The three-year campaign is co-funded by the European Union and centered on Grana Padano PDO, a hard cheese from the Pianura Padana (Po River Valley) in Northern Italy, known for its fine, granular texture and 900-year production history. In 2026 the campaign returns to PizzaExpress with a dedicated three-dish Grana Padano PDO menu running across 19 branches for the length of the promotion. The partnership puts the cheese in front of diners through one of Hong Kong’s most familiar restaurant brands.

Each of the three dishes uses Grana Padano PDO in a different way, from the sauce of a pizza to the finishing of a pasta. The menu is designed to show how the cheese works across familiar dishes diners already order.

The Menu

The starter is a Cheesy Crab Dip with Grana Padano PDO. Grana Padano PDO is stirred through the dip to balance the sweetness of the crab, and the dip is served with a Grana Padano PDO cheese flatbread for tearing and dipping. It is built to be shared and finished before the rest of the meal arrives.

The Grana Padano PDO Pizza is built on a béchamel base rather than tomato sauce, with Grana Padano PDO worked into the sauce and shaved generously over the top. It is layered with fresh porcini, mortadella, mozzarella, and sliced peach. The combination of sweet peach, cured mortadella, and earthy porcini gives the pizza its character, and the cheese running through both the base and the finish brings the flavors together.

The Spaghetti Seafood Bianco with Grana Padano PDO brings together prawns, clams, and mussels in a garlic and white wine sauce with chili flakes and Grana Padano PDO. The cheese is stirred through the sauce, giving the dish more body than a typical white-wine seafood pasta.

About Grana Padano PDO

Grana Padano is one of the oldest cheeses still in continuous production. It was first made in 1135 at the Abbey of Chiaravalle near Milan, where Cistercians monks developed it as a way to preserve surplus milk. The name comes from its texture: “grana” means “grainy”, a reference to the fine, granular structure the cheese develops as it ages.

Each wheel is handcrafted from fresh milk produced in the Po River Valley of Northern Italy. The cheese is naturally lactose-free thanks to the production process. Maturation takes at least nine months, with some wheels aged for over two years. Younger wheels are milky and slightly sweet; longer-aged ones become richer, nuttier, and faintly crystalline. Grana Padano is the world’s most consumed PDO cheese in Europe.

The Consorzio Tutela Grana Padano is a non-profit making organization charged with protecting, promoting and enhancing the product, providing consumer information and generally taking care of the interests regarding its P.D.O. status.

The absence of lactose is a natural consequence of the traditional Grana Padano production process. It contains less than 10 mg/100 g of galactose.

Ciao! Buon appetito everyone!

For campaign updates and participating branches, visit www.happinessfromeu.com or follow the campaign on Instagram and Facebook.

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or of the granting authority. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

Hashtag: #HappinessfromEurope

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HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach Newswire – 22 June 2026 – Hong Kong employees are moving faster than their organizations when it comes to using AI, creating a growing gap between AI adoption and how work is actually designed, according to Microsoft’s 2026 Work Trend Index. The research warns of a “Transformation Paradox”: while AI use is accelerating across the workforce—with more Frontier Professionals using agents for multi-step workflows and building multi-agent systems, leadership alignment, culture, and operating models are not evolving at the same pace, limiting impact and increasing pressure on employees.

The 2026 Work Trend Index draws on analysis of trillions of anonymized Microsoft 365 productivity signals, combined with survey insights from AI users and perspectives from experts in AI, work, and organizational psychology. The conclusion is consistent: the constraint is no longer what people can do, but how work is structured around them.

