Monaco’s Shibuya Productions invited a special guest to the premier screening of Top Gun: Maverick at Cannes, fulfilling French astronaut Thomas Pesquet’s lifelong dream of meeting his film hero Tom Cruise.
Whilst many people are huge admirers of astronauts, astronauts need someone to admire as well. In the case of French astronaut Thomas Pesquet, he was able to realise his dream of meeting his own screen idol, Tom Cruise, in a place no less than on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival.
Thomas Pesquet has been in the news quite a bit recently as part of a crew who in April 2021 boarded the International Space Station (ISS) for a six-month stint. It was a notable journey in that he was transported there on the Space Systems International Space X Crew Dragon, a partially reusable spacecraft, marking the new way space travel is heading.
The astronaut’s turn on the red carpet was thanks to an invitation from Monaco-based video games company, Shibuya Productions, who it is rumoured will be working on a project together. Rumours also abound about a possible collaboration between Pesquet and Cruise, who is scheduled to head into space and go aboard the ISS in preparation for a new film he will be shooting with director Doug Liman.
The evening was topped off by Cruise landing by helicopter to the site, and a passage of the Patrouille de France, the precision aerobatics demonstration unit of the French Air and Space Force, over the Palais des Festivals.
Photo: Cedric Biscay and Thomas Pesquet at Cannes 2022, photo by Shibuya Productions
With two and a half years until delivery, only four apartments are still for sale in Monaco’s future eco-district Mareterra, while the majority of incoming families will be European, it has been revealed.
The European Central Bank announced on Thursday its intention to raise interest rates in the Eurozone for the first time in 11 years as a tool to fight soaring inflation.
Monaco’s main congress and cultural centre, the Grimaldi Forum, is set to grow enormously as it fuses into the new Mareterra eco-district. Here’s what it will look like in just two and a half years.
The Société des Bains de Mer (SBM) secured almost €200 million more in turnover last financial year, signalling strong recovery for Monaco’s largest company and the region’s most important employer.
The Monaco Yacht Show has a new aspect they are rolling out for 2022. It’s called the Sustainability Hub and it will be welcoming companies that specialise in environmentally friendly superyacht technology.
The centrists of France have lost their majority in parliament due in part to gains by a new left alliance and a stronger than expected showing by the far-right.
Thousands of car lovers turned out to celebrate the return of the Top Marques Monaco supercar show last weekend, with expectations exceeded in terms of sales and the number of visitors.
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The French jobs market has reported its second consecutive year of employment growth, with 200,000 new jobs created in the commercial sector during 2016. The government said that the latest figures confirm the fact of economic growth in France.
The last three months of 2016 were the seventh consecutive quarter of jobs increasing, taking the total over 2015 and 2016 to more than 300,000 new positions.
The jobs market fell in numbers in 2012, 2013, and 2014. The Ministry of Labour said that the improvement was due to “measures taken by the government”.
Temporary employment has reached its highest level since the beginning of 2008, and the sector is considered a precursor of employment trends.
Overall, job creation in 2016 is a good omen for the publication next Thursday of the unemployment rate for 2016.
In the third quarter, the rate stood at 9.7 percent in metropolitan France and 10 percent in France as a whole. However, between 2.81 and 3.47 million remain unemployed.
The new hirings have come too late for the outgoing president, Francois Hollande, who has suffered record-braking unpopularity. Presidential elections are due in three months’ time.
Monaco's Junior Chamber of Commerce (JCEM) held its first networking breakfast of 2017 on Friday, March 17, at the Salon Bellevue of the Café de Paris.
The theme of the morning’s conference, attended by 110 people, was “Government financial tools and support for business” (“Les outils de financement et de soutien du Gouvernement en faveur des enterprises”), as presented by the Department of Finance and the Business Development Agency (Direction de l'Expansion Économique).
Minister of Finance and Economy, Jean Castellini, delivered the morning’s opening and closing remarks, and answered questions from the audience. Minister Castellini took the opportunity to discuss Monaco’s new incubator and accelerator programme, a facility that will open in the fall of 2017 in Fontvieille. This strategy teams up Monaco Telecom, in particular with the current owner Xavier Niel, who will help select successful startups that are either already set up in the Principality, or identified using the incubation process started in Paris.
François-Xavier Le Clerc, Head of Department of the Business Development Agency, hosted the 2-hour discussion. Mr Le Clerc also launched an appeal: “I’m calling on businesses to submit propositions for the EUREKA program.” The EUREKA fund, offered to support to Monegasque companies for technological projects that are innovative and collaborative – they must have at least one other partner belonging to one of the 38 EUREKA member countries) – is made available through repayable loans or subsidies. The aim is to fund at least one “targeted and pragmatic” project per year.
Sandrine Fejoz represented SACDE, “Société d'Aide à la Création et au Developpement d’Entreprises”, a government owned venture capital firm which supports innovative Monegasque companies. Those with “innovative projects under development can contact the Government, that studies opportunities for financial support – contributing to the share capital of the entity to be created in the Principality and additional loans.” In some cases, repayment can begin after 24 or 36 months, to allow companies to develop and absorb social charges and taxes.
Helene Fabbretti of the Direction du Budget et du Trésor, and Delphine Garcia of BPI France, which offers finance for capital market investors were also present.
Many familiar faces were in the audience, including Serge Pierryves, Director of the Business Development Agency; Ambassador-at-Large, Henri Fissore, Marilyne Pierre from CREM, Alina Gavril from Barclays and Invest Monaco’s Justin Highman.
Philip Culazzo, who last year launched his made in Monaco company l’Orangerie, was also on hand. He told Monaco Life: “The Government has a superb range of assistance in place for supporting innovation, Research and Development and high value industry in Monaco. This is hugely beneficial to young companies such as mine in the early stages of development."
The Junior Chamber of Commerce is a global movement (Junior Chamber International) made up of leaders, entrepreneurs, and executives, whose objective is to develop local economic attractiveness. In Monaco, it was founded in 1963 and has 130 members, with a program focusing on three major areas: entrepreneurship, networking and training.
The breakfast was organised by Melissa Bonello Richardson, Director of JCEM’s Breakfast Commission. The last JCEM breakfast in December was on Cybersecurity with the participation of the Minister of Interior, Patrice Cellario.
On the weekend of April 21-23, JCEM is organising its fourth Startup Weekend, at which ideas are turned into team projects and presented non-stop over 54 hours.