Northern Ireland on a Global Stage – Innovation & Opportunity

The concept of World Expos are familiar to most of us yet next year will be the first time a world Expo has been held in the region.

With the year delay, Expo 2020 Dubai hopes to bring the world together for the first time since the pandemic to celebrate our collaborations, innovations and resilience in a world that is fighting and defeating Covid 19.

For Northern Ireland, Expo 2020 (due to be held from 1 October 2021 - 31 March 2022) is more important now than ever. Our first time to participate in a World Expo brings fresh and exciting opportunities for our people and our businesses, not just in the region but across the world.

Northern Ireland will be part of the UK Pavilion; Collaborating with the Department for International trade is a tremendous platform to position our economic, tourism, food and education capabilities to a global audience through the wider UK Programme and our own specific Northern Ireland showcase.

We will be taking over the UK Pavilion event space for one day to feature the best of Northern Ireland. Our Programme will take a whole Northern Ireland approach; showcasing the best of Northern Ireland, from business to culture, investment to tourism, arts to education. We are working closely with a range of key stakeholders including our universities, tourism partners, Northern Irish Connections diaspora network and Northern Ireland businesses to ensure that we maximise this opportunity to showcase the best of Northern Ireland in its entirety.

Beyond a doubt, 2020 has been challenging for all of us but what we continue to see is the resilience of our nation, our people and our companies. Adaptability, innovation and resilience may be the buzz words of 2020 but one thing we know is that Northern Ireland businesses and people have all three in abundance.

Expo 2020 gives us the opportunity to embody this spirit, our pride and our passion, showing the world that although Northern Ireland may be small, we are able to punch above our weight.

We have a great story to tell, our companies have skills and knowledge to show off. We know that Expo will be the ideal platform to grow our businesses, our connections and our collaborations.

Northern Ireland is consistently listed in the top places in which to invest; our tech sector is booming, our universities are world-class and our award-winning food and drink sector recently picked up 172 accolades at the prestigious Great Taste Awards this year.

A number of Northern Ireland companies are already seeing commercial wins from Expo and showcasing NI’s innovative solutions on a global scale.

Lowe Rentalare one of Expo 2020 Dubai’s preferred suppliers for catering equipment and sponsor of the UK Pavilion’s kitchen equipment. In addition to this, they have secured have contracts with five country Pavilions and are close to finalising deals with several more prestigious Pavilions.

Joule Group, to date, has provided the fire engineering consultancy design services to the Luxemburg Pavilion and Slovakia Pavilion. They have also been engaged to provide fire and life safety support to the Expo’s Mobility Pavilion Exhibition designers to ensure that their design is in accordance with the approved Fire Strategy.

ESF, who has worked on a number of high profile projects in the UAE such as the Coca-Cola arena and Dubai Parks and Resorts, is involved in designing and supplying solar powered outdoor benches, litter bins and certified perimeter security bollards across the Expo site and country Pavilions.

Keep up to date with all our Expo related news on our social media channels and our dedicated Expo page. Also, don’t forget to like and share what you see!

To find out more about Northern Ireland at Expo, please contact Emma Barber, Programme Manager Expo 2020, expo2020@investni.com.