• AI is lifting output but not yet transforming organizations. The data shows that AI is already raising the ceiling on individual performance in Hong Kong. A privacy-preserving analysis of more than 100,000 chats in Microsoft 365 Copilot shows that 49% of all conversations support cognitive work—helping workers analyze information, solve problems, evaluate and think creatively. This shift is visible in outcomes: 57% of AI users in Hong Kong say they are producing work they could not have a year ago, rising to 73% among Frontier Professionals, the most advanced AI users in the research.
• The Transformation Paradox reflects the need for systemic change, with the gap more pronounced in Hong Kong than globally. 75% of Hong Kong AI users fear falling behind if they do not adapt quickly, yet 57% say it feels safer to focus on current goals than to redesign work with AI. [i] At the same time, only 19% say their leadership is clearly and consistently aligned on AI, and just 10% say they are rewarded for reinventing work with AI even when results are not immediate, revealing a widening gap between individual adoption and organizational change. [ii]
• As AI and agents take on more execution, human value is shifting rather than diminishing. When asked which skills matter most as AI becomes more embedded in work, Hong Kong AI users ranked quality control of AI output (48%) and critical thinking (42%) at the top, underscoring that AI is redesigning work, not replacing people.

From Using AI to Being Frontier Professionals Who Refuse to Outsource Thinking
The Work Trend Index identifies the rise of Frontier Firms—organizations that deliberately rebuild their operating models around human‑agent collaboration, rather than layering AI onto existing ways of working.

Realizing this shift requires transformation at both the individual and organizational level. The research outlines four modes of human-AI collaboration to help employees take the first step toward becoming Frontier Professionals, before progressing to designing agentic workflows:

• Delegate execution—Employees hand off routine or repeatable tasks to AI to gain speed and scale, while retaining responsibility for the outcome.
• Ask for information—Employees turn to AI for context, clarification, or insight when they need to quickly get up to speed.
• Collaborate on reasoning—People work alongside AI to analyze information, test ideas, and solve problems, using AI as a thought partner rather than a shortcut.
• Explore new possibilities—AI is used to explore open‑ended questions, reframe problems, and surface options when the path forward is not yet clear.

These patterns matter because Frontier Firms do not aim to maximize AI use everywhere. Instead, they intentionally match the right level of human involvement to the outcome, enabling speed without sacrificing quality or accountability.

Leadership and Culture Are the Real Multipliers
The research makes clear that technology alone is not the differentiator, but by how organizations lead, operate, and evolve. Organizational factors, including culture, manager support, and talent practices, account for more than twice the AI impact of individual mindset and behavior. In Hong Kong, Frontier Professionals are significantly more likely to say their managers set clear quality standards for AI work[iii], create space for experimentation[iv], and encourage more ambitious redesign of work[v].

“This is the Transformation Paradox facing Hong Kong today,” said Leo Liu, General Manager of Microsoft Hong Kong and Macau. “AI adoption is moving fast on the ground, but many organizations are still trying to fit it into old operating models. To unlock real value, leaders must move beyond pilots and productivity gains, and intentionally redesign how work gets done—how teams collaborate, how managers lead, and how success is measured.”

Microsoft is also announcing the launch of Copilot Cowork, designed to support this shift toward workflow redesign. Built on Microsoft’s multi-model approach, this agentic system enables long-running tasks across multiple tools, with usage-based pricing, cost management, and governance capabilities to balance quality, performance, and cost, and helps organizations run complex workflows more efficiently at scale.

Microsoft brings this perspective as Customer Zero, applying the same principles internally to redesign workflows, build human‑agent teams, and embed continuous learning into everyday work. Using Copilot Studio and Microsoft Foundry, Microsoft transformed its “Ask Microsoft” web agent from a standalone chatbot into a multi‑agent system that routes conversations more effectively and supports more dynamic, context‑aware interactions. This shift improves how customer intent is understood and addressed, while steering queries to the right resources or teams and allowing sales to focus on higher‑value, high‑intent engagement.

The solution delivered measurable business impact across customer engagement and operational efficiency, achieving up to 61% lower response latency and 70% fewer human escalations. Users who engaged with the agent were 10 times more likely to sign up for services and drove a 16% increase in product trial initiations.

“Inside Microsoft, we’ve learned that AI transformation is not a tooling exercise. It’s an operating model shift,” said Lorraine Bardeen, Corporate Vice President, MCAPS AI Transformation, Microsoft. “When leaders clarify how humans and agents work together, set standards for quality and judgment, and create room to experiment, organizations move faster and learn faster. That’s what separates Frontier Firms from everyone else.”

