As one of a series of workshops on Expo 2020, on January 31, Manal Al Bayat, VP at Expo 2020 for Engagement, led a team discussion on how Expo 2020 seeks to incorporate innovation and technology.  The workshop took place at the Atlantis Hotel in Dubai and approximately 100 IT, business representatives, and others attended the event.  The event was designed to receive feedback–and the organizers reiterated their openness to contributions and partnership–but was focused on a presentation of how Expo 2020 seeks to work with technology.

Explaining that Expo 2020 sees innovation and technology as playing a key role in the 2020 event given that the theme for the event is “to assist in providing a memorable experience for visitors and participants,” most of the session was devoted to some of the ways the team saw technology being incorporated.  The organizers underlined that this Expo sought to recreate some of the innovation successes of earlier expos in history.  One of the slogans for Expo 2020 is “the future is back,” meaning innovation should be central to the expo.  A major focus was on reaching visitors before they even leave their home countries to visit, during their visits, and after they return home.  This approach also was reflected in a focus on the “legacy” of Expo 2020 and what the event will contribute in the years after it concludes.  This legacy should include cultural, innovation and societal aspects.  It was also explained that the participant experience was key and the organizers would provide a range of help for the pavilions with logistics that included support for technology.  The team was considering many ideas some of which related to traffic management to get to the site, visitor profiles, queue management, pavilion analytics, etc. Specific technologies included drones, robots, wearables, facial recognition, sign language recognition and interpretation, Virtual Personal Assistants, tablets, and traditional screens and TV displays.  There was considerable focus on technology that allows people of different languages to interact and work with one another and better enjoy the Expo experience. The organizers asked for the tech sector to provide input on all aspects of how technology can be helpful.

The presenters said that technology would not be integrated just for technology’s sake but that it had to solve a particular problem or challenge.  They emphasized that the bottom line was that a particular technology would be incorporated if it:

• would be easy to implement;
• was mature and would not be out-of-date by 2020 start of Expo;
• that the technology would have a tangible impact;
• that financially it made sense and could be funded.

On the third point, the organizers said any technology adapted had to show it actually enhanced the experience of either visitors or participants.

In terms of how technology would be integrated, the team had started with the telecommunications platform and would build from there.  Ideas could be presented confidentially to the Expo team and the team was happy to sign Non-Disclosure Agreements for appropriate concepts.  However, in the spirit of transparency and openness, the way to present technology proposals was through the established procurement portal.

The presenters emphasized that this event was the beginning of a conversation and promised an executive summary of the slides that laid out some of the ideas and planning.

Expo 2020’s Najib al-Ali kicked off the three-hour event with a presentation on the importance of technology in past expos and an explanation of how Dubai will be different in some ways but wants to live up to its “connecting minds, creating the future” motto by incorporating the best of technology in creative ways.  Using a series of short videos and slides, the team showed how technology was being considered at every stage of the process of coming up with the best visitor experience.  Not only would Expo 2020 avoid some of the issues visitors experienced at other expos, it would focus on the novel enhancements technology could bring to the expo experience.  The team talked about various elements of the Expo that would benefit from technology and some of the solutions being considered.  In general, in order for a particular technology to be incorporated, it would have to address a specific challenge, would have to provide a new opportunity and would have to show how it enhanced the Expo experience.  Najib al Ali said “People think ideation is innovation. True innovation is having a problem and solving it.” The team emphasized that the Expo 2020 experience should begin before a visitor even considered coming to Dubai…with ads, branding, package promotions, etc.  Once a visitor decided to come, information on activities, visa facilitation and airline travel would all be streamlined through technology.  In the UAE, traffic management, activity planning, individual service provision and other technology solutions were being considered.

After the introduction the team turned to ask what specific technologies the audience at the workshop could provide for particular challenges at large-scale events or past expos.  There were exchanges on many different types of solutions.

The team presented slides on the visitor and participant experience to provide opportunities for participants to look for technology solutions.  For participants, the team promised various types of support beyond logistical and administrative.  This included the possibility of using a fund to support less developed nations on technology initiatives.  The team talked about both Country and Corporate pavilions and suggested that technology was an expected part of displays.  The team said information would be provided to pavilion owners on visitor data.  Careful attention would be paid to privacy issues but the Expo would try to collect and use as much data as possible.

Philippe Blanchard, spoke about how the Expo would be organized to take advantage of technology.   He said that a particular technology would have to show that it could be easily implemented, would not be out of date by the time the Expo opens in October of 2020, that it would have a tangible benefit for the Expo, and finally that it made financial sense and could be funded.  However, the Expo would be a place where technologies could be presented and in some cases tested in keeping with the focus on innovation.

In response to questions about how commercial partnerships in the technology sphere were to proceed, Gillian Hamburger, head of corporate relations, said the procurement portal was key in order to maintain a transparent, fair process. However, the Expo team would handle confidentially proposals for technology partnerships.  The team repeatedly welcomed approaches by technology companies with solutions and commercial proposals and said the organizers would be willing to do Non-Disclosure Agreements as necessary.

Manal al Bayat concluded the session by noting that the workshop was the beginning of the discussion and that an executive summary of the slides would be made available but did not say when.

For questions, comments, and to express interest, please contact U.S. Standing Committee Chair, U.S.-U.A.E. Business Council at info@usuaebusiness.org, or Vice Co-Chairs, American Business Council of Dubai & the Northern Emirates at director@abcdubai.com and AmCham Abu Dhabi at director@amchamabudhabi.org.