Prince Albert has delivered a message of hope as part of the 50th Earth Day, saying each one of us has a key role to play in shaping a better, sustainable world.
The Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation released the recorded message on Wednesday 22nd April, calling for a new equilibrium between humans and nature.
“While our world is experiencing an unprecedented health crisis, I would like to send you a message of hope and mobilisation. Over the past few weeks, our lives have changed at an unprecedented speed. These upheavals will inevitably continue. It is up to us to turn this situation to our advantage, to ensure that the current suffering leads to a better world. The human frailty we are seeing should lead to us to think about our priorities and reinvent our relationship with nature.”
To see the video, click here.
The theme for Earth Day 2020 is climate action. “Climate change represents the biggest challenge to the future of humanity and the life-support systems that make our world habitable,” said Earth Day organisers.
The first Earth Day in 1970 launched a wave of action, including the passage of landmark environmental laws in the United States. The Clean Air, Clean Water and Endangered Species Acts were created in response to the first Earth Day in 1970, as well as the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Many countries soon adopted similar laws.
Earth Day continues to hold major international significance. In 2016, the United Nations chose Earth Day as the day when the historic Paris Agreement on climate change was signed into force.
Over the course of 24 hours on 22nd April 2020, the 50th anniversary of Earth Day filled the digital landscape with global conversations, calls to action, performances, video teach-ins and more.
The global fitness industry is worth roughly €100 billion a year, an enormous sector which was effectively shut down last month as fitness studios and gyms closed their doors amid the coronavirus pandemic.
While the crisis has been catastrophic for the physical fitness industry, it has provided the digital fitness industry with fertile ground to penetrate the market and establish itself as a long-term major player.
One such digital fitness device is Activ5, developed right here in the Principality by Dr. Kostadin Yanev and the team at Shibuya Productions. [ihc-hide-content ihc_mb_type=”show” ihc_mb_who=”2″ ihc_mb_template=”1″ ]
Monaco Life: Can you tell us the philosophy behind Activ5?
Dr. Kostadin Yanev: The philosophy is simple – get people to a happier and healthier lifestyle. Our aim is to make exercising fit effortlessly into anyone’s daily routine. Fitness can be accessible and fun, and people should be empowered to take charge of their health progress. Activ5 is “the tiny gym in your pocket” that allows you to keep active anywhere and at anytime. How did its development come about?
The idea of Activ5 was first conceived in Monaco. It came to me when I was in a taxi on the way to yet another meeting. I knew I had to work out that day, but was dreading going to the gym – taking the time to go there, exercise and come back home … it also seemed too much. In the midst of yet another self-motivating speech getting me to go exercise, I realised that I had idle time now, during my commute, but had no means to exercise in the back seat of the car.
I approached solving this problem using my experience as a physicist and computer scientist. Fitness can be viewed simply as applying force using one’s muscles. I found that isometric exercise best captures the body’s force to allow for work outs that are efficient, intense and that can take place under any conditions.
I wanted to also measure the exerted force and save the data so as to track my progress. Thankfully, due to modern technology, this idea didn’t seem very far fetched. That’s when I started working on the use cases, patents, and in a short time organised an enthusiastic international team to develop the first prototype. The hardware was initially made using 3D printing, while the firmware was based on a small microcomputer, with the software being developed step-by-step by subcontractors.
The Monaco based company Shibuya Productions, which is a specialist in the videogames industry, works actively on the entertainment side of Activ5 with my team and represents Activ5 in Monaco.
My friend and partner Cédric Biscay from Shibuya Productions believes in the concept of “Gamification” which can be defined as a way to add fun in order to reduce the constraint. What challenges did you face initially?
The main challenge was to overcome the desire to make a very universal device, that included multiple sensors, games, nutrition information, calendar, etc. While this was successful (the first prototype won a ‘Best Of CES’ nomination, the biggest computer electronics show in Las Vegas), marketing specialists advised to test the market with a simpler, more intuitive model that focuses on isometric training and tracking. Thus, a new challenge presented itself – we had to promote and popularise the concept of isometrics, for example using intensive muscular force in a static position, with no movement. Something which is very convenient when you’re in a confined space, with very little time to exercise. We wanted to highlight these benefits in the device name – Activ5, you only need to exercise for as short as five minutes. What is the connection to China?
