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European Space Agency’s new astronauts

Yesterday, after 13 years, the ESA (European Space Agency) announced the new generation of astronauts. From more than 22 500 applicants, the ESA has chosen 17 new astronauts for this new 2022 class of astronauts. Among them are five career astronauts, eleven members of an astronaut reserve, and one astronaut with a disability.

Who are these five new career astronauts?

Sophie Adenot, from France.

Born in 1982, she graduated in spacecraft and aircraft flight dynamics at ISAE-SUPAERO in Toulouse and completed an MSc in human factors engineering at MIT in Boston.

In 2004, after finishing her studies, she worked as a helicopter cockpit design research engineer at Airbus Helicopter. She then joined the French Air Force in 2005 and graduated in 2018 as a helicopter test pilot from the Empire Test Pilots School in the UK.

In 2022, Sophie was awarded the French National Order of Merit (Chevalier) as “lieutenante-colonelle” for 17 years of service.

Sophie is fluent in French and English but also speaks Spanish, Russian, and German.

She is passionated about outdoor sports such as skiing and mountain biking and is a certified yoga teacher.

Pablo Álvarez Fernández, from Spain.

Born in 1988, he graduated in aeronautical engineering from the University of León in Spain and completed a master’s degree in aerospace engineering from the Warsaw University of Technology in 2011.

Between 2011 and 2017, he worked as a structural engineer for Airbus and Safran in Spain, the UK, and France.

From 2017 to 2020, he worked as an ExoMars rover mechanical architect at Airbus Defence and Space in the UK. Before being selected as an astronaut candidate, Pablo was working as a Project Manager for Airbus operations in Spain.

Pablo is fluent in Spanish, English, French, and Polish.

Rosemary Coogan, from the UK.

Born in 1991, she completed two master’s degrees in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Durham, UK. In 2019, she graduated with a doctorate in astronomy from the University of Sussex, UK.

After finishing her doctorate, she studied galaxies with astronomical data from space- and ground-based telescopes at the Max Planck Institute for Extra-terrestrial physics in Munich, Germany.

In 2022, she worked as a research fellow in space science at the French space agency CNES in Paris for missions such as EUCLID and James Webb Space Telescope observations.

Rosemary is fluent in English, and French and also speaks German.

She enjoys rowing, scuba diving, hiking, cycling, kayaking, and yoga as well as spending time with her friends and family.

Raphaël Liégeois, from Belgium.

Born in 1988, he graduated both in biomedical engineering at the University of Liège in Belgium and as “Ingérieur Centralien” at the École Centrale Paris. Later, he completed a master’s degree in fundamental physics at the University Paris-Sud Orsay in France in 2010. Finally, he completed a Doctorate in neuroscience at the University of Liège in Belgium.

From 2015 to 2017, he completed a post-doctoral research in new neuroimaging markers of neurodegenerative diseases at the National University of Singapore. Then, he completed a senior post-doctoral research developing dynamic models of brain function at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland until 2021.

Since 2021, he has been working as a Research and Teaching Fellow at the University of Geneva and the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland.

Raphaël is fluent in French, English, and Dutch.

He enjoys reading poetry and biographies and is active in several sports.

Marco Sieber, from Switzerland.

Born in 1989, he graduated as Doctor of Medicine from the University of Bern, Switzerland in 2015. In 2021, he received his diploma in pre-clinical emergency and rescue medicine (SGNOR).

From 2015 to 2017, he worked as a general surgery, traumatology, and intensive care unit resident in Interlaken, Switzerland. In 2018, he became a chief medical officer with the Swiss Army for Kosovo. Later, he worked as an emergency medicine resident at the University Hospital of Bern until 2019.

Between 2019 and 2021, he came back to Interlaken as an anesthesiology resident.

Marco is fluent in German and Swiss German and also speaks English and French.

He enjoys outdoor and adventure sports, such as skydiving and paragliding for instance.

Who are the members of the Astronaut Reserve and who is the Parastronaut?

