The History of Expo and Its Effect on the Development of the Humanity
The current Expo is hosted by Dubai and it was planned to happen in 2020, however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was postponed to 2021. The Expo itself is a global exposition, which provides countries with a platform to showcase the greatest innovations that have shaped the world today. In addition, Expo is an event, which is centered around futuristic ideas, which include state-of-the-art technologies. Expo is held every five years in a different place because the exposition itself lasts from three to six months and is a very expensive event.
The history of the Expo begins in 1851 in London, where the first exposition was held. Since then, the themes of expositions as well as their regulations have changed as there are three main periods such as industrialization 1851-1938, cultural exchange (1939-1987), and nation branding that started in 1988 and continues to the present day. These periods mean that the countries, which participated in the exposition, have been changing the way they used this platform. Nowadays, Expo provides countries with an opportunity to shape their international image.
World Expo is a place, where all of the technological achievements are showcased publicly. For example, in New York World’s Fair 1939, the first television broadcast was made and in 1876, Alexander Graham Bell showcased the first telephone during the Philadelphia’s Centennial Exposition of Arts. Overall besides being an attraction to tourists who visit the host country from all over the world, Expo is a great opportunity for the exchange of innovative ideas, a place where investors can find innovative ventures to invest in, and inventors and companies can find their sponsor. This exchange provides an impetus to the development of the world’s technologies and allows countries to showcase their technological achievements.
The Potential Impact of the Expo on the UAE
Economic Development
Dubai is one of the richest cities in the United Arab Emirates and hosting such a mega-event as World Expo is considered something UAE’s economy is capable of. Hosting mega-events is associated with impacting the economy of the hosting country by attracting foreign investors. In the case of the UAE, the aspect of attracting foreign investors is argued to be not as relevant as for other countries (Yehia, 2019). On the contrary, the country is known for investing in foreign economies. Therefore, the potential economic impact of the Dubai Expo 2020 is the shift of the international image of the country towards a more open one. Recently, there has been a lot of debate about the issues of human rights in the United Arab Emirates. Hence, Dubai Expo 2020 is an opportunity to present a country as a state, where human rights are not violated and the state is ready for global integration. This would contribute to the growth of other sectors of the economy, mainly innovations, and tourism.
Tourism
Tourism is one of the economic sectors, which was impacted the most during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dubai Expo 2020 itself was postponed to October 2021 because of COVID-19 restrictions. Therefore, new rules and new environments are imposed on the tourism industry, and the Tokyo Olympics and Dubai Expo 2020 are the first biggest international events held in the post-COVID-19 economy. For the United Arab Emirates, tourism is one of the sectors, which is going to be prioritized as a new foundation of the economy since the real-estate market crash. Hence, events such as the Expo and Football World Cup of 2022 in Qatar are aimed at attracting new visitors and changing the image of Middle East and North African countries from oil-rich countries to touristic countries (Tournois, 2018, p. 48). Before Expo 2020, UAE has launched numerous landmark reforms such as decriminalization of alcohol, suicide and even living with a person of the opposite sex before marriage. While Dubai was opened and marketed as a safe destination for tourists since July 2020, the government hopes that Expo 2020 would benefit tourism in UAE.
Employment
After winning the opportunity to host Expo 2020, United Arab Emirates started to prepare for the mega-event. As the result of it, thousands of jobs were created in the construction, logistic, and other spheres (Kaul, 2019, p. 40). Managing the preparation to Dubai Expo 2020 provided executives and managers with an important experience and brought global attention towards the modern methods and approaches used in the process. Hence, there are employment opportunities and prospects of development for different levels of qualifications. This allowed local employees to gain skills, which suit the international labor market. In addition, creating a modern sustainable infrastructure for Expo 2020 and further for District 2020 is an attractive environment for future startups in IT sphere. Business ventures, hubs, shops and technology-based innovations created and applied in Dubai will also provide more opportunities for employment of local people as well as expats and foreign investors and entrepreneurs.
Initiatives associated with Expo 2020
Dubai Expo 2020 includes a number of initiatives, associated with implementing innovation to aid the world issues and provide an opportunity for the further growth and development of technology and business. Expo Live is one of the programs, which provides funding, support, and partnerships with global innovators that struggle to develop and apply their ideas. For example, Expo Live Global Innovators is a program that allows innovators could receive a grant for the development of their project. Global Best Practice Programme is aimed at promoting and showing the projects that are aimed at solving global problems from all over the world. Sustainability is one of the main themes of the international discourse and it is represented by Sustainability at the Expo initiative. This program is focused on providing the most sustainable World Expo event and ensures that the constructions and buildings are created and maintained in a sustainable manner (Hakimzadeh, Kleber, and Stranjancevic, 2020, p. 4). Hence, it ensures that after the end of expositions, its infrastructure becomes a legacy, which serves for decades after. Finally, World Majlis is a forum, where the members discuss and share their views on technology innovations and other important topics of the present time. It promotes an open conversation between different nations and cultures.
What is District 2020
The preparation for the Expo event begins years before its start. This process entails the construction of pavilions and development and infrastructure, which represents the most advanced technological and innovative ideas. There have been a lot of discussions on the topic of further usage of complexes and infrastructures created for such events as Expo or Olympic games because Olympic villages and arenas often remain not entirely utilized or even abandoned after the end of the event. The United Arab Emirates came up with the solution to such a situation by creating a project named District 2020.
The pavilions and the infrastructure designed for the Dubai Expo 2020 will be retained and transformed into a technologically advanced futuristic city called District 2020. This city will represent the modern ways of sustainable urban design. The project will entail adding residential areas, green spaces, co-working spots, and smart mobility. Technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, 5G, Big Data, Blockchain, and Robotics would be included in the ecosystem of the District 2020 city.
In my opinion, District 2020 is a great idea, which allows us to utilize and apply some of the technologies and ideas presented in the exposition. Moreover, this project helps save costs, which were spent on the Expo itself, because this international event has a huge budget, and abandoning or deconstructing the pavilions would be a waste of resources, which does not correlate with the idea of innovation and sustainability.
Reference List
Hakimzadeh, A., Kleber, D. M. S., and Stranjancevic, A., 2020. ‘Analysis of Milestones and Achievements to Increase Sustainability at Expo 2020’. Tourism and Sustainable Development Review, 1(1), pp. 1-5.
Kaul, T., 2019. Unveiling Expo 2020 Dubai. Ct. Uncourt, 6, p. 40.
Tournois, L., 2018. A pre-event assessment of residents’ reactions to Dubai Expo 2020. Tourism Management, 68, pp. 46-51.
Yehia, S., 2019. Managing Sustainable Global Events: Sustainability Practices of Expo 2020 (Doctoral dissertation, The British University in Dubai (BUiD)).