Focus

To celebrate the centenary of the public opening of the first planetarium, which took place on May 7 1925 at the Deutsches Museum in Munich, Focus, the Mondadori Group’s flagship popular science and entertainment brand, is organising a special event in collaboration with the Italian Association of Planetaria (PLANit) and Città della Scienza in Naples, which will be held at the Città della Scienza planetarium in Campania’s capital on Wednesday 7 May starting at 6.30 pm.

The event, which is part of a series of initiatives organised by planetariums around the world, will involve Roberto Ragazzoni, President of the National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF), who, following institutional greetings from the President of Città della Scienza, Riccardo Villari, will give a talk entitled “Immense skies and infinite skies”, focusing on the immense skies of planetariums and the infinite skies that astronomers observe from the tops of the most remote mountains on Earth and from space. This will be followed by a speech by Dario Tiveron, President of PLANit, who will emphasise the importance of planetariums for education and outreach.

“The collaboration with PLANit to celebrate the centenary of planetariums was an extraordinary opportunity for Focus, which we enthusiastically embraced,” continues Gian Mattia Bazzoli, director of Focus. “Planetariums perform a fundamental work of popularising science in a widespread, in-depth and often hidden way that enriches our cultural fabric, stimulates scientific curiosity from a young age and democratises access to astronomical knowledge through unique immersive experiences, all of which deserves our support. This is the reason why we consider it a privilege to have been able to contribute to the production of the Italian version of the 100 Years of Eternity video. Being hosted for the first time in the Città della Scienza planetarium and in the beautiful city of Naples, where we had never organised any initiatives until now, makes this occasion even more special and significant.”

“For 100 years, planetariums have been a bridge between science, culture, art and imagination, places where the wonders of the universe meet audiences of all ages,” explains Dario Tiveron, president of PLANit. “This event is a celebration of their fundamental role in our society, further underlined by the recent acceptance by the Treccani Institute of the term ‘planetarista’ (planetarist), which finally recognises the identity of those who work in planetarium domes, combining extensive and cross-cutting skills.”

The evening will also include a screening of the film 100 Years of Eternity, a 35-minute production created by Tobias Wiethoff and the Bochum planetarium on behalf of GdP (Society of German-speaking Planetariums) specifically for the planetariums’ centenary.

The Naples event is part of a broader collaboration set up between Focus and PLANit to mark the centenary, which includes, in addition to Focus’s contribution to acquiring the licence and creating the Italian version of the video – which has therefore been made available free of charge to all PLANit member planetariums – the presence of the Italian Association of Planetaria at the next Focus Live, which will be held from 7 to 9 November at the National Museum of Science and Technology in Milan, featuring an inflatable planetarium for the three days of the festival.

Starting at 8 pm, outside the planetarium, it will also be possible to observe the sky (weather permitting) thanks to the telescopes of theNeapolitan Astrophile Union.

Great success for “Focus Live -Traguardi” at the National Museum of Science and Technology in Milan, Italy

At the seventh edition of the “Focus” Festival of Knowledge, all of the more than 100 free events were sold out: meetings, workshops and interactive experiences with the stars of science

Segrate, 11 November 2024 – Focus’s festival of knowledge, Focus Live, once again achieved incredible success, with over 18,000 visitors. This is the seventh consecutive year that Focus has carried out this event in collaboration with the Leonardo da Vinci National Museum of Science and Technology in Milan. The brand demonstrated its digital and social media strength by reaching more than 9.2 million users (a sharp increase from the 2023 edition), with posts, stories and videos shared on the Internet, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Tik Tok, all of which will remain available and will be enriched with new content for fans young and old.

Focus Live – Traguardi hosted 120 nationally renowned scientists, popular science figures, and creators, including Vincenzo Schettini, Telmo Pievani, Dario Bressanini, Teresa Fornaro, Adrian Fartade, Barbara Gallavotti, Tommaso Ghidini, and Massimo Temporelli, who involved the attentive and enthusiastic audience.

“The large participation and turnout at our festival testifies to the fact that there is a great thirst for scientific knowledge in our society”, said Gian Mattia Bazzoli, Director of Focus. “These days we’ve witnessed something extraordinary: science has become a common language, capable of uniting different generations. Celebrating the Achievements of Research and Innovation in all fields, we saw young popular science figures in dialogue with established scientists, resulting in an intergenerational exchange that truly bridged the seemingly distant worlds. This shows that when popular science can be both rigorous and exciting, it succeeds in touching the deepest levels of human curiosity”.

The more than 100 events that made up this seventh edition of the Festival special were all sold out: meetings, talks, workshops, and performances that made participants reflect on the fundamental role of science in shaping our future and illustrate in popular language the achievements of human knowledge. This is all thanks to authoritative voices, innovative formats, a mix of genres, fusions between the arts, music and nature, theatre and biology, sports and technology, embracing the nuances and facets of different languages capable of deep connections and interactions.