The reserve pool of astronauts is composed of eleven members such as Meganne Christian from the UK, Anthea Comellini and Andrea Patassa from Italy, Sara García Alonso from Spain, Carmen Possnig from Austria, Arnaud Prost from France, Amelie Schoenenwald from Germany, Aleš Svoboda from the Czech Republic, Sławosz Uznański from Poland, Marcus Wandt from Sweden, and Nicola Winter from Germany.

The members will start basic training in case there is a flight opportunity for them. Meanwhile, they remain with their current jobs while receiving a consultancy contract and basic support.

Finally, one astronaut candidate with a physical disability has been selected. His name is John McFall, he comes from the UK and will take part in the Parastronaut Feasibility Project. This project aims to develop options for the inclusion of astronauts with physical disabilities in possible future missions.

What’s next for the five new career astronauts?

In Spring 2023, the five career astronaut candidates will be joining the ESA’s European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany. As the International Space Station partners specified, the ESA astronaut class of 2022 will be trained to the highest level of standards.

Sources:

https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Human_and_Robotic_Exploration/ESA_presents_new_generation_of_astronauts

https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Human_and_Robotic_Exploration/Astronauts/Sophie_Adenot

https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Human_and_Robotic_Exploration/Astronauts/Pablo_Alvarez_Fernandez

https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Human_and_Robotic_Exploration/Astronauts/Rosemary_Coogan

https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Human_and_Robotic_Exploration/Astronauts/Raphael_Liegeois

https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Human_and_Robotic_Exploration/Astronauts/Marco_Alain_Sieber

 

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A.I Digital Business News politic Strategy

L’IA : une nouvelle priorité de l’UE

L'IA : une priorité pour l'UE
L'IA : une priorité pour l'UE

L’Intelligence artificielle, une des nouvelles priorités de l’union européenne.

L’IA : une nouvelle priorité de l’UE – Pourquoi l’Union et la Commission Européenne inclue l’IA dans sa nouvelle stratégie ?

L’UE a défini 4 grands objectifs dans son programme stratégique pour la période de 2019 à 2024. Ces 4 thématiques sont les suivantes :

  • Protéger les citoyens et les libertés,
  • Mettre en place une base économique solide et dynamique,
  • Construire une Europe neutre pour le climat, verte, équitable et sociale,
  • Promouvoir les intérêts et les valeurs de l’Europe sur la scène mondiale.

L’une de ces nouvelles grandes thématiques de l’union européenne pour les prochaines années est donc d’établir une base économique « solide et dynamique » ce qui passe par le support de plusieurs secteurs, d’investir dans les compétences et l’éducation et parmi ces différentes actions l’une d’entre-elles nous concerne : « s’approprier la transformation numérique ».

En parallèle, la Commission Européenne a présenté pour la même période donnée ses 6 priorités parmi lesquelles nous retrouvons « Une Europe adaptée à l’ère du numérique ». Cette priorité est elle aussi présentée comment ayant pour objectif de s’approprier la transformation digitale en investissent dans les talents européens, dans la recherche ainsi que dans l’innovation. En parallèle la commission veut élaborer des règles adaptées à ces évolutions technologiques.

« La stratégie numérique de l’UE a pour objectif de faire en sorte que cette transformation profite aux citoyens et aux entreprises, tout en aidant l’UE à atteindre son objectif de neutralité climatique d’ici 2050. »

Livre blanc de la Commission Européenne

Dans ce contexte, l’UE présente un livre blanc sur l’intelligence artificielle car l’IA fait partie des trois piliers qui viennent soutenir sa stratégie en ce qui concerne le digital. Si l’UE s’intéresse à l’IA, c’est parce qu’elle représente l’un des points sur lesquels l’UE souhaite investir pour rattraper le retard que les entreprises européennes ont pris face aux gens américains et chinois tout en mettant en avant l’importance du respect des droits des citoyens ainsi que la confiance du consommateur dans ces nouveaux outils.

