Dubai, UAE: With Expo 2020 Dubai having opened its doors to the world from 1 October, the team behind the future transition of the 4.38 sqkm site is set to reveal more of what the human-centric future city will look like, as part of their participation in next week’s GITEX 2021. From 17-21 October, attendees will be able to visit the District 2020 booth and experience an immersive fly-through of their vision, which will evolve after the close of Expo 2020.
From March 2022, more than 80 per cent of Expo’s built environment will be repurposed to form a mixed-use community that integrates commercial, residential and cultural neighbourhoods to live, work and explore. Extensive planning of the infrastructure and architecture was undertaken with this future use in mind, where the needs of future workers, residents and visitors was placed at the centre of design. At GITEX, the team will present the plans for the site to be transitioned into an integrated multi-purpose urban community that supports people and businesses to thrive, with a focus on sustainability, balance and well-being.
District 2020 will also present its mission to curate an innovation ecosystem focused that supports growth and resilience in key sectors such as smart logistics, industry 4.0, smart mobility and smart cities driven by advanced technologies including 5G connectivity, AI, IoT, 3D printing, amongst others. As a planned “city of firsts”, District 2020 will contribute to Dubai’s acceleration as a global hub for innovation, integrating a diverse community of stakeholders and international companies – of all sizes – to unlock new growth opportunities and stimulate competitiveness.
Fortune 500 companies, start-ups, SMEs, academia and government organisations will have access to an environment where collaboration, entrepreneurship and creativity are encouraged. Following a short repurposing and transition period after the close of Expo 2020, future occupants will be able to move in to their future work spaces starting from October 2022. District 2020 will also provide a ‘living lab’, a testbed for new and innovative ideas and solutions to be applied in a live urban setting, which will encourage purposeful co-creation.
Alongside world-leading entities that have already signed up, such as Siemens, Siemens Energy, Terminus and DP World, will be innovators, start-ups and small businesses, supported through a dedicated global entrepreneurship programme, Scale2Dubai, which is currently open for applications. Following a process of evaluation and judging by a panel of experts, successful applicants will be announced towards the end of Expo 2020, by March 2022. The first cohort of 80-100 businesses will be able to move into their workspace at District 2020 by October 2022, and will benefit from a range of benefits to help them scale and grow.
Nadimeh Mehra, Vice President, District 2020, said, “We are excited for everyone at GITEX to learn about the future of Expo 2020, and get a glimpse of our vision for the future community through District 2020’s immersive booth. As we celebrate Expo 2020, we’re looking to continue bringing the world together in a spirit of collaboration; and to provide a platform that supports innovative solutions towards a smarter and more sustainable future. We’re eager to present the opportunities for global businesses to be part of our innovation ecosystem, and to engage with start-ups and encourage them to apply to our Scale2Dubai programme as important contributors to the co-creation we’re aiming to facilitate”.
Visitors to GITEX can also expect to see District 2020 participate in talks in partnership with Smart Dubai to share information on the future city of District 2020. Mehra will be speaking on 17 October as a panelist in the Ecosystem Corner. The topic of discussion, ‘Engineering a World-Class Environment for Innovation and High-Growth Firms, will centre on the multi-stakeholder innovation ecosystem and how it will foster growth opportunities.
© Press Release 2021
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