Focus

What will the world be like in 10 years? “How do we want to live in 2029?” This is the key topic of the latest edition of Focus Live, the festival of popular science of the monthly magazine Focus, which on 1 and 2 June will start from Genoa on an extraordinary journey across the most fascinating and decisive issues facing the future of humanity and the planet, before moving on to other stages in Trento in October and Milan in November.

For two days the Porto Antico, Genoa’s old port district, will become a large stage for the Italian scientific community, along with guests of international standing. conferences, interactive installations and much more. The main stage and speakers’ corner at the Magazzini del Cotone will be the location for conferences, shows and  talk shows; while the Città dei bambini e dei ragazzi and Porta Siberia will be the places for labs, for young and old, in collaboration with the Festival of Science Association; then, Piazzale Mandraccio will be where the most spectacular attractions will be concentrated, with drones on the hunt for plastic in the sea, an authentic fleet of marine robots with an underwater laboratory able to reach a depth of 5,000 metres, dives by specialist freedivers, and much more. And, finally, the foyer of the Centro Congressi, where, between immersive experiences and virtual reality, visitors can enjoy the excitement of living like scientists in direct contact with the most amazing installations.

Among the many protagonists of the first stage of Focus Live in Genoa, which will be officially opened on Saturday 1 June at 10 am by the Governor of Liguria Giovanni Toti, will be Alberto Cappato, General Manager of the Porto Antico, Michele Lanzinger Director of the Science Museum of Trento and Fiorenzo Galli, Director of the Museum of Science and Technology in Milan; in fact both the MUSE in Trento and MUST in Milan are partners of the whole tour.

The Genoa event will welcome over 100 guests from the universities, laboratories and research institutes where the future of the planet’s scientific progress is developed, but that’s not. Also joining them will be the astronaut Umberto Guidoni for a “journey into a black hole”, in the company of the Italian researchers from the international team that for the first time photographed the most mysterious objects in the cosmos; the astronaut Maurizio Cheli will talk about how he climbed Everest, the comedian Saverio Raimondo with his “semi-comic show on the environment” will make us reflect on our limits, and the plant neurobiologist Stefano Mancuso will explain how plants can help us to save the earth and humanity. And, along with them, many others.

As in the style of Focus, science takes shape in curious and fascinating ways. So, for example, you can take a “stroll” on Mars with a 3D headset without gravity, or take part in an amusing “trial” against homo sapiens to understand whether man deserves to dominate the earth, observe the wonders of the human mind in an amazing two-voice show, but also “play” with genetics to see how much we have in common with chimpanzees and the plants that surround us, or experience the sensation of surviving a flood, designing a drone to powering a “pedal cinema”, transforming physical exercise into energy. And there will also be space for science  “at the table”, with three chefs, two experts in nutrition and a challenge: to create a refined but sustainable meal with just €1.

And, above all, we will discuss the climate; the technologies to reduce environmental risks and the relationship between humans and the planet’s other “inhabitants”. But there will also be debates about genetics, artificial intelligence, migration, space travel, robots and much more. A great festival of science open to all, where adults and children will be amazed by installations and scientific experiments, and take part in interactive laboratories and get their hands on the most advanced technologies.

Last year, at the only stage held in Milan at the Leonardo da Vinci Museum of Science and Technology, , Focus Live attracted over 15,000 visitors (of which, over 1,800 students), with 117 labs for kids and adults, 182 speakers, and 44 interactive and multimedia installations. The aim. also for this year, is to offer an answer to the biggest of questions: will we be able to deal with the emergencies facing our planet? The largest of which are climate and the environment, demographics and migration, and the fourth industrial revolution.

For tickets and a full programme for the first stage in Genoa, please go to www.focuslive.it

The entire tour will be accompanied by a charity partnership with the Lega del Filo d’oro which supports deaf-blind and psychosensory disabled people.

Focus Live is made possible by the Patronage of: Agenzia spaziale Italiana ASI, Agenziale Spaziale Europea ESA, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche CNR, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia IIT, Enea, Inaf, Mars Planet

The organisation of Focus Live is made possible thanks to the support of:

Main Partner: abmedica, Essilor and Ibm
Partner: Università Telematica Pegaso
Supporter: Costa Crociere
Media Partner: Focus tv and meteo.it
Official radio is Radio Monte Carlo
The event in Genoa has been organised in collaboration with Porto Antico di Genova, La città dei bambini e dei ragazzi and l’Associazione Festival della Scienza.