L’IA, un concept encore flou pour le consommateur

En effet, aujourd’hui l’intelligence artificielle est un concept qui peut paraitre encore flou pour certains alors même que celui-ci est de plus en plus présent dans nos vies. Même si aujourd’hui l’intelligence artificielle est surement un terme qu’une majorité a déjà entendu auparavant, cette même majorité ne sait possiblement pas vraiment comment la définir. Il est même possible qu’une part significative des consommateurs n’ait pas conscience d’utiliser ou d’être confronté à des outils d’intelligence artificielle de manière quotidienne.

Il n’est pourtant pas étonnant que définir l’intelligence artificielle puisse être complexe pour certains étant donné que le concept d’intelligence artificielle ne semble pas disposé d’une définition qui fait l’unanimité. Cependant, aujourd’hui on trouve de nombreuses définitions de qui sont plus ou moins exigeantes concernant ce que l’on considère comme une intelligence artificielle dépendamment des capacités de celle-ci comparées à celle d’un humain. En effet, à l’origine l’IA, comme son nom l’indique, avait pour but de désigner un programme ou un algorithme capable de venir s’approcher et d’imiter les capacités cognitives humaines en se basant sur les outils technologiques dont l’Homme dispose. D’un autre côté on trouve des définitions très générales qui viennent désigner comme intelligence artificielle comme un algorithme ou un simple programme capable d’effectuer des tâches plus ou moins complexes de manière automatique.

Par exemple, Cédric Villani vient présenter l’IA comme un conglomérat de plusieurs disciplines tel que l’informatique, les mathématiques, les sciences cognitives, etc. ayant pour objectif aujourd’hui de « mettre au point des automates qui résolvent certains problèmes bien mieux que les humains, par tous les moyens disponibles ».

D’un autre côté, l’Union Européenne, elle, définis un « système d’intelligence artificielle » dans son livre blanc comme un logiciel « qui peut, pour un ensemble donné d’objectifs définis par l’homme, générer des résultats tels que des contenus, des prédictions, des recommandations ou des décisions influençant les environnements avec lesquels il interagit ». Une définition plus large qui vient englober beaucoup plus de programmes différents et selon laquelle, le consommateur est effectivement en contact au quotidien avec des IA. Par exemple celui-ci est potentiellement confronté à de l’IA quand il utilise son smartphone ou simplement en surfant sur internet.

Conclusion

Avec ce livre blanc l’UE vient donc donner une définition à l’IA qui va lui permettre d’être, d’une part, plus libre dans les investissements qu’elle va effectuer pour soutenir les entreprises et instituts qui travaillent au développement des technologies d’intelligence artificielle sur le territoire européen. Et d’autre part cela lui permet de mettre en avant la réalité de la présence de l’IA dans le quotidien des consommateurs pour pouvoir par la suite assurer leur protection.

Comme on peut le lire dans son livre blanc, l’Europe a pour but de « devenir un acteur mondial de premier plan en matière d’innovation dans l’économie fondée sur les données et dans ses applications », et ce, notamment grâce à l’IA ainsi qu’à ses applications dans différents secteurs et industries, à son application dans la vie des citoyens dans les domaines de la santé, des transports et des services publics et pour finir pour son application dans les services d’intérêt public comme l’éducation, l’énergie, la sécurité, etc.

D’autres articles sur le thème de l’intelligence artificielle :

  • Can artificial intelligence replace human judging in artistic gymnastics ? – ici
  • The future of commercial aviation: Pilotless flight thanks to AI? – ici
  • The biases of AI in the hiring process – ici

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Analytics News Outils 2.0 politic Réseaux sociaux

OSINT – L’art du renseignement sur internet

OSINT – L’art du renseignement sur internet
OSINT – L’art du renseignement sur internet

Vous n’avez jamais entendu parler d’OSINT ? Découvrez l’art du renseignement sur internet : l’OSINT. Vous utilisez sans le savoir certaines de ses informations et de ses outils tous les jours.

Qu’est-ce que l’OSINT ?

« OSINT » est l’abréviation de « Open-source intelligence » en anglais. En français, le « ROSO » pour « Renseignement d’origine sources ouvertes » qui désigne l’utilisation des informations publiques.

