Expo 2020 Dubai seeks gadgets, gizmos and games of the future

Expo 2020 Dubai on Tuesday launched a worldwide search, backed by a social media and online campaign, to find the brains behind the newest, coolest gadgets, gizmos plus digital and traditional games.

"We want to wow and delight our visitors with take-home keepsakes that could only come from a World Expo," said Gillian Hamburger, Senior Vice President – Commercial, Expo 2020.

She said the gadgets, gizmos and games would be available for sale not only at the Expo site during its six months from October 2020 to April 2021 but also through its exclusive online shop and selected Expo 2020-approved retailers, far ahead of the event opening.

"Our ambition is to offer a product range that people will want to buy not only because they are offered by Expo 2020 but because the items are unexpected, unique and innovative.

"These are products that consumers all over the world will want to get their hands on; new ideas and concepts that the world has not seen before and become a ‘must-have’ for those who love innovative products. They need to be creative and trendsetting, and should ideally fit in with our core Expo sub-themes of Opportunity, Mobility and Sustainability," she added.

The games section will include online, network, PC and consoles, mobile, and other forms of digital as well as traditional games, such as a new version of chess or snakes and ladders. The Expo wants games-makers of all kinds to submit their ideas.

The first telephone (1876), television (1939), the mobile phone (1970) as well as ASIMO, the humanoid robot (2005), were all products that were first introduced to the public at World Expos.

Expo 2020 will be giving companies an opportunity to use such a large global gathering as a launchpad for their new innovative ideas and concepts as officially licenced Expo 2020 products.

According to global market intelligence firm Newzoo, the mobile (tablet and phone), PC and console gaming industry alone will see 2.2 billion gamers across the globe generate a predicted USD108.9 billion in game revenues in 2017 7.8 percent more than 2016.

Through its overall theme, ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future," Expo 2020 Dubai itself will be a platform to foster creativity, innovation and collaboration globally.

Seventy percent of its visitors are expected to be from outside the UAE the largest percentage from outside the host country in the 166-year history of World Expos.

Official merchandise will be sold at selected outlets across the UAE, including dedicated Expo retail stores, as well as at the ‘Superstore of the Future’ at the Expo 2020 Dubai site itself, and through Expo 2020’s global online shopping channels.

Through its licencing programme, Expo 2020 Dubai will accept tenders for more than 5,000 products in total.

The tender process to become a licensee for this new product category 2020 will be online soon and open to businesses of any size from anywhere in the world. The initial stage, when companies can register their interest, will open on 20th October and close on 19th November, 2017.