In recent weeks we have witnessed what is perhaps the largest number of layoffs among tech giants in recent years. The incorporation of Elon Musk to Twitter has been somewhat convulsive, starting with the announcement of a hiring freeze in the workforce and leading to the dismissal of thousands of temporary and subcontracted workers due to the losses the corporation was experiencing. Now this same scenario is being repeated in other large corporations such as Meta and Amazon.

The giant led by Jeff Bezos also announced its intentions to lay off some 10,000 workers while taking a pause in hiring. For its part, Meta reduced the size of its workforce by approximately 13%, equivalent to 11,000 fewer employees.

This situation is not only reflected in the multinationals led by Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg, large and small companies alike are facing great uncertainty about where the great economic recession is headed. But the reality is that Twitter, Meta and Amazon combined are set to lose more than 300 billion by 2022, with huge falls in the stock market.

Although this problem is becoming more evident in US companies, the drift suggests that Europe and Spain will also be affected, which is why companies in the sector must brace themselves for possible scenarios in order to avoid negative consequences.

At research groups like BISITE or technology centres like the AIR Institute, thanks to our capacity to structure public-private collaboration, we will try to maintain as much stability as possible and guide ourselves towards a positive future thanks to our participation in innovative, impactful and consolidated projects, capable of offering security to our researchers and collaborators.

Posted by Juan M. Corchado

Juan Manuel Corchado (15 May 1971, Salamanca, Spain) is Professor at the University of Salamanca. He has been Vice-Rector for Research from 2013 to 2017 and Director of the Science Park of the University of Salamanca. Elected as Dean of the Faculty of Science twice, he holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Salamanca and a PhD in Artificial Intelligence from the University of the West of Scotland. He leads the renowned BISITE (Bioinformatics, Intelligent Systems and Educational Technology) Research Group, created in 2000. Director of the IoT Digital Innovation Hub and President of the AIR Institute, J. M. Corchado is also Visiting Professor at the Osaka Institute of Technology since January 2015, Visiting Professor at the Universiti Malaysia Kelantan and Member of the Advisory Group on Online Terrorist Propaganda of the European Counter Terrorism Centre (EUROPOL). J. M. Corchado has been president of the IEEE Systems, Man and Cybernetics Society, and academic coordinator of the University Institute for Research in Art and Animation Technology at the University of Salamanca, as well as researcher at the Universities of Paisley (UK), Vigo (Spain) and the Plymouth Marine Laboratory (UK). He currently combines all his activity with the direction of Master programmes in Security, Digital Animation, Mobile Telephony, Information Systems Management, Internet of Things, Social Media, 3D Design and Printing, Blockchain, Z System, Industry 4.0, Agile Project Management, and Smart Cities & Intelligent Buildings, at the University of Salamanca and his work as editor-in-chief of the journals ADCAIJ (Advances in Distributed Computing and Artificial Intelligence Journal), OJCST (Oriental Journal of Computer Science and Technology) or Electronics MDPI (Computer Science & Engineering section). J. M. Corchado mainly works on projects related to Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Blockchain, IoT, Fog Computing, Edge Computing, Smart Cities, Smart Grids and Sentiment Analysis. He has recently been included in the board of trustees of the AstraZeneca Foundation, along with other health professionals and researchers recognised for bringing scientific knowledge closer to society.

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