L’OSINT permet d’enquêter depuis votre bureau, devant votre écran. Cette technique profite des multiples possibilités que permet le web de trouver des informations. En effet cela fait appel à de nombreux outils du quotidien ainsi que des outils plus sophistiqués afin de collecter, de traiter et d’analyser des informations. Toutes les informations trouvées sont disponibles sur internet ou sur n’importe quel autre média public, généralement dans le cadre d’une enquête.

En application, l’OSINT peut vous permettre grâce à simple une photo, une vidéo ou un profil de réseau social de retrouver un certain nombre d’informations. Par exemple : une localisation, une identité, une date ou n’importe quel autre type d’information.

Introduction à l’OSINT

Les différentes branches de l’OSINT

Il existe plusieurs branches à l’OSINT, comme l’explique le site de la communauté française OSINT-FR :

  • SOCMINT (Social Media Intelligence) : l’utilisation des réseaux sociaux pour obtenir des informations.
  • IMINT (Imagery Intelligence) : l’analyse de tout type d’images comme les photos classiques. On peut aussi citer l’utilisation d’images de satellites, infrarouges, radar, etc.
  • GEOINT (Geospatial Intelligence) : l’analyse combinée des informations de géolocalisation, géologiques et météorologiques tout en faisant appel à l’IMINT.
  • SIGINT (Signals Intelligence) : elle, est décrite comme « l’analyse des signaux électromagnétiques et communications radio ».
  • MASINT (Measurement and signature intelligence) : désigne l’utilisation et l’analyse des informations issues de tout type de capteur.

Qui peut faire de l’OSINT ?

Les professions utilisant l’OSINT sont généralement des journalistes, des enquêteurs, des professionnels de l’informatique et des hackers. Même si l’OSINT peut faire appel à des connaissances en informatique elle n’est pas limitée aux professionnels. Cette méthode passe aussi par l’utilisation des réseaux sociaux et d’outils comme Google Maps ou Google Earth, connu de tous. Par définition, tout le monde peut faire de l’OSINT. L’information étant disponible à tous, n’importe quel internaute est libre de pratiquer les techniques qui y sont associées.

L’OSINT se base énormément sur des communautés de passionnés partageant techniques, outils et informations. Les enquêtes sont souvent longues et nécessitent de la patience et de investissement personnel. En effet, celles-ci demandent de recouper les informations et de les vérifier tout en exploitant un maximum de sources. C’est pour ces raisons que les enquêtes sont aussi menées à plusieurs ainsi qu’entre communautés.

Ces méthodes ont permis d’aider de nombreuses enquêtes. Leurs actions aident par exemple à retrouver des individus disparus. Mais aussi à résoudre des crises géopolitiques mondiales et permettent de dénoncer des crimes et actions terroristes.

Les objectifs de l’OSINT : l’exemple de Bell¿ngcat

Afin de montrer les possibilités qu’offrent l’application de techniques d’OSINT, parlons de l’exemple de Bell¿ngcat.

Logo de Bell¿ngcat

L’une des communautés les plus connues médiatiquement qui utilise l’OSINT pour mener ses enquêtes se nomme Bell¿ngcat que l’on lit « Bellingcat ». Cette communauté s’articule autour d’un site web crée par un blogueur nommé Eliot Higgings en juillet 2014 et regroupe un certain nombre de journalistes d’investigation ainsi que des citoyens volontaires. Le site est spécialisé dans la vérification d’information ainsi que dans le renseignement de type OSINT.

Les objectifs de cette communauté sont de d’archiver et de protéger les différents contenus qui selon eux, pourraient être utilisés dans le cadre d’enquêtes officielles. Aussi, ils œuvrent dans le but de rendre accessible et publiques toutes informations qui sont utiles à dévoiler la vérité sur des crimes et des violations des droits de l’Homme, dans l’objectif que justice soit rendue.