The device’s mechanical instruments were created in China. It is also where production began.
To us, the Chinese market has huge potential and offers many opportunities. This is why ActivBody has reached an agreement with relevant partners to create a joint venture company located in Beijing. The product has some strong endorsement from groups like Apple Store and the Pittsburg Steelers, can you tell us about that?
We are extremely proud to have a product featured in Apple Store. It has been great collaborating with them. We are hoping and looking forward to seeing our new models and apps there soon too. Companies like Apple and Amazon help Activ5 become more easily accessible and widely recognised, and we are happy that such renowned companies support us as a unique, innovative product.
The endorsement from the Pittsburgh Steelers, an extremely acclaimed and celebrated US football team, helped us to discover new uses for Activ5 and offers us unique insights from sport professionals. Their chief conditioning coach, Garrett Giemont, actively shares great ideas about new exercises and tailored accessories, offering us his continuous support, once saying to me: “You don’t even realise what you’ve invented for us”. Online fitness courses and devices are going through the roof during lockdown – what role can Activ5 play at this time?
The strength of Activ5 lies in its ability to actively track and provide users with feedback, thanks to its software and cloud platform. Users are able to visualise their progress, know their exact precision and understand which exercises they are performing best and which still need practice. In a time when you can’t really follow your progress, it can give people that extra bit of motivation. Specifically, for professional users – physiotherapists, fitness instructors, health insurers, game developers – it is very important to track the compliance of their “clients” with the prescribed routines. The possibility to create their own products and develop their own businesses using our tech has also been envisaged as ActivBody is providing specialised APIs and SDK for this purpose. Can you tell us about the gaming element that you are creating for the device?
Our goal has always been to make exercising fun; to make a mundane activity into something you look forward to and motivate people to get moving and lead a happier, healthier lifestyle.
We already have some games, such as Activ5 Fly and Sumo, which are available on Android and iOS, and we are currently working on more opportunities and projects with several gaming companies.
Our next generation of devices are designed specifically to combine fitness with gaming, bringing health and wellness to all who enjoy gaming. We’ll be making public announcements soon on this exciting development.
I believe that Activ5 and its new models (integrated with different tools, such as accelerometer and gyroscope), has the potential to become the first handheld mobile game controller, allowing people to exercise while playing games, and still applying real physical effort, and not just fingertips. Do you think the lockdown has changed the future of fitness?
It seems to me that the current lockdown has empowered people to take real care of their health. We now, more than ever, are faced with the fact that staying in good health is more than just a personal goal. It’s of communal importance. The product we are offering aims to help people live a healthy life no matter the circumstances.
With its compact design, Activ5 can be used anywhere and assist people in reaching their fitness objectives. It is also fun to use, which, particularly in these turbulent times, is no small matter.
Clearly, the lockdown has accelerated the online transition of the fitness industry. Training remotely via video is now more commonplace than ever before. Activ5 and our platform is also particularly well-suited in helping fitness professionals track the progress and provide precise, tailored guidance to their clients, regardless of distance. What is the future of this device?
We are working consistently on providing our customers with the latest in fitness technology. Creativity and innovation can not stop. ActivBody is developing a line of new isometric devices, new applications and accessories. Stay tuned, big changes are coming!
Air France has said it is looking to resume 30% of its normal flights by July, as well as gradually increasing flights to and from major destinations from 11th May.
Air France is already looking ahead to the new reality post-lockdown by increasing the number of flights between Nice, Toulouse and Marseille, three of the major French airports that have remained open during confinement.
Starting in July, the airline is hoping to increase flights from the current 5% of normal capacity up to 30%, subject to border re-openings, both inside and out of the EU.
Currently, more than 90% of Air France-KLM flights have been cancelled leaving 45,000 workers on partial unemployment. Skelton crews have been managing the few flights that are operating from Paris Charles de Gaulle to select European destinations, while Orly has been completely shut since the end of March.
Additionally, there are a small handful of flights heading to international destinations. On the list are New York, Los Angeles, Montreal, Mexico City, Rio de Janiero, Sao Paulo and Tokyo, as well as three destinations in Africa. Service to the dom-toms has continued in a limited way, mainly for repatriation purposes, to Martinique, French Guiana, Guadeloupe and La Reunion.