Contributing to the excellent result of Focus Live were major players in science and beyond, including: the “Three Musketeers” Adrian Fartade, Elia Bombardelli and Benedetta Colombo, social media popular science figures beloved by the younger generation; Alberto Grandi, food history lecturer and writer; comedian Federico Basso; Giampaolo Ricci, Italian national basketball team member and Doctor of Mathematics, who shared how he managed to combine study with competition at the highest level; Manuel Bortuzzo, bronze medalist in swimming at the Paris 2024 Paralympics, who spoke about his story; and Gian Francesco Giudice, Director of the Department of Theoretical Physics at CERN in Geneva. There was no shortage of Italian Institute of Technology researchers: Adriana Traviglia and Ferdinando Cannella, who brought Ringhio, the first robot archaeologist; Federica Pirrone, Professor of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Milan; Marco Martinelli, popular science figure; and Roberto Valbuzzi, chef and TV host. Ample space was given to health, with Arsela Prelaj, researcher at the National Cancer Institute in Milan, along with Eugenio Santoro, researcher at the Mario Negri Institute and neurosurgeon, Pietro Mortini.

Once again this year, Focus Live gave its many visitors the opportunity to travel into the past or immerse themselves in the future through virtual reality, escape rooms and more, experiencing firsthand how science and technology are shaping the world around us. The experiences at the Experience Area were possible thanks to installations curated by amazing partners like Humanitas University, Scuola Sant’Anna, the Italian Institute of Technology, Airc, Joint Research Centre – European Commission, Politecnico, and the University of Milan.

For children and teens, the Kids area, curated by Focus Junior, offered an even richer program of STEM workshops, with a dedicated stage for talks with writers and scientists. From a magic school to games with graphs; from the use of a digital microscope to travelling around the world with a digital globe; from an escape room to travelling like particles of light to a trip on Santa Claus’s sleigh; from the use of artificial intelligence to write a story to creating a comic, robotics and economics and finance workshops.

Among the new features of this edition were Artificial Intelligence Masterclasses taught by Federico Favot and Jacopo Perfetti of Promptdesign.it, with whom Focus started MYIA, online courses on artificial intelligence. The two lecturers then took the topic to the Main Stage in the talk titled The 7 “Superpowers” You Didn’t Know You Had (Thanks to AI).

Also on display at Focus Live was the suit that will be used by astronauts on the Artemis III mission to return to the Moon, made by Prada and Axiom.

Headlining the Friday and Saturday evenings are two gripping shows: Science Shots, an engaging and interactive conversation between Licia Troisi and Virginia Benzi on the exploration of the unexpected. Then Change the Climate, Change the Music, Change Us Too, a two-voice, three-string, four-composer dialogue on climate change that featured journalist and popular science figure Massimo Polidoro and climatologist Elisa Palazzi on stage along with the Milan Symphony Orchestra ensemble. Closing the festival on Sunday was the lectio magistralis What Makes Us Human by evolutionary philosopher, Telmo Pievani.

Partners and sponsors

Focus Live is a Mondadori Media event, created in collaboration with the National Museum of Science and Technology Leonardo da Vinci, and numerous partners:

MAIN PARTNER: Eni, ING
PARTNER: Autostrade per l’italia, Bayer, Humanitas University, Jordan Care, Kia, VTech
CONTENT PARTNER: Airc, Deloitte Foundation, Mondadori Education
OFFICIAL RADIO STATION: R101
AREA KIDS powered by Focus Junior

This edition of Focus Live sees the collaboration and support of various institutions, research centres, and universities: Civic Aquarium of Milan, Ars Dimicandi, Asi, Enea, Esa, Bruno Kessler Foundation, Henesis, IIT, Inaf, Joint Research Centre, Civic Museum of Natural History of Milan, Symphony Orchestra of Milan, Shake srl, Civic Planetarium of Milan, Polytechnic University of Milan, Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, Smonting, Think about Science, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, University of Milan, University of Milan-Bicocca, University of Ferrara and Way experience.

Advertising for Focus Live is curated by Piemme S.p.A, the Mondadori Scienza S.p.A.

Production and administration by the Left&Right event agency. The advertising campaign and the creativity of the installation were conceived by Zampe Diverse with the help of Artificial Intelligence expert Eddy Anselmi, who produced the visuals generated by generative AI.

Focus, the Mondadori Group brand that serves as a point of reference for scientific dissemination and entertainment, has set a goal of bringing audiences closer to the most important technological revolution of our time: artificial intelligence. With this aim and in collaboration with PromptDesign.it, it is launching MYIA, an innovative series of online courses dedicated to learning and using generative AI for everyday life.