Dans les faits d’arme du collectif nous retrouvons :

  • La mise en accusation de la Russie dans le cadre de l’enquête sur le vol MH17. Le vol de la compagnie Malaysia Airlines provenant d’Amsterdam et en direction de Kuala Lumpur a été abattu au-dessus du territoire ukrainien. Bellingcat à montré qu’un missile antiaérien avait tiré par tiré par un lanceur d’une brigade de l’armée russe.
  • Le groupe a permis grâce à ses méthodes d’enquête de retrouver des membres de l’armée régulière du Cameroun et de démontrer leur culpabilité dans le meurtre de deux femmes et deux jeunes enfants.
  • Les Bell¿ngcats ont confirmer l’empoisonnement du ressortissant russe Alexeï Navalny. En s’appuyant sur des faits similaires survenu auparavant et impliquant la Russie.
  • Comme dernier exemple nous pouvons citer l’identification d’un des auteurs d’actes criminels à Charlottesville en 2017 lors des émeutes dû à un rassemblement de l’extrême droite américaine.

Conclusion

L’OSINT est une pratique entièrement légale car n’utilisant que des informations en libre-accès. Les outils mis en place sont aussi légaux et pour la plupart utilisables sans compétences particulières. Comme présenté précédemment, elle est une méthode de renseignement ouverte à tous. L’OSINT sert à des fins d’enquête et permet à certaines communautés de trouver des éléments clés dans certaines affaires. Cela touche des enquêtes d’ampleur ou plus classiques grâce à un maniement intelligent d’internet. L’open source intelligence se sert des informations libres d’accès à des fins de renseignement avancés.

Néanmoins l’OSINT peut aussi être utile à des fins personnelles. Par exemple, pour observer le nombre d’information que l’on sème sur internet. En effet, nous laissons transparaitre des informations sans même en avoir conscience. Ces informations sont en libre accès par le biais de nos réseaux sociaux par exemple. Expliquer l’OSINT ainsi que ses pratiques pourrait amener plus d’utilisateurs à s’en rendre compte. Ou bien, à mettre en perspective la quantité d’informations personnelles qu’ils laissent en libre accès. Et par conséquent, de mettre en avant l’importance de la protection des données.

Pour aller plus loin sur le sujet de la protection des données privées :

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Marketing News Réseaux sociaux

Facebook’s Metaverse: should you worry about it?

facebook metaverse

Should you fear Facebook’s Metaverse?

The Facebook’s metaverse is on everyone’s lips since the group changed its name to Meta, derived from the word “Metaverse”, a not-so-new notion preached by Mark Zuckerberg.

You’ve probably all heard about the Metaverse, this hypothetical virtual reality realm that aims at interconnecting people in “completely immersive ways”, Zuckerberg said.

But far from an anecdotical rebranding, Facebook’s shift to Meta in fact reflects an alarming decline of the brand’s popularity:

In reality, why would Meta want to dissociate itself from the original platform it created, and today gathering nearly 3 billion people?

Facebook has been affected in the last few years by a generational problem: the youngest generations don’t want to be on Facebook anymore, because this is the social media that their parents are using. Simple as that. They prefer Instagram, Snapchat, or, more recently, TikTok.

But this shift in usage among the younger generations is not the only reason for a name change. There have been many scandals around the name of Facebook in the past decade. Cambridge Analytica is one of them and has proven the company’s questionable intentions.

By “dropping” Facebook, Meta is hoping to get another chance to prove to people that it can still protect user data.

What are Mark Zuckerberg’s true intentions here about Facebook’s metaverse ? To figure it out, we need to go beyond this name change and understand how Meta will benefit from it.

Read the full article here on LinkedIn.

 

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Marketing News

5 Reasons Indian-born CEO’s Lead The Tech Industry

Why are Indian-born CEO’s chosen at increasing rates to lead tech companies in the US?

During the last week of November 2021, Parag Agrawal has been named the new Twitter CEO by co-founder Jack Dorsey. The 37-year-old Indian-American, former technology executive, is now at the head of one of the top tech companies in the world.

But he’s not alone: during the past years, more and more Indian-born Americans have been starting to replace iconic tech figures: Larry Page, for instance, appointed Sundar Pichai as the new CEO of Google in 2015. One year before, in 2014, Satya Nadella succeeded Steve Ballmer as number 1 of Microsoft.