Focus, the Mondadori Group magazine that is a point of reference in popular science and entertainment, from Thursday 21 February will be available to the public in markedly renewed form and content.

The aim of the monthly, edited by Raffaele Leone, will be to further develop the successful formula that has made it Italy’s most widely read magazine, which boasts a combination of 5.7 million readers and users (based on data from Audipress 2018.2 and Audiweb 2.0 September 2018), as well as 1.7 million fans on social networks.

Starting from the cover, Focus readers will be surprised by the many changes in the layout and content. First of all they will notice the new masthead which, for the first time, features a larger red logo: a decision that will guarantee the brand greater relevance.

Thanks to an elegant look and an identity as leader, the magazine will be even more stimulating, and targeted at readers that are aware, educated, curious and “want to know more”.

The new Focus has a mission to surprise page after page, investigating the science and knowledge that surrounds us, and represented in a captivating, accurate, rigorous, original and unusual way.

The opening pages of the magazine will be devoted to the column Prisma: di tutto un po’ (Prisma: a little of everything), an authentic showcase of high level content, from regular features to new sections, such as “Il caro estinto” (Dearly departed), “Cogli l’etimo” (Catch the meaning) and many others.

The articles will not only deal with science, nature and technology, but will also take a closer look at current affairs, but always with the scientific and analytical approach to the facts that is typical of Focus. Space will also be given to art, with a column edited by Vittorio Sgarbi that, starting from single work, will develop an analysis of an entire artistic period. Background detail will be provided by Focus Dossier, three articles aimed at examining, in an unusual and detailed way, the issue featured on the cover.

Focus finally also re-confirms its primacy in the development of interactive content and experiences thanks to the ongoing reinforcement of Augmented Reality: each month the magazine will have a fixed appointment with readers in page not to be read but to be “listened to”. An innovative function that will further diversify that range of extras usable through the dedicated app, available for free from the AppStore and Google Play: navigable 360° photos, 3D graphics and renderings, timelapse and 4K videos, and much more.

The new magazine will form the nucleus of an articulated multimedia ecosystem across different in able to transform readers and users into authentic “inhabitants” of the Focus world: from the web site to the TV channel, and from social networks to events aimed at consolidating the brand’s presence around the country.

Among the most important of these Focus Live, an engagement with the great issues and personalities of knowledge which, during the first edition, which took place between 8 and 11 November 2018, attracted over 15,000 visitors to the Museo della Scienza e della Tecnologia in Milan, and that in 2019 will take its exclusive formula to two other cities in Italy, Genoa and Turin.

To mark the launch of the new Focus a special print-run (+20%) of magazine has been planned, along with a communication campaign run by Hunbranded that, through the use of visuals and captivating and amusing  headlines, highlights the brand’s contribution to “getting the world into focus”  in all its vastness and complexity.

The campaign has been planned on print media and the web, radio and TV, trade channels, sales outlets and on social networks, and will support both the March and April issues.

Starting from the 21 February issue, Raffaele Leone will be the new editor of Focus, the Mondadori Group brand that is a point of reference in popular science and entertainment.

Leone will further enhance a successful formula that has made Focus Italy’s most widely-read magazine, thanks to an even broader range of content and a new look at current affairs, with a continuing scientific approach and a rigorous analysis of the facts.

Born in Catania, Leone, who is 58, began his career on the newspaper La Sicilia, before joining the editorial team of the Indipendente. In 1994 he moved to Il Giornale where he covered a number of roles, including news editor, bureau chief at the Rome office and then central managing editor. In 2006 he was appointed deputy editor of the magazine Grazia, before moving one year later to Panorama, firstly as deputy editor in 2007, executive deputy editor in 2009 and editor-in-chief in 2018.

At the same time Jacopo Loredan – that the Mondadori Group wishes to thank for the professionalism, passion and energy  with which he has led the magazine – will take on the role of event and brand development manager.

Following the success of the first edition of Focus Live, which took place last November in collaboration with the Leonardo da Vinci National Museum of Science and Technology, this year Focus will take its exclusive formula to other cities in Italy, with the aim of further developing the brand’s presence around the country.