The good news for those intrepid passengers who are ready to fly again is that, not only will they be able to get flights more readily, they will be less packed. The global airline trade alliance IATA has set out some ground rules for post-confinement flights. Social distancing regulations would mean planes would be no more than two-thirds full. The body will be asking airlines to disallow three passengers seated in a row for the time being, leaving the middle seat empty.
Airlines are shooting back that these measures are not only impractical, but ineffective. The impossibility of keeping social distancing rules on a vehicle with recirculated air makes the regulations sound rather ridiculous indeed. The airlines are instead suggesting taking a page from the Asian airlines who have imposed temperature screenings and mandatory face masks on flights to make them safer.
A new report by Monaco’s statistics body IMSEE shows trade figures declined in 2019 compared to the previous year, and experts warn that the current forecasts are likely to see much steeper drops for 2020 than previously predicted.
Contributing factors such as the sharp drop in oil prices are to blame, but additional factors such as Brexit, US-China tension and the slowdown of Europe’s major economies are also contributors for the 2019 decline.
As overall world trade slows, though, Monaco’s foreign trade is on the rise, growing 8.9% last year. This is a long way off the previous year’s significant increase of 26.5% but is still respectable considering the global situation in general.
Given the Customs Union between France and the Principality of Monaco, the exchange of goods and services between the two countries is not subject to customs formalities. The data presented relate only to trade between the Principality of Monaco and the rest of the world, excluding France.
Taking this into consideration, the volume of trade exceeded €3.5 billion for the first time. This increase can be attributed to the joint increase in sales (+1.7%) and purchases (+12.7%).
The deficit in the Principality’s trade balance continues to grow, reaching 24.3% in 2019. Monaco imports twice as much as it exports, and the export/import coverage rate remains below 50%.
Transaction within the European Union, excluding France, dramatically increased last year by 20.9%, though outside the EU, they fell by 7.0%.
Goods from the manufacture of other industrial products such as jewellery, clothing and plastic products represent more than 50% of the total amount of trade in the Principality.
The Women in Ocean Science (WIOS) committee, headed by Monaco Scientific Centre’s Dr Christine Ferrier-Pagès, has awarded its first recipient, an American scientist working with Caribbean coral reefs for the Smithsonian.
Dr. Sarah Gignoux-Wolfsohn has just received the grant offered by Women in Ocean Science for her work with the Smithsonian Environmental Research Centre studying pathogenic bacteria that are threatening the bi-valve mollusc populations in coral reefs. She is the first beneficiary of the prize.
“I am very excited to be the first recipient of the WIOSA,” Dr Gignoux-Wolfsohn said. “I am honoured to have been chosen by the amazing scientists at CCMI and WIOSA advisors. I am looking forward to contributing to the amazing woman-led research programmes at CCMI and to help mentor the next generation of female scientists.”
The award will help advance the scientist’s research programme, integrating theory and ideas from other systems with her PhD work on coral health and disease.
“Infectious disease is one of the greatest threats to corals and the coral reef ecosystems they build,” she said. “By testing methods to improve the resilience of coral communities, my work at CCMI will advance our understanding of community ecology, disease, and microbial community composition with implications for coral restoration and the creation of resilient coral reefs.”
The WIOS committee is comprised of prominent female scientists and include, in addition to Monaco’s Dr Ferrier-Pagès, Drs Carrie Manfrino, Sylvia Earle, Amy Apprill, Gretchen Goodbody-Gringley and Hollie Putnam.
The award given is made up of two $10,000 grants. One is given to the researcher, the other to support an entire month of field work, in this case at the Little Cayman Research Centre where Dr Gignoux-Wolfsohn undertakes her studies. She was selected from a group of candidates coming from 10 different countries working at the best labs in the world.
Although great strides have been made over the past 30 years, women are still underrepresented in key positions in the marine scientific community. WIOS aims to level the field having created a network of advisors for female researchers working on topical issues regarding coral reefs.
Women such as Monaco Scientific Centre’s Dr Ferrier-Pagès are pioneers. Her situation is an anomaly in this male-dominant profession. “The laboratory in Monaco is rather well balanced, as all the heads of different sections are in fact women,” she explained to Monaco Life. “But overall in Europe, the United States, Australia, and the like, there are many women in science, but not in high positions. There is always one woman for every 10 men.”