In only 7 years, Nadella brought Microsoft to the world’s top market capitalizations with $2.449 Trillion in value, making the company world’s second market cap.

There are also more examples in the tech world: Adobe or IBM have also made the change, naming respectively Shantanu Narayen and Arvind Krishna as their new leader.

Indian-born CEO’s in tech companies often bring new dimensions in many fields, including advanced types of leadership and a comprehensive approach to management. These changes have shown concrete results in the last years, and this is why the tendency is rising.

What are the reasons for their success and popularity? Why do the original founders of two of the GAFAM, Google and Microsoft, stepped off the stage for them?

Check the top 5 reasons Indian-born CEO’s lead the main tech companies in the Infographic right below!

Categories
A.I Business China Mobilité News

Tesla and China : a matter of privacy

Tesla x China

 

 

China to ban Tesla use by military and government employees

 

Tesla, a growing company

Founded in 2003 by American entrepreneurs Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, Tesla is known worldwide for its electric cars, and especially its CEO since 2008, Elon Musk.
A car capable of driving itself, this what the company proclaimed it to become. This dream began in 2003 with the idea of a fully electric sport car that could go further than any of the electric cars on the market then. After gathering enough money, including the $30M from Elon Musk, Tesla finally created its first vehicle, the Roadster. The goal was reached, with 395km of range, more than any electric vehicle before. In order to charge the vehicle, Tesla created stations called Superchargers in the United States and Europe designed for charging batteries quickly and at no extra cost to Tesla owners.

Such a feat brought Tesla to work on a new model, the iconic Model S.

Tesla Model S

The vehicle came to the market in 2012, and in 2014 the famous Autopilot system was implemented to it. This semi autonomous driving is now available on every Tesla models, and makes the company fame. With time, Tesla diversified its range of vehicle with the Model X in 2015, a sport-utility vehicle, and in 2017 the Model 2017, a four-door sedan less costly. Lately, the company is extending even more its range of products with a SUV, the Model Y (2020), the Semi-Truck (2021), a semi-trailer, and the Cybertruck (2021), a light truck.

Along with this vehicle business, Tesla bought what is now its subsidiary, SolarCity. The company develops installs solar photovoltaic systems in the United States, giving Tesla.inc a “green energy dimension”, a new opportunities to improve the current range of vehicles with maybe new ways of charging them.

 

Tesla in China, a land of opportunity

Meeting success in America and Europe, Tesla had to focus on Asia. Elon Musk decided to enter the most complicated market in this area, China. And he did. In 2018, Musk signed an agreement with Shanghai to set up its first factory in China. It is important to notify that China represents around 25 million vehicle sales per year. Lucky for Musk, the government is supporting the automobile area to grow and to welcome foreign companies. Furthermore, it is clear that having a factory right in China will lower the production costs, thus creating a competitive advantage for the brand. With that, the price of the Model 3 decreased, and people began to buy Tesla products.

In addition, the market of electric vehicle in China is growing exponentially. As a matter of a fact, a greener economy is quite the center of attention for the country and its population. It truly is a great opportunity for Tesla to shine and bring the products expected by China.

 

Privacy issues between Tesla and Chinese government

What happened for such a controversy to take place ? The matter, very common for China, is privacy. In summary, Tesla cars have been banned from military bases, and both military and state employees are prohibited to own a Tesla. Chinese government invokes a violation of national security, as the vehicles could leak highly classified information. Such a measure is one of many side-effects due to the ongoing Trade War between the US and China. Since the Huawei case has been stated, privacy is now an important matter for both countries.

Moreover, Bloomberg journal stated that the company could be banned in entier regions of China. The fear of the cars collecting sensitive data via the cars’ in-built cameras seems quite persistent, for a country which knows its subject in matter of cameras. Actually, it is quite interesting to see that China is compliant to let Tesla do business within the country but with wide restrictions. The point to make here is why China would let the American company be at ease with flourishing cities like Shanghai, while restricting it ? The car will still be able to film anywhere around it. It doesn’t cut out the technology embedded in the vehicle.

