INWARD INVESTMENT | EXPO 2020
World Expos open the
door to the future
From the first Expo in London in 1851, World Expos have offered unique
opportunities to cooperate internationally, educate the public, and offer
open dialogues on themes that engage the entire global community
Expos have been pushing forward social and
technological development for one and a half
centuries, establishing themselves as mega
events. World Expos take place every five years
and last for six months. The most recent was held
in Shanghai in 2010. A 528-square kilometer
Expo site welcomed a record 73 million visitors
around 400,000 per day. This was an event that
gathered people from more than 200 countries
side by side, promoting their culture, values and
knowledge by showcasing the theme, Better City,
Better Life, creating chances for exchange, coop-
eration, development and understanding.
Two years after the success of Shanghai 2010,
the International Expo in Yeosu, South Korea,
received more than eight million visitors from
around the world. An Expo on a smaller scale, the
three-month Yeosu 2012 concentrated on a very
important theme, Living Ocean and Coast.
As one of the largest global, non-commercial
events in terms of economic and cultural impact,
World Expos have a distinguished history, a record
of world-class legacies, and an unparalleled pow-
er of attraction. Expos gave the world numerous
landmarks of human achievement and aspirations
at given moments in history.
Tour de force
Its been 161 years since the first World Expo,
which was called Worlds Fair at the time, in Lon-
don, UK, in 1851. Although the Bureau Interna-
tional des Expositions (BIE) was created in 1931,
80 years after the first Expo, the history of the BIE
and the history of the Expos are intimately related.
As early as 1867, commissioner generals of the Ex-
pos prepared a memorandum in order to establish
rules for the international conferences.
At that time, the Expo host didnt receive assis-
tance at a governmental level. The size and content
of each exhibition was not standardised, meaning
an international coordinator was needed to step
in. Two important conferences gathering experts
from different industries and public representa-
tives were organised in Paris in 1907 and 1908.
BY VICENTE GONZALEZ LOSCERTALES SECRETARY GENERAL, BUREAU INTERNATIONAL DES EXPOSITIONS
It defined the key interests of Expos as business
opportunities, technological progress, and inter-
national public relations. Political powers could
see the benefit and were quick to become in-
volved, so that each event could be more regulated
and sustainable.
This is why the creation of the BIE was
launched by governments, and in particular, in
1912 by Germany, setting up a diplomatic con-
ference on that topic. The Berlin Conference of
1912 saw 16 committed countries participate and
defined the frequency, the geographical rotation
and the terminological foundations of the Expo.
Unfortunately the outbreak of the First World War
hampered the progress of the events, until 1927,
when the International Chamber of Commerce
revived the idea and France seized the opportunity
to continue its progress. Thus, in 1928, an inter-
national conference gathering 40 countries was
held in Paris and provided the very first example
of Expo regulation, the 1928 Convention, the legal
instrument that regulates the organisation today.
Expo in modern days
As time passed by, through the revolution of indus-
trialisation to the modern era of information, the
BIE updated the Convention in order to account
for the shifts in the economic, social and political
trends, as well as the progress of the world and the
emergence of new countries. In particular, the BIE
was keen to emphasise the themes of the Expos
and their contributions to global progress. Among
the topics adopted by the General Assembly on
June 8, 1994, future Expos must respect the envi-
ronment and strive to become innovative and edu-
cational laboratories for sustainable development.
From their origins as international gatherings
of states showcasing industrial power and tech-
nological innovation, World Expos have since
evolved to become platforms for the international
community to debate, probe, share best practices,
and explore new solutions for the challenges that
our planet faces.
As global forums that are educational, enter-
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world finance | novdec 2012
The head of the Statue of Liberty on display in the Champ de
Mars at the Paris Worlds Fair in 1878
taining, and accessible to the general public, Ex-
pos serve as a powerful instrument of public and
cultural diplomacy, more specifically, an Expo can
establish the host citys leadership on the events
central theme. Expos enable the engagement of
citizens to find solutions to the problems of the day.
In 2010, with its theme Better City, Better Life,
Shanghai took a leading role in discussing possible
ways to solve urbanisation problems, publishing
the Shanghai Manual as a guide for city planners.
The same can be said for Yeosu 2012, which fo-
cused on oceans and coasts, and for Expo Milano
2015, which will focus on food and agriculture.
The theme is now the core of an Expo. It unites
different participants scholars, experts, profes-
sionals, and ordinary citizens; it unites different
business sectors and national borders. This is why
selecting a powerful theme is a key to the success
of an Expo.
Areas of expertise
For the upcoming Expos World Expo 2015 in
Milan, Italy, and the International Expo 2017
and World Expo 2020 that are under competi-
INWARD INVESTMENT | EXPO 2020
The 2012 International Expo, held in Yeosu, South Korea, was the first expo to be held on water
tion for host countries their themes touch up
on almost every essential aspect of human soci-
ety. Milan 2015s Feeding the Planet theme will
talk about the importance of agriculture to our
survival, such as the over-use of resources, un-
equal access to food, and imbalances between
consumption patterns.
The themes proposed by the candidates of
the International Expo 2017 and World Expo
2020 vary depending on the cities specific areas
of expertise. Liege of Belgium, competing for
the Expo 2017, propose Connecting the World,
Linking People, Better Living Together as their
theme, emphasising the importance IT has on
our life, while Astana of Kazakhstan, the other
candidate, has proposed the theme Future En-
ergy. With rich energy resources, the country
feels more equipped to lead the research for re-
newable and sustainable development.
For the World Expo 2020, Sao Paulo of Bra-
zil has chosen the theme Power of Diversity,
Harmony for Growth to allow participating
countries to present their innovative social and
economic policies, environmental programmes
Fireworks illuminate the sky during the opening ceremony of the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai
The theme is now the
core of an Expo. It unites
different participants
scholars, experts,
professionals, and
ordinary citizens
and forthcoming technologies, in areas such as
transportation, energy, information technolo-
gies and urban thinking. Yekaterinburg of Rus-
sia have chosen to present The Global Mind to
survey world opinion with the goal of commu-
nicating the values, hopes, dreams and aspira-
tions of people from every culture and nation
across the world in a single discussion.
Ayutthaya of Thailand want to propose the
theme Balanced Life, Sustainable Living, with
an emphasis on harmony between people, cul-
ture, technology and the natural environment.
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world finance | novdec 2012
Izmir of Turkey concentrates on the worlds
healthcare problems by proposing the theme
New Routes to a Better World, Health for all.
It will look primarily at health issues, while fo-
cusing in a rather positive manner on quality
of life issues. And finally, Dubai propose Con-
necting Minds, Creating the Future to show
humanitys success in encountering challenges
and using our imagination and creativity for
social progress.
The BIEs commitment to Expos
For years, the BIE has not stopped growing and
today has 161 member states, thus ensuring a
complete geographical demographic. In the
year of its 80th anniversary, the BIE is facing
new challenges: increased political value; Expos
that see a more active participation from devel-
oping countries; Expos that develop the image
of the host country; socially aware participants
who contribute to the solutions of important
issues of our era; and a closer cooperation with
other international organisations for a better
public dialogue on the important challenges
of today.
The legacy of the great Expos of the past
century carries a lingering memory of an old
order. The legacy of recent and current Expos
is far more forward-looking in these Expos,
legacy translates into sustainability and sus-
tainability translates into the position and long-
term strategy of the worlds cities.
The BIE will carry on this path towards a
promising future by providing public education
opportunities to the world, encouraging debate
on the crucial subjects of our planet, displaying
and contributing concrete measures to solve so-
cial and technological problems encountered by
our international community, and by leading
the world into a better future.
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