The offer includes 3 video courses organised in levels of increasing complexity: basic, intermediate and advanced. These training courses are designed both for people who are approaching the world of AI for the first time and for those who want to deepen their skills and become experts in the use of advanced tools such as ChatGPT, Claude and DALL-E.
With MYIA, users will learn how to make the most of artificial intelligence, improving their productivity, optimising professional work or simply exploring new creative horizons.

The courses offered by Focus are the ideal opportunity for anyone who wants to dive into the future of technology and understand how artificial intelligence is transforming society and the working world. The course is taught by Jacopo Perfetti, co-founder of the PromptDesign.it platform, author of several essays and Fellow of Innovation at SDA Bocconi, and Federico Favot, co-founder of the PromptDesign.it platform, screenwriter and creative producer, and host of the ‘Hacking creativity’ podcast.

The courses do not require prior technical skills and are fully available online through a dedicated platform. The lessons, which are all recorded, can be followed and reviewed at any time, for maximum flexibility. At the end of each course, a personalised certificate of participation is issued, certifying the skills acquired.

THREE CUSTOM COURSES

Each course is divided into 6–8 lessons and are always available in the personal area on the myia.academy website. Additional materials and slides that summarise the basic concepts can be downloaded for each lesson, along with pdf files of the pages of Focus used for exercises and tests.
1) BASIC: Introduction to Generative Artificial Intelligence. Participants who are new to artificial intelligence will learn the basics of generative AI and how to use models like ChatGPT. The course explains fundamental concepts such as creating effective prompts, the impact of AI on society and the conscious use of technology, providing participants with a solid foundation for using AI tools.
2) INTERMEDIATE: Prompt Design Techniques and the Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence. This course is intended for people who are already familiar with AI. It focuses on prompt design techniques and the use of different AI models, such as Claude and DALL-E, to generate images, analyze documents and automate processes. Participants will learn how to fully leverage the potential of personalised GPTs and AI tools.
3) ADVANCED: Master in Prompt Design and Automation with Generative Artificial Intelligence. The advanced level of MYIA is aimed at people who wish to become true experts in artificial intelligence. This course explores innovative solutions for generating content, images, audio and video with tools such as DALL-E. It provides the skills needed to integrate AI into complex projects and automate tasks.

MYIA also offers artificial intelligence courses for teachers, created by Mondadori Education and Rizzoli Education with Formazione su Misura. This is an exclusive project dedicated to the practical application of AI in the world of education. And coming soon: AI courses for children in collaboration with Focus Junior.
Further information on the learning pathways and purchase prices of individual courses, as well as the various packages, are available on the myia.academy website.

Focus, in all its forms, is the leading dissemination brand in Italy, with a fanbase of over 7 million users (Social Media Account + Focus Creator), more than 3.3 million unique users (source: Audiweb 2023), a monthly circulation of over 127,000 (source: Ads, January–July 2024) and more than 3.1 million readers every month (source: Audipress 2024/2). 

The Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation will be participating in National Space Day celebrations with a series of initiatives to promote research and the Italian space industry. The event is organized by the diplomatic-consular network, Italian Cultural Institutes and Italian Trade Agency Offices.

‘The strong support for Italian National Space Day reflects the priority given to space diplomacy, which is an integral part of our foreign and security policies and a tool for internationalising businesses,’ says Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Antonio Tajani. He reiterates that ‘by reinforcing the network of Space and Science Attachés working at embassies and consulates, [the Ministry] supports companies in seizing opportunities related to the new space economy to encourage investment.’

’This year’s edition,’ adds the Deputy, ‘is particularly significant in view of the International Astronautical Congress, which will be hosted by Italy in Milan in October 2024. This is why we wanted to launch “The Italian Spaceway” project, an exhibition on Italian space research and industry that will travel the world from now until late 2024.’

‘The Italian Spaceway’ is produced by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in collaboration with the IAC 2024 Milan Organising Committee and curated by Focus, the science communication brand of the Mondadori Group. It recounts the contribution of Italian research and Made in Italy products in the development of space technologies, with a focus on sustainability. The exhibition presents an engaging and interactive experience to stimulate reflection on the need to protect space and preserve its sustainability in order to protect planet Earth.

Italy is a leading country in the space sector and among the first in the world in terms of activities and research: €7 billion of public investment in the 2021–2026 period, €2 billion in turnover, 300 companies, 12 districts and 6,000 employees.

Mondadori Media, the leading Italian multimedia publisher on social media and in the digital area, has exclusively entrusted Piemme, a concessionaire of the Caltagirone Group, with the sale of advertising spaces in Italy  in magazines, digital channels, social networks, apps and event sponsorships for the educational brands Focus, Focus Junior, Focus Pico, Focus Storia, Focus Scuola and Focus Wild.