The thing to retain of it is how Chinese government is able to regulate the market, opened to foreigners but also strict about competitive abuses. Is it censorship to favor the local production, instead of letting external company take over the market ? It could be, or it could be necessary protectionism. It is quite a debatable subject, since local companies represent the identity of a country. Although, in order to expand, some would prefer to open business frontiers and make use of each other’s knowledge.

But for now, let’s see how Elon Musk will handle the lost bullets from the Trump Administration policy towards China.

 

 

References

Cimino V., March 20th, 2021, “Chine : militaires et fonctionnaires ne peuvent pas acheter de Tesla“, siecledigital.fr

Liu J., Zhang C., Li J., March 19th, 2021, “Tesla Cars Banned by China Military on Concerns Over Cameras“, bloomberg.com

Madhok A., July 14th, 2020, “Tesla’s Chinese Foray: Why, What and How“, counterpointresearch.com

Schreiber B., Gregersen E., July 14th, 2020, “Tesla, Inc.“, britannica.com

Zhai K., Kubota Y., March 19th, 2021, “China to Restrict Tesla Use by Military and State Employees“, wsj.com

 

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Business Digital Business Marketing News

Don’t just be a brand : be a “love brand”

How to become a love brand in 2021 ?

Discover my infographic below

https://dmb-shanghai.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/be-a-love-brand.png

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A.I Events Hardware Mobilité News Travel Travelling

Perseverance on Mars, a giant leap for mankind?

Perseverance Rover Representation

 

 

A new space discovery era begins

 

A mission carried out by Nasa since July 2020

There are few chances that you missed it, however here is a small reminder. On February 18th 2021, the rover Perseverance from Nasa landed safely on planet Mars. Here is the very first picture from its official Twitter account.

 

A stunning view on Mars ground. Such an event brought many people to watch the live broadcast on NASA YouTube channel that followed the steps of landing of this rover called Perseverance, little brother of famous Curiosity rover. One day later, a more defined image of Mars landscape was posted on Twitter.

 

Want to know more? I invite you to read my LinkedIn article.

 

 

References

Cagan A., Feb. 19th, 2021, “Le rover Perseverance a atterri sur Mars avec succès“, journaldugeek.com

Jackson R., Feb. 21st, 2021, “NASA’s Perseverance rover nails historic Mars landing, sends first images of Jezero Crater“, cnet.com

Bottlaender E., Feb. 18th, 2021, “Perseverance : l’aventure martienne la plus ambitieuse ?“, clubic.com

Nasa official website: https://www.nasa.gov/

SpaceX official website: https://www.spacex.com/

 

Categories
China News politic

The AntiTrust Law in China

antitrust law in china

The AntiTrust Law in China

The technological and digital revolution of the 21st century has given rise to various tech industries. These are companies that have greater wealth than some states. Therefore they are important for the economy of their countries and for technological progress. These actors, although their fields are different, they hold a considerable amount of information about their clients/users.

Their power comes from different technological advances such as the progress of research on artificial intelligence, social media. Also, from different tools that allow them to calculate, store and analyze data. In the western countries, there are 5 companies that monopolize the tech market, they are the GAFAMs: Google Amazon Facebook Apple and Microsoft. These web giants are omnipresent in our daily lives through their digital solutions tools. However, during the last decades, a new group of tech superpowers emerged, the NATU: Netflix AirBnb Tesla and Uber.

   GAFAMNATU

In China, the equivalent of GAFAM are the BATX (Baidu Alibaba Tencent and Xiaomi) which have a huge impact on the Chinese tech market. Many laws have been created to regulate their impact in the world in order to limit their power. But also to allow a fair competitiveness with the new emerging companies.

BATX

We therefore have the case of the AntiTrust law. According to Investopedia, « Antitrust laws also referred to as competition laws, are statutes developed by the U.S. government to protect consumers from predatory business practices. They ensure that fair competition exists in an open-market economy. »

The AntiTrust law in China was regulated for :
the prevention and prohibition of monopolistic conduct,
the protection of market competition,
the protection of the interests of consumers and the general public.

