebrated in equal measures at The Drum Awards. Across the board, there are plenty of examples of fantastic and innovative work produced by agencies, brands and individuals each year. But what makes a winner? How do you shout from the rooftops that your campaigns are brilliant? At The Drum, there are 22 awards that celebrate the finest work produced globally. Following are seven examples of the best of the best of The Drum Awards 2017 winners.
Design Lab's customisable controllers can be expensive coming in at 50% more the standard controllers. This created a barrier for the company when it came to purchases. In order to increase sales of Design Lab controllers and take cost out of the equation, MRM McCann and Xbox turned gamers into entrepreneurs. Fans could create their own designs and earn from those that sold. The more designs that sold, the more they earned.
Against that backdrop, Europe's reliance on American-made AI begins to look more and more like a liability. In a worst case scenario, though experts consider the possibility remote, the US could choose to withhold access to AI services and crucial digital infrastructure. More plausibly, the Trump administration could use Europe's dependence as leverage as the two sides continue to iron out a trade deal. "That dependency is a liability in any negotiation-and we are going to be negotiating increasingly with the US," says Taddeo.