“Piemme is the ideal partner to raise awareness about some of our brands, thanks to its important network of investors in strategic sectors for our Science area and its widespread presence in the territory”, said Carlo Mandelli, Mondadori Media CEO. “The collaboration, which started in January 2023 with Tv Sorrisi e Canzoni and Chi, is generating excellent results. The extension to the Focus system brands strengthens the path of diversifying business activities undertaken by Mondadori Media and the strategy of repositioning our product portfolio”, Mandelli concluded.

The agreement is part of a process, which began with the brands Tv Sorrisi e Canzoni, Chi, Guida Tv and Telepiù, of progressively expanding a strategic partnership that has proved successful thanks to the combination of the publisher’s leading position, on the one hand, and the expertise of the concessionaire, on the other.

“The exclusive partnership with Mondadori Media represents a significant step for Piemme in its strategy of expanding and strengthening its media platform, which is able to offer an increasingly excellent level of opportunities across print, digital, radio, TV and local events. The opportunity to manage the collection for these famous brands is a great responsibility for us: as well as being an iconic brand, Focus is one of the main standards for science and technology popularisation in Italy, with a huge fanbase that makes it well-known among the public”, declared Walter Bonanno, CEO of Piemme S.p.A. “We are thrilled to once again receive the trust of a leading and discerning publisher like Mondadori Media. We are confident that this innovation will further strengthen our collaboration and enable us to realise innovative projects that satisfy our customers and enhance the strength and diversity of the Focus brand on different platforms and channels”, said Bonanno.

Focus, in its different forms, is the brand leader in the popularisation sector in Italy with a fanbase of over 6 million users (social media accounts + Focus creators), more than 3 million unique users (source: Shareablee, 2022), a monthly circulation of over 136,000 copies (source: Ads, January – August 2023) and more than 3.3 million readers each month (source: Audipress 2023/2). Focus, Italy’s most widely read magazine, edited by Raffaele Leone, has been the standard for all science enthusiasts and the curious for more than 30 years: from technology to sustainability, from robotics to medicine, from AI research to space missions and nature. It has a unique editorial system divided into various subject areas and different channels, including magazines, websites, social accounts, video talks and podcasts. It also has a television channel, an exclusive academy for students interested in science journalism and, finally, a major event focusing on popularising science that completes the editorial offer: Focus Live.

Mondadori Media

Mondadori Media is Italy’s leading multimedia publisher, with a distinctive positioning and audience on the editorial market. Through its brands, the Mondadori Group’s social multimedia company caters to the passions of the Italian people – food, beauty, fashion, health and wellness , science and tech – and reaches more than 26 million unique users every month (source: Audiweb January-August 2023), with an overall fanbase of 100 million people (source: Comscore Shareablee + Pinterest Insight October 2023).

Piemme

It has six of the most important newspapers (Il Messaggero, Il Mattino, Il Gazzettino, Corriere Adriatico, Nuovo Quotidiano di Puglia and Leggo), websites (online platforms for the respective newspapers and licensed third-party sites: Aranzulla.it, Centro Meteo Italiano, Funweek.it), magazines (Molto, Mondadori and Gruppo Editoriale San Paolo), and TV (Telenova). Piemme also manages local advertising on Radio Subasio and on RCS media in its own areas. Piemme designs projects tailored to customer needs, creating multimedia campaigns that seamlessly integrate print and digital, radio and TV.

With over 18,000 visitors, the format of the Focus Festival of Knowledge, held for the sixth consecutive year in collaboration with the Leonardo da Vinci Museum of Science and Technology in Milan, is confirmed to be a winner. For three days, this major event attracted an active and interested public audience, who had the opportunity to engage with the scientific world and experience the most innovative technological advances, meet and listen to communicators, experts and professionals in information, medicine, science and sports, as well as immerse themselves in worlds of virtual reality.

“We have once again travelled from the stars to the deep sea, from space missions to genetics, from plants to robots, from animal noises to artificial intelligence, giving this edition of Focus Live — entitled Visions — a fun overview of science and knowledge, research and history.  And we got to experience it hands-on by offering immersive virtual reality experiences, samples of the metaverse, and workshops for adults and children. We also mixed genres by combining science, music and theatre. But the most spectacular “vision” was the record turnout and participation of thousands of curious, attentive and enthusiastic people. They are the best reward for our efforts and encourage us to always do better,” said Raffaele Leone, director of Focus.

The more than 70 sold-out events featured eighty personalities, including scientists, researchers, astronauts and communicators, along with active participation in games, workshops, edutainment, interactive experiences and meetings in the Experience Area. There was clear awe and interest in the more than 40 installations, starting with the giant and colourful animals of Cracking Art. Lots of children flocked to the kids area for the Geronimo Stilton show and all the playful and scientific activities organised by Focus Junior, Focus Pico and Focus Wild, in collaboration with Mondadori Education, Way Experience, Shake and UniversiKid.