A magazine aimed at all teachers of primary and first level secondary schools, to help them face the new challenges of the classroom in the digital age: this is Focus Scuola, a new monthly for teachers from the Mondadori Group.

Focus Scuola, edited by Sarah Pozzoli, has been conceived as a tool at the service of teachers, to support them in their day-to-day work with pedagogical and didactic advice for “feel better” in in the classroom and to manage classes, develop authoritativeness, control stress, attract and retain pupils’ attention and motivate them to study.

“This new magazine – underlined the editor Sarah Pozzoli – comes fro the experience of Focus Junior which for years with its projects for schools, class visits to the editorial departments and events around the country, is in continuous dialogue with teachers, children and parents. all of these activities have enabled us to gather information and to intercept the great need for support for teachers who increasingly need to know about and try out tools that can help them every day as they propose new, engaging and innovative teaching activities. This is why, in 2017, we launched the Osservatorio Trend Junior which has helped us to look more closely at the younger generations, their parents and teachers, and to understand how to virtuously triangulate these three targets in handling issues such as education and training.

Focus Scuola, which is available every month on subscription, offers background details on the latest scientific and pedagogic research, but also good experimental ideas from Italy and the rest of the world from individual teachers and provides suggestions about innovative methods and the use of technology in the classroom.

Extensive space is also given to the latest scientific news of relevance to schools and norms and regulations from the Ministry of Education, as well as reviews of films, books, exhibitions study tours and new trends in the world of children and teenagers, plus a wealth of ideas for lessons and labs that can be done in class.

An added feature is the inclusion of columns by authoritative exponents from the world of schools such as Marco Rossi Doria, Daniela Lucangeli, Alberto Pellai, Giovanni Biondi, Alex Corlazzoli and teaching kits as supplements to the magazine, produced on the logic of S.T.E.A.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics).

Focus Scuola is available only on subscription at a cost of €69 (annual subscription, 10 issues) or €99 (a two-year subscription, 20 issues). During the whole of December it will also be possible to subscribe for a year to  both Focus Scuola and Focus Junior at the special price of €79.

In the first issue, available from this week, among a wide range of issues there is a cover dossier on strategies for communicating with parents and an interview with the philosopher Umberto Galimberti.

Today saw the official opening of the first edition of the “Focus Live” Festival, an event organised by Focus – the Mondadori Group brand that is a point of reference for popular science and entertainment – in cooperation with the Leonardo da Vinci National Museum of Science and Technology in Milan.

The programme, which will run in Milan until 11 November at the spaces of the Leonardo da Vinci Museum, features over 200 events, including conferences, workshops, debates, shows, labs and interactive installations – run in collaboration with Italian and international universities, institutions, research centres and companies – with the aim of presenting and offering a more detailed look at the current challenges facing humanity and the tools we have to  meet them.

At the official opening held this morning, Piero Angela was presented with a prize for his outstanding contribution to popular science by the editor of Focus Jacopo Loredan.

“For us, Focus Live is the culmination of an initiative that started one year ago together with the National Museum of Science and Technology in Milan – declared the editor of Focus Jacopo Loredan. Focus Live, just like our magazine, is within the reach of anyone who is interested and curious; and we think it will be unconventional, stimulating, fun. This can be seen from the programme that we have pit together: with a rich variety and something for all ages, including events and labs also for young children.”

“We are delighted that at last Milan has a festival of science and we are proud that it will take place at our Museum with an innovative format – emphasised Fiorenzo Galli, General Manager of the  National Museum of Science and Technology in Milan. With the ongoing cooperation, enthusiasm and ambition that we share with the Focus team, we have stimulated each other and developed a target of involving the public in unique experiences, with special personalities, around issues and topics that allow us to imagine the future and to help us to build it together. The result of the combined efforts of Focus and the Museum is an ideal marriage that brings together the  vision, competences, experience, networks and cultural resources of  both.”

Genetics, the environment, immortality, artificial intelligence, space travel, sex, climate change, robotics: these are just some of the issues on which the rich programme of events of “Focus Live” will concentrate, a winning exploration across 5 thematic areas (Earth, Homo Sapiens, Science, Technology, Space), and that will enable the public to explore the various fields of knowledge in a rigorous but fun way, in line with the Focus style.

