Technology is rapidly changing our world and how we live in it. From AI and quantum computing to smart cities and digital healthcare, today’s advances are reimagining our realities and shaping our futures. Discover how the latest innovations have the potential to impact global society in the Age of Disruption. 

Bringing together public and private sector leaders, expert researchers and disruptive innovators, this event will explore cutting-edge tech solutions creating our ‘new normal’. Hear from global shapers, have your questions answered and network with robots, all in one afternoon! 

The Age of Disruption

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Bringing together public and private sector leaders, expert researchers and disruptive innovators, this event will explore cutting-edge tech solutions creating our ‘new normal’.

Her Excellency Kersti Kaljulaid (C), Former President of Estonia, Dr Jane Thomason (R), Co-Founder of the British Blockchain and Frontier Technology Association, Khalifa Al Shamsi (L), Group Chief Corporate Strategy & Governance Officer, Et

Her Excellency Kersti Kaljulaid, Former President of Estonia speaks during Coming Full Circle, Age of Disruption How Tech Innovation is Shaping Our New Normal at Nexus for People and Planet m32142

Opti during the Coming Full Circle, Age of Disruption How Tech Innovation is Shaping Our New Normal at Nexus for People and Planet m32137

Dr Jane Thomason, Co-Founder of the British Blockchain and Frontier Technology Association and Opti during Coming Full Circle, Age of Disruption How Tech Innovation is Shaping Our New Normal at Nexus for People and Planet m32139

Dr Jane Thomason, Co-Founder of the British Blockchain and Frontier Technology Association speaks during Coming Full Circle, Age of Disruption How Tech Innovation is Shaping Our New Normal at Nexus for People and Planet m32135

Heidi Solba (L), President and Head of the Global Network of Let’s Do It World, Jessica Sun (screen L), Senior Vice President of Terminus Group, Dr Kalpana Viswanath (screen R), Co-Founder and CEO of Safetipin, Dr Jane Thomason, Co-Found

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Physical and digital connectivity not only brings us all closer together, but are also the bedrock of healthy and empowered societies. Under this Theme Week, Expo will explore the ways in which technology is being harnessed to better fields of mobility, health, travel and much more. Smart and sustainable mobility, AI (artificial intelligence) for good, virtual learning, remote work, and data privacy are among the myriad issues that will be addressed. 


Navigating a Changing World

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How will we balance the impact of digital expansion with our physical reality?

Travel & Connectivity Week

Age of Disruption: How Tech Innovation is Shaping Our New Normal

Expo aims to deliver one of the most sustainable World Expos in history, supporting the UAE in its journey towards a green economy. Sustainability is integrated across both our operations and programming, embracing every opportunity to create meaningful impact, and inspiring the global community to play an active role in becoming part of a sustainable future.

The Live in Balance track of Expo 2020 Dubai's Programme for People and Planet features a tapestry of event series and experiences that spotlight our relationship with the natural world, and position Expo as a critical catalyst for restoring balance with our planet.

Restoring Balance with our Planet

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Live in Balance

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As the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robotics on the development of humanity intensifies, our responsibility and oversight must keep pace, to understand how to use these systems, what tasks they should carry out, and their risks. 

As far back as 2014, Stephen Hawking said that efforts to create thinking machines “could spell the end of the human race”. As AI rapidly takes off, the potential issues of robots learning on their own – and at a faster pace than humans – have become apparent. 

Designing these systems is not just a matter of engineering: it must equally be a deeply social and ethical endeavour. As UNESCO prepares the world’s first standards on the ethics of AI, there is broad consensus that we need to create rules for this brave new world. Collectively, we need to ensure that these systems are human centred, inclusive, unbiased, and ethically coherent – perhaps even more so than our subjective human systems are right now. 

Join us for this World Majlis to share your insights and collectively contribute to building a better future. 


Digital Brain, Digital Morality: Ensuring Empathetic and Unbiased AI

Digital Brain, Digital Morality

A World Majlis discussion focussing on how we can ensure empathetic and unbiased technology.

Session programme Digital Brain, Digital Morality

Learnings and insights from the World Majlis conversations on Tolerance and Inclusivity


Insight Report from Tolerance and Inclusivity Week

Digital Brain, Digital Morality - Documents

What is human-centred AI and how do we ensure that this is the AI we create? 

How close are we to achieving globally applicable ethical standards for AI?

What is the best way to communicate this to the general public whose lives are already so dependent on technology?

Inside Expo: Sustainability I: The World’s Oldest Innovator

Inside Expo: Sustainability II: Harnessing the Sun

The Powerhouse Pavilions

Terra - The Sustainability Pavilion - Audio Guide

Terra

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At Expo 2020, sustainability is an urgent, attainable reality, and Terra – The Sustainability Pavilion is the proof. Both immersive exhibition space and exemplar of environmental self-sufficiency, Terra is a pioneering piece of architecture that pushes the limits of renewable design.

The pavilion’s 130-metre-wide solar canopy – so vast that you could park 10 city buses head-to-tail atop it – converts sunshine into electricity for the exhibits below. Artfully funnelled natural light and local plant species, together with technologies that can reduce water consumption by 75 per cent, show the way to a sustainable future.


Inspiring experiential journey through our shared sustainable future

Two immersive paths to choose from: beneath a forest and beneath an ocean

LEED Platinum environmental features, including solar power and water recycling

Terra 

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Terra is a super-sized marvel of forward-thinking design. The pavilion’s technology generates enough energy in a year to power a Nissan Leaf to drive halfway to Mars, while another system captures moisture from the air you breathe and turns it into drinkable water. Enter and take a fantastical journey through the wonders of nature, humanity’s challenges and the promise of our shared future. 