Providing an exceptional backdrop, the National Museum of Science and Technology was divided for this special initiative into five major thematic areas (Technology, Sustainability, Science, Space, Medicine and Health) with three separate stages — the Main Stage, Speakers’ corner and Creators’ corner — for talks and meetings.

Tons of content contributed to the success of Focus Live Visions: from the surprises of the Animaloids — robotic quadrupeds such as HyQ Real1, capable of challenging humans (and win!) at Twister — to quizzes animated by Stefano Bartezzaghi; from the physics experiments of Vincenzo Schettini, the star professor of TikTok, to the lunar earthworms of the future, to the sustainable comics of activist Altares; from the Telegatto delivered to Carlo Conti to the experiences of sportsmen such as freediving champion Mike Maric. Plus sailing icon Giovanni Soldini as a hologram, former soccer coach Arrigo Sacchi, astronaut Roberto Vittori, communicator Barbara Gallavotti and philosopher Luciano Floridi, immunologist and scientific director of Istituto Clinico Humanitas, Alberto Mantovani, and Stefano Mancuso, Italy’s most influential botanist, together with the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Milan guided the audience in discovering the intelligence of plants. Evolutionary scientist and communicator Telmo Pievani and actor Marco Paolini closed the packed three-day schedule with a science show dedicated to Charles Darwin, one of the most visionary scientists in history.

Also confirming the brand’s strength and formula for success were the hundreds of thousands of views and social media interactions related to live broadcasts, with posts and videos shared on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and Twitter. All the content was widely captured by the print, digital radio and TV media, and will remain available on Focus.it, the website of the monthly magazine Focus, which has seen peak views these days due to Focus Live events. The content will be enriched with extra contributions to continue to intrigue and win over fans, both young and old.

This edition of Focus Live was developed through the support and collaboration of the Civic Aquarium of Milan, Italian Air Force, Asi, Biokip Labs, CNR, Enea, Bruno Kessler Foundation, Giotto (Fila), IIT, Il Piccolo Teatro, INFN, Joint Research Centre, Italian Navy, Milan Civic Museum of Natural History, Milan Symphony Orchestra, Shake srl, Milan Civic Planetarium, Polytechnic University of Milan, Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, University of Padua and Way Experience.

Focus Live is a Mondadori Media event organised in partnership with the Leonardo da Vinci Museum of Science and Technology, Mediamond and numerous other entities:

MAIN PARTNERS: Koelliker Group
PARTNERS: Carglass, Honor, Humanitas University
INSTITUTIONAL PARTNER: European Commission
CONTENT PARTNERS: AIRC, CDI, Mondadori Education, Opera San Francesco, Rilegno, TUV SUD
ART GUEST: Cracking Art
TECHNICAL PARTNER: Lete
OFFICIAL RADIO: R101
KIDS AREA powered by Focus Junior

Progresses of Artificial Intelligence in science and everyday life, robotic zoos, time travel in Virtual Reality, and even science-themed escape rooms, insights on medicine, sustainability, and novel points of view: that’s Visions, the theme that will be explored and experienced at Focus Live 2023, a project created by Mondadori Media, Mediamond and Museo Nazionale Scienza e Tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci in Milan, scheduled November 3 to 5. 

The Festival of Knowledge conceived and organized by Focus – the Mondadori Group magazine directed by Raffaele Leone as well as the most widely read monthly magazine in Italy by enthusiasts and those curious about technology, science sustainability and innovation – reaches this year the sixth edition and confirms its successful format that, in 2022, won and involved more than 15 thousand visitors in attendance and obtained more than 250 thousand interactions on social media.

“Having reached the sixth edition, I can say that this knowledge festival is increasingly Focus and increasingly Live,” says the director Raffaele Leone. “More and more Focus because the spirit is that of the magazine: to increase knowledge by stimulating curiosity and fun. More and more Live because we are striving to find formats and events that are not just a live meeting with scientists or popularizers but in which we experiment with all available technologies (augmented reality, viewers, samples of the metaverse) to “immerse” ourselves in knowledge. If we then add other disciplines that we enjoy such as music, theatre and science, you go a full circle.”

Focus Live, open to the public and completely free of charge (reservation required), for the past six years has aimed to illustrate with popular language the horizons of human knowledge: from physics to medicine, from biology to genetics, from environmental advocacy to technology to digital communication. Innovation, creativity and curiosity will be the guidelines of this special edition, which will feature over a thousand square meters available to visitors, with 40 installations, five thematic areas and a very rich program of meetings, talks, workshops, performances, in the company of nationally and internationally renowned scientists, popularizers and creators.

This year’s Festival of Knowledge once again comes to life at the Museo Nazionale Scienza e Tecnologia, the largest technical-scientific museum in Italy, a bridge between the past and future of scientific culture for 70 years. In this edition, the audience will be able to range between artificial intelligence, interactive digital art installations and Virtual Reality.