On the fourth day of “Focus Live” over 100 scientists, presenters, journalists, writers and many other experts, will illustrate the latest developments in a number of scientific and technological fields and offer an overview of the adventure of Homo sapiens from our origins to the present, in order to have a better understanding of the big choices and ethical and pragmatic dilemmas our species has to face.

Tomorrow, Friday 9 November, the main stage will feature a one of many protagonists, climate scientist Luca Mercalli (at 10.30 am), who will touch on the very delicate and current issue of global warming and associated climate change, while at 11.30 am, on the same stage, pharmacologist Silvio Garattini, president of the Mario Negri Institute, will illustrate some of the most recent medical discoveries and talk about the current state of cures for diseases that we still haven’t defeated.

At 12.30 pm,  visitors will be able to explore the new frontiers in astronomy and listen to the “music of the stars” with astrophysicist Marica Branchesi.

On Saturday 10 November, at 1 pm, Salvatore Aranzulla, the popular information technology expert, will reveal many of the secrets for success on the internet, while Guido Tonelli from Cern will take a closer look at a number of issues related to cosmology (11 am).

Finally, on Sunday 11 November, the final day of “Focus Live”, we will examine the future of space missions with astronaut Paolo Nespoli (at 5 pm) and at the present state of the earth as seen by cartoonist Zerocalcare (at 12).

Across the entire events area  there will be a number of installations that will allow visitors to get an hands on experience of some of the wonders of science and technology, such as the transparent bath (in the Homo Sapiens Area) which is two metres long and 1.70m deep, and simulates the conditions of our organism when we are in in apnea. The Technology Area will host the robot Centauro, developed by IIT in Genoa and able to provide support in difficult contexts, such as natural and man-made catastrophes. In the  Earth Area, the Natinla Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology will make available to the audience of Focus Live an earthquake simulator: 6 people can access a platform and feel the sensations of horizontal movement of the kind provoked by a tremor. And then, in the Science Area, it will be possible to try Hyperscanning, a method with which a number of people interact while their brains are being simultaneously scanned, and discovering, for example, affinities between couples.

There will also be a Kids Area, run by the magazine Focus Junior, entirely dedicated to smaller children, where kids can take part in labs on topics such as space, coding, science and diet.

The realisation of “Focus Live” extends also to events the iterations of the Focus brands: an authentic system which in addition to the print and digital magazine includes a range of titles (Focus Extra, Focus Domande e Risposte, Focus Storia, Focus Storia Collection, Focus Storia Wars, Focus Junior, Focus Pico, Focus Wild), the web site Focus.it with a monthly audience of more than 1 million unique users, the Mediaset TV channel. on digital terrestrial channel number 35, the Facebook page, with over 1,500,000 fans and an app specially created to use the content of the print magazine in augmented reality.

The complete programme of the Festival is a available at https://www.focus.it/focus-live.

Tickets are available on the site of the del Museo Nazionale Scienza e Tecnologia at this link: http://www.museoscienza.org/focuslive.

Partners

“Focus Live” is supported by a number of prestigious partners.

Main Partners: e-distribuzione, IBM, Volvo

Partners: abmedica, AnnurKap, Candia, Calligaris, Essilor, Fruittella, Genertel, Lenovo, Università Telematica Pegaso, Yakult.

Charity Partner: IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele

Media Partners: Focus Junior, Focus Tv Mediaset, Meteo.it, R101

With the Patronage of: Asi, CNR, Esa and Inaf

With thanks to: Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Università di Padova, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna di Pisa, Muse di Trento, Aeronautica Militare, Esercito, British Interplanetary Society, Italian Mars Society, INGV, Ris dei Carabinieri, Sony PlayStation, Imra, Jrc, Infn, Asferico, Orto Botanico di Padova and Bloom Project.

Sandro Boeri is named Creative Adviser of the Focus brand, a system consisting of six monthly, 2 bi-monthly and 2 quarterly titles, two websites and a range of special editions.

Over the years Boeri has developed – along with the editorial teams – a new way of transmitting knowledge: a simple, yet authoritative, interesting and often entertaining approach, able to translate the most cryptic specialist jargon into information accessible to everyone.

