Sports sector to benefit from opportunities created by Expo

The sports sector is starting to benefit from the opportunities created by hosting Expo 2020, which will bring some of the greatest minds and personalities from the worlds of science and technology, economy, literature, show business and sports to Dubai.

 Saeed Hareb, Secretary General of Dubai Sports Council, met Vladimir Leonov, Minister of Sports of the Republic of Tatarstan, at the Russian pavilion in Expo 2020 and they discussed different initiatives and plans to strengthen and increase cooperation between the two parties.

The Secretary General also met football legend Paolo Maldini, the former captain of the Italian national team and AC Milan, where he won seven Italian Serie A league titles and featured in five of Milan’s seven UEFA Champions League triumphs. He also won four European Super Cups with the Italian club, two Intercontinental Cup titles and a FIFA Club World Cup.

Maldini, who is regarded as one of the greatest defenders of all time, made a record 902 appearances in all competitions for Milan as a player and is now serving as the club’s technical director since 2019.

Maldini visited the Italian pavilion at Expo 2020, as well as a number of other country pavilions, and met a number of visitors in the pavilions. The Italian star expressed his happiness to visit Dubai and attend the Expo, especially as he realises the importance and prestige of this event, since his city Milan hosted the last edition of the Expo in 2015.

Saeed Hareb met Maldini in the presence of Nasser Aman Al Rahma, Assistant Secretary General of the Council, and presented him with a copy of “My Story” – the anecdotal memoir of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

Maldini was happy to receive the book, especially as he is in love with Dubai and admires the speed and quality of its development, and is a regular visitor to the emirate.

The competence-based Italy, champion of innovation, sustainability and training takes off for Expo Dubai with a programme of international initiatives and events dedicated to Italy’s innate capability of connecting people and intelligence through beauty, know-how and creativity.

The Italy Pavilion at Expo Dubai, with the participation of  70 institutional partners, 50 business sponsors, 15 Regions and 30 Universities, will promote a vast programme of multilateral forums and high-level dialogues to analyse the challenges that are most pressing for humankind, indicating solutions capable of generating growth, innovation and international collaboration.

Addressing key issues ranging from the climate, Space, urban development, promoting intercultural dialogue, to the challenges of innovation and digitalisation in the healthcare sector, in agriculture and in the blue economy, the Agenda of multilateral forums will convene high-ranking policy-makers, international experts, young students, and representatives of the world of business, to discuss these themes and to highlight Italy’s contribution to new collaborative models on the principal issues on the UN Agenda 2030.

Venice is the highlight of the opening week of events: The first thematic week of Expo Dubai is dedicated to “Climate and Biodiversity”: at the Italy Pavilion, the theme will be developed in several initiatives focused on Venice, brought as an example of a local laboratory and an international model of how to combat the effects of climate change and promote innovative environmental transition processes and cultural and social innovation. On the 3rd of October, one of the two forums dedicated to the lagoon city will launch the candidacy of Venice as the world capital of sustainability on the Expo’s global platform. The pavilion was designed by CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati and Italo Rota Building Office, with F&M Ingegneria and Matteo Gatto.

It utilises three real-sized boat hulls for the pavilion roof, which could potentially set sail after the event. The boat hulls also refer to the historical connections between the Italian and Arabian Peninsulas, thus hinting at the themes of both Italy’s participation in the Expo

(Beauty Connects People ) and Expo Dubai 2020 as a whole ( Connecting minds, creating the future ).

It features a multimedia façade made of more than 70 kilometres of nautical rope, and uses an advanced system for climate mitigation that constitutes an alternative to air conditioning.  The nautical ropes are produced in recycled plastic, using the equivalent of almost two million water bottles. The project strives to showcase more sustainable ways to cool our buildings and cities in the future.

Belvedere, a round structure topped by a dome, covered by wild herbs of the Mediterranean maquis, which evokes Renaissance gardens. Here, spirulina microalgae, cultivated by renewable energy company TOLO Green, enables the ecological treatment of air through the biofixation of the carbon dioxide emitted by visitors.

n Innovation Space dedicated to technological research; the Second Sun and Second Moon digital installations create a crescendo of light effects closely linked to the visitors’ emotions in real-time.

 Theatre of Memory with a 3D-printed copy of Michelangelo’s David developed by the Museum of the Galleria dell’Accademia of Florence and the Ministry of Culture in partnership with the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Florence.

 Located at the entrance of the Pavilion and suspended at full height over a body of water is an installation and a clear reference to Eni’s concrete commitment towards a sustainable future, including possible fixation and enhancement of carbon dioxide.  Titled “Braiding the Future”, the space focuses on biofixation of carbon dioxide. It recreates a microalgae cultivation using a spectacular cascade of 20-metre-high technological liana vines.

Within each of the luminescent lianas flow the microalgae: the see-through circuit becomes a spectacular interpretation of the production technology of these unicellular organisms, which produce high-value compounds through a natural photosynthesis process.

 “Solar Coffee Garden” – the cafe features a human-sized Moka coffee machine – a reproduction of the 1979’s Carmencita Moka by Marco Zanuso, one of the icons of Italian design  which is powered by solar energy. The cafe is conceived of as an immersive experience through all the various stages of coffee production, from the seed to the cup. Its counter is made with discarded coffee and waste beans set in a tactile surface of eco-resin. Framed by a suspended garden of coffee plants, the installation integrates technological and natural elements and showcases the importance of reusable components in a transparent supply chain.

 The path inside the Italian Pavilion is enriched by a series of green elements from more than 160 different species that live inside the building.