Among the protagonists of Focus Live 2023 will be, among others: navigator Giovanni Soldini, who will speak in the form of a hologram, Ilaria Capua, who will bring her show on circular health together with actress Antonella Attili, immunologist Alberto Mantovani, the physicist Alessandro Vespignani, the botanist Stefano Mancuso who will try his hand at a performance straddling science and music with an ensemble of the Milan Symphony Orchestra, the president of the CNR Maria Chiara Carrozza, the philosopher Luciano Floridi who is one of the foremost experts on artificial intelligence, disclosers such as Barbara Gallavotti, Silvia Moroni (sustainable talk), Massimo Temporelli, TikTok star professor Vincenzo Schettini, explorer, mental coach and environmental popularizer Alex Bellini and TV host and author Carlo Conti, who will receive the Telegatto from the director of Tv Sorrisi e Canzoni, Aldo Vitali.

Also on stage will be astronauts including Roberto Vittori, sportsmen such as Mike Maric, former world freediving champion, and former AC Milan and national team coach Arrigo Sacchi, who will talk about technology and artificial intelligence in soccer.

Closing the packed three-day schedule will be evolutionary scientist and popularizer Telmo Pievani and actor Marco Paolini, in a science show dedicated to Charles Darwin, one of the most visionary scientists in history.

What’s new
There are many new features in this edition, starting from new formats on stage: from Ted’s with VR experiences to quizzes with the audience-for example Stefano Bartezzaghi will engage the audience in a space-themed crossword puzzle -to special events, to exclusive theatrical or musical performances. The exhibition area will enclose five major thematic islands, Technology, Sustainability, Science, Space, Health curated by scientific or publishing partners that will alternate with sponsor activities: visitors will be able to attend interactive workshops, as well as interface with robots and bots powered by Artificial Intelligence, experience the thrill of simulators for time and space travel, and experience science-themed escape rooms and games. The works of Cracking Art will animate the Museum’s outdoor spaces, marking the 30th anniversary of the art movement that has always linked its creations to the themes of the relationship between nature and artifice, sustainability and the environment. More than 200 square meters will, finally, be dedicated to the Kids area,with experiments, workshops, meetings and games by Focus Junior to bring the youngest children closer to S.T.E.A.M. subjects.

Reservations to events can be made starting from today, Tuesday, October 17, at www.focuslive.it. Two shifts: morning (10 am to 2 pm) and afternoon (2 pm to 8 pm). Those who wish to stay all day can of course book tickets for both half days.

Looking forward to Focus Live 2023
There will be many initiatives leading up to Focus Live 2023. After the meeting on dinosaurs at the Museum of Natural History in Milan, the concert lecture on Mahler organized by the Milan Symphony Orchestra and the real time travel in Virtual Reality by You Are Verdi, which allowed the many people present to experience the Milanese city, between the premiere of Nabucco at La Scala, the turmoil of the Five Days and the spirit of the Risorgimento of those years,on October 21 at the Civic Aquarium of Milan double date, at 18:30 and at 20:00, with La musica del mare: an unmissable opportunity to listen to the voices and songs of fish, corals and cetaceans, with marine biologist Sabina Airoldi, head of research at Tethys Institute in the Pelagos sanctuary. And not to feel too nostalgic about Focus Live 2023,on December 2, at the Ulrico Hoepli Planetarium in Milan, at 21:00, Adriano Fontana, an Inaf astrophysicist, and one of the scientists who routinely use the Webb telescope, will explain to the public how it works and present us with the latest findings.

This edition of Focus Live is realized thanks to the support and collaboration with Acquario Civico di Milano, Aeronautica Militare, Biokip Labs, CNR, Enea, Fondazione Bruno Kessler, Giotto (Fila), IIT, Il Piccolo Teatro, Infn, Joint Research Centre, Navy, Milan Civic Museum of Natural History, Milan Symphony Orchestra, Shake srl, Milan Civic Planetarium, Politecnico di Milano, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, University of Padua and Way Experience.

Focus Live is a Mondadori Media event organised in partnership with the Museo Nazionale Scienza e Tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci, Mediamond and numerous others:

MAIN PARTNERS: Koelliker Group
PARTNERS: Carglass, Honor, Humanitas University,
INSTITUTIONAL PARTNERS: European Commission
CONTENT PARTNER: AIRC, Mondadori Education, Opera San Francesco, Rilegno, TUV SUD
ART GUEST: Cracking Art
TECHNICAL PARTNER: Lete
OFFICIAL RADIO: R101
KIDS AREA powered by Focus Junior

For the 2023/2024 school year, numerous initiatives aimed at teachers, students and families have been organised. All conceived by Focus, Focus Scuola, Focus Junior and Focus Wild, the brand leaders in publishing in Italy for the Mondadori Group, which, once again this year, are confirmed as promoters of innovative educational proposals for the school world.

