· The European Commission released its 2019 Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) report. Member countries with ambitious investment targets aimed at the EU Digital Single Market strategy were found to have high performance outcomes over a short time. DESI also showed that internet connectivity in the EU has improved but is not yet enough to meet needs. Also, despite EU businesses becoming more digital, e-commerce is only growing slowly.

· Vale James P.G. Sterbenz (1956-2019). James was an internationally known expert in key aspects of communication networks. He was co-chair of the IFIP Technical Committee on Communication Systems and is fondly remembered for his passionate dedication to networking research.

· IFIP Networking 2019 took place in Warsaw, Poland from 20-22 May. Thirty-two technical papers were presented at the conference out of 112 submissions from 26 countries by professionals in Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America. Thomas Fenz, Klaus-Tycho Foerster, Stefan Schmid and Anaïs Villedieu received the Best Paper Award for their paper titled ‘Efficient Non-Segregated Routing for Reconfigurable Demand-Aware Networks’.

· The Institute of Information Technology Professionals South Africa (IITPSA) Eastern Cape Chapter recognised the province’s leading IT achievers at its annual gala dinner and awards in Port Elizabeth on 22 May. Jean Greyling, Associate Professor in the Department of Computing Sciences at Nelson Mandela University, was named 2019 Eastern Cape IITPSA IT Personality of the Year.