China’s action with the AntiTrust law

This is particularly important for the process of continuously improving the socialist market economy system in China.
In November 2021, the Chinese government announced that it would attack the monopoly of the country’s digital giants.
On December 14, China had already imposed the first fines on Alibaba and China Literature, a subsidiary of Tencent.
According to the regulations put in place by the Chinese government, Alibaba and Tencent risk being fined 500,000 yuan, the equivalent of 70,000 euros. A derisory sum considering the wallet of these companies. This is a call to demonstrate that the Chinese government is determined to enforce this law.

Learn about GAFABAT in this article !

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How china has decided to start its green transition?

Forest around the great wall of China - China starts its green transition

In order to limit global warming to 1.5°c by the end of the century lots of countries have pledged to a carbon neutral plan. After Europe announcing its objective to reach carbon neutrality by 2050, it is China’s turn to announce its objective to reach carbon neutrality by 2060. How will China be able to achieve its green transition ? 

 

China wants to be carbon neutral by 2060

Pollution in ShanghaiOn September 22, Chinese president Xi Jinping announced China’s plan for carbon neutrality by 2060. This means that by this time, China’s carbon emission would be zero. This is a huge challenge for this country which is currently the world biggest polluting country. Therefore, reaching carbon neutrality within 40 years will ask China to make big efforts.

China preoccupation about environmental concerns is a quite recent phenomenon. As a developing country, China has for a long time said that they should not share the burden of the global warming. The current level of carbon emissions in the country is the result of its decades of very fast industrialization.

 

 

It is time to go green for China, one of the biggest polluting country in the world

To understand what China’s impact on the global warming is, here are three figures about the pollution in the country.

 

What is China’s Roadmap for achieving its green transition ?

In order to reach carbon neutrality, China has revealed a roadmap of the objectives they have to achieve before 2060.

Traffic and pollution in ChinaThe first step of the roadmap started this year, in 2020. China has planned to raise the share of green energy to at least 15%. This is an objective that they achieved successfully.

Then, the next step will be in ten years. Xi Jinping told that China aims to reach its peak of carbon emission in 2030.  In comparison, Europe hopes to reach this peak five year before China in 2025.

Finally, the last step will be in 2050. Before reaching carbon neutrality in 2060, the strategy for 2050 is to make the green energy count for more than half of the total energy consumption.

However, if China has announced its objective for the next 40 years, the details of the concrete actions that they will implement to achieve these objectives have not been revealed yet. We will have to wait a little longer to know what China really plans to do in order to reach carbon neutrality.

 

Renewable energies the future of a green China ?

Reach carbon neutrality by 2060 is a very ambitious goal for the country. To do so, China will have to make huge changes in its economy.

Carbon emissions are still increasing over the year. In order to reach its objective, China will have to reverse the tendence. This means increasing its production of renewable energy and reducing coal energy production. Currently, coal is the main source of energy in China with 58% of the electricity coming  from coal plants. The main challenge for China will be to change its energy production to more renewable energies.

Investment in renewable energy by country

Daxue consulting. Renewable energy in China: Finding the path to carbon neutrality by 2060 on December 2020.

China has already started its green transition by a mass investment in renewable energy. Indeed, in 2019, the country was the biggest investor in renewable energy in the world with an 87 billion US dollars investment to develop wind and solar energy in the country.

 

In conclusion, it is great to see China getting involved in the fight against global warming. Now, we will have to wait and see if the country really pursue its commitment and respects its deadlines.

 

References :

Daxue Consulting. Renewable energy in China: Finding the path to carbon neutrality by 2060. December 2020.

China Dialogue. Researchers unveil roadmap for a carbon neutral China by 2060. October 2020. 

Statista. Les plus gros émetteurs de CO2 au monde. November 2020. 

Bloomberg. Why China Could Lose Its War on Pollution. October 2020. 

The New York Times. China’s Pledge to Be Carbon Neutral by 2060: What It Means. September 2020.

The lancet. The effect of air pollution on deaths, disease burden, and life expectancy across China and its provinces, 1990–2017: an analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. August 2020. 

Investopedia. The 5 Countries That Produce the Most Carbon Dioxide (CO2). October 2020.