Lebanon is on the verge of creating a Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Technology. The government has been pushing to advance the draft law quickly, but Parliament just decided to slow things down, referring the proposal to joint parliamentary committees for deeper review. 
We think that’s the right call, and we want to explain why.

Lebanon’s digital landscape has grown more volatile with every year of crisis. Financial collapse, a rise of disinformation, the spread of hate speech, and the ongoing pressures of instability have all left their mark on how people in Lebanon experience the internet. Several cases of disinformation have been documented by SMEX’s digital safety Helpdesk, highlighting the escalating online threats and increase in hate speech.

SkyCommons Observatory released, protecting our BrainCommons, a responsible AI chatbot, shared learnings at UN Big Data, preparing for the Open Technology Symposium, and more.
The post New frontiers for open knowledge – OKFN Newsletter July 2026 first appeared on Open Knowledge Blog.

After reading about, experiencing and analysing the current technical and regulatory landscape of brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), and speaking with technologists, policy makers, legal scholars, and data experts, we encapsulated our learnings into eight recommendations for how to shape the ‘tech we want’ for our brain commons. Share your feedback with us here.  1. Understand the...

Governments around the world are increasingly using artificial intelligence (AI) tools to improve policymaking. But when and how they should be used has become the subject of much debate.
Recently, the matter came to the fore when South Africa’s draft national artificial intelligence (AI) policy had to be withdrawn after it was found that the reference list included fictitious sources.

Imagine describing access to government data as a ‘boda boda’ (public transportation) ride. 

That exercise kicked off “Sandboxing the future: experimentation for inclusive data systems,” a session organized by the Datasphere Initiative and GPSDD at the Global Data Festival in Nairobi. This 90-minute co-creation lab convened policymakers, civil society, and researchers to examine operational sandboxes as controlled, collaborative environments for testing technical standards, governance frameworks, and data access agreements.

Leishmanien sind einzellige Krankheitserreger, die in den Tropen und Subtropen, aber auch in den Ländern rund ums Mittelmeer vorkommen. Durch den Stich von Sandmücken können sie auf Menschen, aber auch auf Hunde und andere Tiere übertragen werden. Manche Leishmanien verursachen an der Einstichstelle Hautgeschwüre, andere befallen hauptsächlich Leber und Milz, was unbehandelt in mehr als 95 Prozent der Fälle tödlich endet.
Warum manche dieser Parasiten lokal begrenzt bleiben und andere sich im Körper ausbreiten, ist eine der ungelösten Fragen der Infektionsbiologie.

By Elonnai Hickok, Jhalak Kakkar, and Jason Pielemeier, Multistakeholder Approaches to Participation in AI Governance – MAP-AI I. Assessing the UN’s First Steps on AI Governance The inaugural UN Global Dialogue on AI Governance (UNGDAI) took place on July 6–7, 2026, in Geneva. Mandated by the Global Digital Compact, the UNGDAI brought together over 2,000 regional […]

Recently, the law for an AI and IT Ministry was sent back to committees after failing to pass a vote in parliament. Meanwhile, the Office of the Minister of State for Administrative Reform (OMSAR) is leading some of the digital transformation work in Lebanon, and there is a structural conflict of interest happening, as I’ve heard from different sources inside the government.

Am Bayerischen Forschungsinstitut für Digitale Transformation (bidt) der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften (BAdW) sind drei neue interne Forschungsprojekte gestartet. Sie widmen sich im Forschungsbereich „Wirtschaft und Arbeit“ unterschiedlichen Aspekten der digitalen Transformation: Während ein Projekt mit einem datenbasierten Monitoring einen umfassenden Überblick über die digitale Arbeitswelt in Bayern schafft, untersucht ein weiteres die Auswirkungen von Künstlicher Intelligenz (KI) auf Tätigkeiten und Berufsbilder in IT und Engineering.

The Institute of Network Cultures is proud to present the first publication of its last intern at HvA, Noah Pellikaan, produced at INC in the first half of 2026:

Kardiomyopathien sind eine Gruppe von meist erblichen, seltenen Herzkrankheiten, bei denen die Struktur des Herzmuskelgewebes gestört ist. Das schränkt die Pumpkraft des Herzens ein; es kommt zu Atemnot, geringerer körperlicher Leistungsfähigkeit und weiteren typischen Beschwerden einer Herzschwäche.

Author: Richardus Krisna Dewandaru Editor: Ayom Mratita

LSZ Future ConnectionsOn 30 June and 1 July 2026, the Department of Management of the University of Klagenfurt, together with the Karl Landsteiner Institute for Hospital Organisation, was represented at the LSZ Health Congress in Stegersbach. The event provided a forum for exchange between researchers and practitioners on current developments and challenges in healthcare.

The Wikimedia Foundation is a nonprofit organization guided by values centered on shared purpose, continuous improvement, welcoming participation, and open, curious dialogue. We aim to advance a more informed and inclusive world through our support of knowledge sharing and access, and recognize that this work begins with how we operate as an organization.

SMEX, a member of the joint ministerial committee tasked with developing Lebanon’s national strategy for promoting the safe and responsible use of the internet and its applications by children, participated in the committee’s first meeting on Friday.
Convened by the Lebanese Ministry of Information, the meeting introduced the committee’s objectives, working mechanism, and the framework for developing the national strategy.

Technologies have, throughout modern history, transformed how people live, work, govern their affairs, and exchange knowledge. Our region has been no exception. From the Translation Movement, which brought texts into Arabic, and the House of Wisdom in Baghdad—a major scientific and cultural institution—to groundbreaking achievements in mathematics, astronomy, medicine, and engineering, the Arab world was not merely a consumer of knowledge but one of its foremost producers. 
New ideas and technologies were debated, refined, tested, and adapted to meet the needs of society.