With the start of the school year, the Focus Scuola website will, as always, be available to teachers with news, insights and useful tips to make their lessons more engaging and inclusive.

The Focus Scuola Newsletter, curated by the editorial staff of Focus Junior in collaboration with a team of specialised, professional journalists, is back. The Newsletter, which has more than 20,000 Italian teachers already subscribed to it, is aimed at primary and secondary school teachers. The main goal is to provide ideas and playful and innovative proposals to get the students more involved during lessons. Each week Focus Scuola Newsletter offers topical insights for lectures and group work, ideas for science labs, STEAM worksheets to make science a more exciting subject, in-depth features explained in a simple way to explain complicated topics, and features on innovative teaching methods and classroom management thanks to advice from top experts. In addition to being able to preview all Focus initiatives for the school world, teachers will also have the opportunity to share class projects with the entire registered teacher community.

Here is the link to subscribe to the Newsletter.

Starting in October, the Academies by Focus Junior, Focus and Focus Storia which, every year, involve hundreds of classes and thousands of students, will resume.
Focus Junior’s Journalism Academy, aimed at young people in primary and secondary schools and in which more than 500 classes and over 10,000 students took part last year, includes a three lessons course dedicated to media and environmental education. The first two events explain how to create a magazine, how to write an article, and how to recognise fake news in a simple and fun way, while the third deals with climate change and ecological transition. The goal of the Focus Junior Academy is to encourage critical thinking and inform the youngsters on two topics that are crucial today in order to become informed citizens. The Academy is organised in collaboration with the Italian Committee for the Investigation of Claims of the Pseudosciences (Cicap) and the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change (Cmcc).

“Thanks to the Academies’ initiative the editorial staff of Focus Junior help schools and teachers throughout Italy to explain complex issues through engaging storytelling that captures the attention of the youngest learners,” said Sarah Pozzoli, Director of Focus Junior. “We journalists have the same goal as teachers: to raise future citizens who can think critically and adopt a more sustainable lifestyle”, she concluded.

The Academies of Focus and Focus Storia, aimed at students in secondary schools and in which more than 100 classes and over 2,500 students participated last year, involve a course of four events during which young people step into the shoes of actual editors for each issue, actively participate in source and image research, attend editorial meetings, and are involved in analysing the commissioned work and publishing content on the various social channels, where their proposals and ideas will be added and promoted.

Raffaele Leone, Director of Focus, thus reiterates the importance of establishing synergistic collaboration with schools: “The school world is doubly important to us: on the one hand because we feel that teachers and their educational mission are close to our hearts, and on the other hand because discovering a dialogue with the new generation, who increasingly keep themselves informed through additional tools and channels besides print media, is a strong motivation for us. We’re dealing with a positive two-way exchange: showing how to make a science magazine gets young people involved in the topics covered, in reading, in researching sources. Seeing how they draw on tools other than print prompts us to create formats and languages that are more suited to them. We can say that Focus is one of the most innovative tools on the market in terms of dissemination and multimedia, with its magazines, website, social media platforms, podcasts, Academies and live events that make the annual Focus Live a success,” concluded the Director.

Completing the Focus offer for schools for the 2023/2024 school year is a great new feature: the Focus School Camp, innovative educational projects aimed at all Italian schools on all levels, representing a revolutionary way of thinking about and experiencing educational trips. A comprehensive new proposal that starts with classroom training, moves through practice during camp, and ends with the development of a final digital project that will be presented in class and posted on the Focus School Camp digital bulletin board. The themes of the School Camp by Focus Junior, Focus Wild, Focus and Focus Storia are varied, and designed specifically to meet any educational needs of different school classes and age groups of students.

After the great success of two editions of the Focus Junior Summer Camp, the Focus School Camp is again collaborating with Sunnylife, the market-leading tour operator in the school trip and summer camp sector.

Finally, teachers will also be able to subscribe to the Focus brand magazines this year using their Carta del Docente and, from mid-October, the Bonus Scuola returns, allowing educational institutions to apply for a subsidy for subscriptions and magazines purchased during the school year by making a specific request to: sgc@mondadori.it.

Focus, Focus Storia, Focus Junior and Focus Wild launch the first School Camps edition, a new project conceived in partnership with Sunny Life, a company specialised in tourism and cultural travels for children between 6 to 18 years of age and affirmed tour operator of the Focus Junior Summer Camps.

The School Camps provide innovative and complete educational offers focused on students and teachers, starting from in-class training to on-field experience at the camp and ending with the drafting of final summary in digital format.

The Focus system brands pursue their licensing development through this initiative, by further extending their educational offer to educational trips: real training, interdisciplinary and customised courses – using the tested STEAM approach – to spread knowledge on scientific and mathematical subjects with the help of other disciplines such as art, history and architecture.