Focus has proved to be a highly effective medium reaching across all social and cultural levels, and opening up the so-called elitist world of culture and science.

Under the guidance of Boeri, who has been the editor in chief since 1995, the monthly has reached a readership of 6.4 million, making it the most widely read magazine in Italy (10.7% of the population), with a website over 513,000 unique users and 10.6 million page impressions.

“Focus today is no longer just a magazine but a cross-media knowledge centre,” says Boeri, who will leave the editorship of the monthly next June. “And it is in this area that I will continue to make a contribution to the development of the brand in all its possible forms: from education to new media, from events to smart-TV, from images to words, games, art, economics and science.”

Francesca Folda will be the new Editor in Chief of Focus and www.focus.it, and will also oversee the brand extensions Extra, D&R and Brain Trainer.

Folda, born in Rome, and not yet forty, built her career in Milan where she attended journalism school in 1995. Folda has accumulated in a short time a wealth of expertise, on different subjects and media, at news agencies and newspapers, television and the web. She was a reporter for ANSA and has been a columnist for several newspapers, before joining the magazine Panorama in 1999, where she produced reports from the world and journalistic investigations that also led to the award of the Saint Vincent prize in 2000. Since 2007 she has successfully explored the world of digital journalism, first on Panorama.it and then at Sky.it. In the last four years she edited the online portal of Sky Italia, where she also had management responsibilities. Under her leadership Sky.it unique users tripled and the number of page views and advertising revenues multiplied.

“Francesca Folda – whose career fits perfectly with the innovative character of Focus – will be responsible for the continued growth of both the magazine and the website by leveraging the value of the brand, the know-how of the editorial staff and the strength of community, paying particular attention to the originality and quality of content,” underlined Fabienne Schwalbe, CEO of G+J/M. “The new role of Creative Adviser to be held by Sandro Boeri, meanwhile, is linked to the overall development strategy of the Focus brand across all media, concentrated on its core values: to spread knowledge in an easy, accessible, attractive and authoritative way,” Schwalbe concluded.

The Gruner + Jahr / Mondadori joint venture, established in 1990, publishes Focus, Italy’s most widely read magazine, and its brand extensions Focus Junior, Focus Storia, Focus D&R, Focus Brain Trainer, Focus Pico, Focus Wild, Focus Storia Biografie, Focus Storia Wars and Focus Storia Collection. Completing the publisher’s portfolio are the monthly magazines Jack and Geo, and the portal nostrofiglio.it, market leader in online Parenting.

New recognition by readers of the titles produced by the Mondadori Group, Italy’s leading magazine publisher.

Figures published by Audipress (2011/III) show continued growth in readership for the Group’s weeklies and monthlies and that 82% of the readers of magazines in the country read Mondadori titles.

LEADERSHIP
In particular, according to the survey, every week Italians choose the magazines Tv Sorrisi e Canzoniand Chi: with a readership of 4,398,000 people, an increase of 3% on the previous survey (Audipress 2011/II), Tv Sorrisi e Canzoni confirms its position as Italy’s most widely read weekly; followed byChi, which is in the number one position among women’s entertainment weeklies, with a continuously rising readership (3,614,000 readers, +4.6% compared with Audipress 2011/II).

There were big numbers also for Donna Moderna, which once again is shown to be the most popular women’s weekly (2,710,000 readers, +3.6% compared with Audipress 2011/II).

With a monthly readership of 6,441,000 (+4%), Focus remains Italy’s most widely read magazine.

Moreover, according to the Audipress figures, an increasing number of Italians read Mondadori’s cooking titles, with the company holding 73% share in this market segment. Among the monthlies,Cucina Moderna, is the most widely read (+14% compared with Audipress 2011/II).

Meanwhile Starbene confirmed its absolute leadership (1,532,000 readers), also recording the best performance in the wellness segment (+7.5% compared with Audipress 2011/II).

BEST PERFORMANCE
There was great satisfaction at Mondadori also for the best performances recorded by other titles in the portfolio in the cooking and interiors.

Cucina no Problem recorded the best growth (+17%) in the cooking segment, in which alsoSale&Pepe stands out (+4,6%), appreciated by readers following the recent renewal.