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The Sustainability Pavilion

Terra is home to five thought-provoking art installations from artists around the world, with each piece demonstrating a response to the issue of sustainability.

Terra Art Installations

Young visitors can explore a fantastical world inspired by Terra's very own octopus, Octavia.

Octavia's Playground

Timelapse of Terra 

With our planet today home to 7.8 billion people, we put the spotlight on co-existence, understanding different faiths, creating inclusive dialogue, and so much more. During this Theme Week, Expo will provide a platform for diverse voices from all corners of the world to reimagine how spaces, environments and storytelling can become more inclusive by focusing on multiculturalism and peaceful co-existence.

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How can we foster a greater common understanding to enable more tolerant and inclusive societies?

Tolerance & Inclusivity Week

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As Expo 2020 Dubai’s Official Digital Services Partner alongside Etisalat Digital, Accenture is applying its bespoke technology solutions to create a range of exciting, innovative and engaging digital experiences that connect and inspire. From developing and running applications that power a personalised visitor journey, to helping Expo tell its brand story in a digital world, Accenture is playing a key role in providing a 360-degree immersive event experience.

Ensuring a seamless digital experience 

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Accenture

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Capped by a digitally enhanced “cumulus cloud” that provides shade in the daytime and a canvas for dazzling light displays at night, the Australia Pavilion is a vibrant showcase for the kind of imagination Australians like to call “Blue Sky Dreaming”.

Inside and out, the focus here is on Australian innovation. From the ancient astronomy of the Aboriginal peoples, which you can learn about through an immersive projection show on the pavilion’s interior dome, to the sustainably produced timber that forms the pavilion’s hill-shaped exterior, there’s no shortage of blue-sky ideas here to explore.


Australia

With a crescent-shaped first level that resembles dusty hills and a cloud-like shade structure hanging overhead, the Australia Pavilion is designed to evoke a dramatic Outback landscape. 

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Outback landscape

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Australia Pavilion

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There are more than 1,400 thermal springs in Hungary, in which Hungarians have soaked for health and relaxation for centuries. The Hungary Pavilion celebrates this rich tradition of thermal bathing with a deep dive into the country’s naturally steaming waters. Follow the glowing blue path to tour the hot springs’ geothermal origins, from the mystical cave bath at Miskolctapolca to the grand spas of Budapest. At the end of your journey, relax and reflect in the pavilion’s meditative inner dome, or take a sip of Hungary’s mineral and thermal waters at the Aqua Bar.

Experience an interactive journey on the theme of water without the use of water.

Meditative inner dome offering a moment of relaxation

Immersive tour of Hungary’s thermal waters and bathing culture

Hungary Features

Hungary

The Hungary pavilion is a wide, gently curved concrete cylinder featuring long, vertical planks of exposed wood. Approached from the front, two thick square columns of intricately woven wood frame the entryway and rise above the main building’s domed roof. The entrance plaza features a miniature forest of smart trees, built of the same wood and featuring digital screens and umbrella-like white roofs. In step with the organic design philosophy, these trees blend in seamlessly with the pavilion’s minimalist gardens.

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Hungary Pavilion 

World Majlis | Digital Brain, Digital Morality: Ensuring Empathetic and Unbiased AI

World Expos have always been meeting places for people across cultures and geographies; an opportunity to come together and celebrate human ingenuity and forge meaningful human connections. As the first World Expo to be held in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region, and with the participation of more than 192 countries, Expo 2020 Dubai looks to take this legacy even further. The Build Bridges track of Expo 2020 Dubai’s Programme for People and Planet features a tapestry of event series and experiences that celebrate our common humanity and the vital connections that can help us prosper together as a worldwide community.

Knowing One Another Better

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Build Bridges 

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Explore a series of exciting conversations inspired by the theme of Expo 2020 Dubai. The World Majlis is a vibrant forum where diverse points of views are shared on important topics of our time. Each conversation brings together globally recognised thought-leaders who are invited for their exceptional contributions to the theme and their unique perspective on the topic. In each Majlis, students and members of the public are also welcome to contribute and engage.

World Majlis

Conversations on complex issues that bring together thought leaders, visionaries and changemakers.

Conceptual artist Mary Ellen Carroll will be in conversation with AI ethicist Renée Cummings to discuss how data activism can urge social change, leading to people- and community-centric outcomes that chip away at systemic injustice. Evoking not only new systems of exchange and value, but also innovative spaces of virtual, augmented, and mixed realities (VR, AR, MR), their conversation will highlight the increasingly important role of ethics in developing artiﬁcial intelligence. Their range of interests and interentions—VR as a means of rehabilitating incarcerated offenders, ideas as currency, quadratic voting for fairer representation, sovereign-less identity—constitutes a wellspring of innovative thinking, and manifest the progress being made in the ﬁght for justice and inclusion.

A Cloud is Nobody's

Travel and Connectivity Key Visual

A session that invites an artist to create an intervention around the week’s Travel and Connectivity theme and lead a conversation based on the commission.

Age of Disruption: How Tech Innovation is Shaping Our New Normal

The Age of Disruption

Image Gallery

Travel & Connectivity Week.

This event is part of the
Live in Balance.

The Age of Disruption

Image Gallery

Travel & Connectivity Week.

This event is part of theLive in Balance.

This event is part of the
Live in Balance.