Such activity, designed for primary and secondary school students, aims to stimulate and involve the youngest by exploiting knowledge and developing skills. Such project asserts the attention of the Focus, Focus Storia, Focus Junior and Focus Wild brands towards both the education of the youngest and highly topical issues, such as sustainability and inclusion.

In addition to being real learning workshops, the 2023/2024 School Camps allow children to live truly unforgettable experiences under the guidance of professionals.

• Focus, a leading brand of scientific information, provides a package of ideas specifically designed for secondary schools and studied around the most current educational topics, with particular interest and insight into the technical, scientific and technological fields.
• Focus Storia, a magazine dedicated to the most striking historical and cultural facts and great protagonists of the past and present, offers a special catalogue conceived for secondary schools and designed to revive those places in which traces of our history are still evident.
• Focus Junior, a point of reference in the kids’ segment, suggests experiences developed to introduce topics such as innovation, sustainability and inclusion to primary and secondary school students – through a multidisciplinary and transversal approach – always according to the needs and age of such young learners.
• Focus Wild, an intergenerational brand dedicated to the world of animals and nature, provides primary and secondary schools with a vast repertoire of experiences conceived to specifically attract the students’ attention towards the most current and urgent environmental issues, always in an engaging, fun and exciting way.

Verona, Milan, Genoa, Rome, Pompeii and Matera are just some of the destinations planned for the School Camps of Focus, Focus Storia, Focus Junior and Focus Wild. All destinations were selected by the Mondadori Group brand among the vast range of cruises and school trips suggested in Sunny Life’s catalogue.

The complete and updated catalogue will be available on the following link: http://focuscamp.it/.

Focus, the Mondadori Group brand that’s the leader in popular science, is on the newsstands this month with a special issue dedicated to the latest advances in cancer research.

An updated guide full of insights to let readers discover the latest innovations and therapies, including experimental and anti-cancer: from the analysis of DNA alterations to vaccines, from proton therapy to targeted treatments that are more customised and effective, as well as the tools and perspectives that Artificial Intelligence can offer in this field.

A report – created with the collaboration of specialists from the most important Italian universities and centres of excellence at the forefront of cancer research worldwide – which underlines the role of Focus as a leading magazine for an audience of readers and users who are passionate about the great scientific and technological issues, including in the field of medical information.
Thanks to a clear and direct style and a careful and dynamic look at everything that is innovation, the brand reaches an audience of 5.5 million readers and users and 3.6 million followers on social networks every month.

“What emerges today with increasing evidence from oncological research,” says Raffaele Leone, Director of Focus, “is the variety of treatments and therapeutic approaches”. Cancer is a disease that has always been with us, a ‘malignant natural error’ that is nevertheless facilitated by harmful habits (smoking being the most typical) and pollution in the surrounding environment. It is a cellular mutation that often has the ability to camouflage itself so as not to be intercepted and neutralised. Today we are able to invent increasingly customised and targeted cures against the various types of mutation, to unmask them and attack them”, concludes Leone.

In the new issue of Focus we will talk about projects with an international scope, such as Palm (Pediatric Acute Leukemia of Myeloid origin), but also Italian projects such as the Molecular Tumor Board, a national network to standardise procedures and create a network of consultancies throughout the country.

Through numerous fact sheets – which have also been created thanks to the contribution of scientists and experts – the most widely read monthly magazine in Italy sheds light on the importance of prevention through vaccines against Hepatitis B and HPV, and the possibility for smokers to get free lung scans with the aim of raising awareness and giving hope.

The creation of such a rich and in-depth report has been possible thanks to constant contact with research institutes, universities, hospitals and foundations, which Focus has always collaborated with to keep its readers informed and updated.

This issue made use of the valuable collaboration of:
IRCCS Istituto Clinico Humanitas [Humanitas Clinical Institute Research Hospital]
San Raffaele Hospital
National Cancer Institute
European Institute of Oncology
Umberto Veronesi Foundation
Airc Foundation
abmedica
RevoLuTion_Innovation in Cancer Care 

And it involved:
Vita-Salute San Raffaele University
Italian Association of Medical Oncology
Centro di riferimento oncologico (CRO) di°Aviano [Aviano Oncology Referral Centre]
Centro di Senologia del Policlinico San Martino di Genova [Centre for Senology of Hospital Policlinico San Martino of Genoa]
Oncohematology Clinic of Padua
MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston
Bambino Gesù Children’s Research Hospital
Italian Pulmonary Screening Network
Italian Society of Oncological Urology
University of Milan
University of Palermo
University of Turin
University of Melanoma, Oncological Immunotherapy and Innovative Therapies IRCCS INT-Pascale Foundation of Naples