In the consumer interiors segment, in which Mondadori has a 57% share, there was a brilliant result by CasaFacile (+15%), followed by the monthly Casaviva with an increase of +7.4% to reach a readership of 967,000, and recording strong growth particularly among women.

In addition, there was also significant growth by Confidenze (+23.3%), Economy (+20%), Ciak(+13.5%), Guida TV (+11.6%), Men’s Health (+10.1%), Pc Professionale (+8%), which was also the only IT title to be included by Audipress in the segment, and Panoramauto (+8%).

Jacopo Loredan has been appointed the new editor of the monthly Geo. Loredan, who will take over from the March issue, will also continue in his role as editor of the lifestyle monthly Jack.
At the same time Marco Casareto, who is stepping down as the editor of Geo, will concentrate more specifically on growing commitments related to the development of editorial initiatives based around Focus Storia and its system of brand extensions such as Focus Storia Biografie, Focus Storia Wars and Focus Storia Collection.

The new Geo, edited by Loredan, will be an even more international product, on the strength of a brand recognised for excellence in the international world of publishing thanks to the high quality of its images and reportage.

Jacopo Loredan, who was born in Venice in 1957, began his career as a journalist at ANSA where he became a professional journalist in 1982. Two years later he was hired by Lamberto Sechi at the newly-launched Nuova Venezia. In 1987 he moved to Epoca where he remained for seven years: first as a reporter and subsequently as a special correspondent and then as managing editor. In 1994 he was hired as a correspondent by Panorama. Two years later, in March 1996, he went to Focus, the Gruner+Jahr/Mondadori monthly, as deputy editor. In November 1999, having edited the first issue of the quarterly Focus Extra, he was asked to develop the project for Jack, of which he was to become editor.

Marco Casareto, 45, was born in Chelmsford (England). After studying physics at the University of Milan, he began to work with a number of different magazines including, from 1993, Focus. Three years later he joined the staff of the magazine and in 2000 was appointed section chief with responsibilities for the coordination of the brand extension Focus Extra. Managing editor from 2002, in 2004 Casareto became coordinator of the new Gruner+Jahr/Mondadori title Focus Storia, of which he became deputy editor in 2006 and editor in 2008. The same year he was also appointed editor of Geo, a position he held until November 2009, taking it up again in September 2010. He is currently the editor of Focus Storia and its related editorial offshoots, Focus Storia Biografie, Focus Storia Wars and Focus Storia Collection.

Focus, Italy’s most widely read monthly is celebrating its eighteenth anniversary with a big event to be held at the Rotonda della Besana in Milan, as part of the big exhibition 2050. Il Pianeta ha bisogno di te (2050. The planet needs you), organised in partnership with London’s Science Museum.

Published by Gruner+Jahr/Mondadori and edited by Sandro Boeri, Focus is Italy’s biggest-selling monthly. It is aimed at a qualified target of people who are curious and interested in discovering the world. Over the years Focus has established itself as an authentic unbounded guide to knowledge. The breadth of the subjects it covers (medicine, geology, archaeology, biology, astrophysics, mathematical and physicals sciences, nature and technology) clear, accurate and rigorous exposition and a use of spectacular and high-impact images are among its distinguishing features.

“Thanks to its unique formula, that combines scientific rigour with simple language,” underline Giacomo Moletto, managing director of Gruner+Jahr/Mondadori, “the magazine’s success has made it a leader in Italian publishing with more than 6 million readers and a circulation of almost 500,000 copies. The Focus brand has become so well known that it has recently been successfully “exported” also to television on the national channel Italia Uno in prime time: further proof of the title’s popularity,” concluded Moletto.

There has also been an excellent response from advertisers: in the period January-December 2010, in terms of pages sold for the monthly, Mondadori Pubblicità recorded an increase of 22% compared with 2009.

This evening’s event will be truly spectacular, thanks to the “transformation” of the Rotonda into a sort of special issue of Focus, with the façade of the church acting as an interactive cover for the magazine.

Guests will be entertained by amazing sets and exciting projections that play with the infrastructure, both inside and outside, of the building, but, above all, they will be able to share a really special moment when greetings will be delivered from space from the astronaut Paolo Nespoli. The special guest star of the event will be DustBot, Italy’s “Wall-E” which has been designed to interact with people.