“We are entering a new era of work, where the traditional value formula is being rewritten,” said Nancy Wang, Head of LinkedIn Greater China. “We call it the ‘new math of work’—a concept introduced in LinkedIn’s new book, Open to Work. The people and organizations that emerge strongest will be those who use the time freed up by AI to build work around what’s actually harder to automate—the specific, contextual, human judgment that no tool can fully replicate, because no tool has lived what you’ve lived or knows what you know.”

The message of the 2026 Work Trend Index is clear: access to AI will soon be table stakes. How work is designed around it will define the next generation of competitive advantage for Hong Kong organizations. For more insights, read the 2026 Work Trend Index Report.

Hashtag: #Microsoft

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About Microsoft

Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) creates platforms and tools powered by AI to deliver innovative solutions that meet the evolving needs of our customers. The technology company is committed to making AI available broadly and doing so responsibly, with a mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.

Preparing Students Beyond Admissions
Over at the Singapore Institute of Management, most programmes primarily assess applicants based on academic qualifications and programme specific eligibility requirements. However, selected postgraduate programmes, such as the University of Birmingham Master of Business Administration offered at SIM, may require applicants to submit a Statement of Purpose as part of the admissions process. Even for programmes where a personal statement is not mandatory, education experts suggest that submitting one can still strengthen an application by providing additional context about the applicant’s interests, goals, and readiness for higher education.

Tips for Writing a Strong Personal Statement
According to guidance from the University of Birmingham, a strong personal statement should clearly communicate an applicant’s motivation, interests, and suitability for the programme. Admissions tutors note that the opening section is particularly important, as it creates the first impression and helps establish the applicant’s enthusiasm and direction.

Education experts also recommend that applicants explain how their academic background, professional experiences, and personal achievements have shaped their interest in the chosen field of study. Relevant experiences such as internships, leadership roles, volunteer work, and professional accomplishments can help demonstrate initiative, growth, and readiness for higher education. Rather than simply listing activities, applicants should reflect on what they learned from these experiences and how they contributed to their personal development.

The University of Birmingham further advises students to avoid overly generic statements and instead tailor their applications to the specific programme they are applying for. Demonstrating an understanding of the programme structure, learning outcomes, and career relevance can help strengthen the application, particularly for postgraduate programmes such as the MBA.

Authenticity is another important factor highlighted by university admissions advisors. Applicants are encouraged to present a genuine reflection of their interests, ambitions, and experiences rather than relying on exaggerated language or generic phrases. In terms of structure, admissions guidance generally recommends presenting information in a clear and organised manner. A strong personal statement typically includes an introduction outlining academic or professional interests, relevant experiences and achievements, career aspirations, and reasons for choosing the programme. Applicants should also proofread carefully to ensure clarity, grammatical accuracy, and consistency throughout the document.

Reference:

1. SIM Application Process – https://www.sim.edu.sg/degrees-diplomas/admissions/application-process
2. What makes a great personal statement – https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/accessibility/transcripts/personal-statement
3. How to write a statement for MBA – https://www.inspirafutures.com/blog/how-to-write-a-statement-of-purpose-for-mba-admission
4. MBA Statement of Purpose Examples – https://bemoacademicconsulting.com/blog/mba-statement-of-purpose-example

Hashtag: #SIMGlobalEducation #SIMGE #GlobalEducation #InternationalDegree #CareerReady #FutureSkills

https://www.sim.edu.sg/

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

About SIM Global Education

SIM Global Education (SIM GE) is a leading private education institution in Singapore and the region. We offer more than 140 academic programmes ranging from diplomas and graduate diploma programmes to bachelor’s and master’s degree programmes with some of the world’s most reputable universities from Australia, Canada, Europe, United Kingdom, and the United States. SIM GE’s cohort is made up of 17,000 full- and part-time students and adult learners, of which approximately 41% are international students hailing from over 50 countries.

SIM GE’s holistic learning approach and culturally diverse learning environment aim to equip students with knowledge, industry skills and employability competencies, as well as a global perspective to succeed as future leaders in a fast-changing, technologically driven world.

For more information on SIM Global Education, visit www.sim.edu.sg