Expo 2020 marks milestone by promoting big ideas
The crowds turned out to enjoy music and games at the Expo 2020 Three Years to Go Countdown event in Dubai on Friday, but hosting the world fair is also a platform for more serious pursuits.
Six of 45 inventors who were selected through the Expo Live innovation grants programme put their ideas and creations on show at the countdown event at Jumeirah Beach Residence.
Expo Live is a US$100 million (Dh367m) fund used to promote ideas that address major problems and help to improve lives.
Hans Wiberg, inventor of Be My Eyes App, said that taking part in the Expo programme allowed him to explain how many blind and visually impaired people could benefit from his invention.
“I’m visually impaired,” Mr Wiberg said.
“I had the idea in 2012 and developed the app in 2015.”
He said the app made a live video connection between a blind person’s smartphone and a volunteer.
“So, if you are a blind person in your kitchen and you’re about to cook something and you have this can and you can’t tell what’s inside it, you take your smartphone and tap a button that will send a notification to volunteers who can help and who speak the same language,” Mr Wiberg said.
“Right now, we have more than 580,000 volunteers registered in the app, 1,051 of them from the UAE, and 43,000 blind persons, 65 of them from the UAE, and we connect people of 90 languages. “It’s really amazing to be part of Expo 2020 and its ambition and vision that will help us to advance and reach out to more users.”
Yousuf Caires, vice president of Expo Live, said that the programme had 45 global thinkers from 30 countries and he expected that to reach 150 innovators.
“Four of the innovators are from the UAE and their creations use artificial intelligence all the way to basic and ancient technologies,” Mr Caires said.
He said that the programme received 1,100 applications from 107 countries since it was launched.
“There are problems out there that we need to solve, and we want our Expo to be a place where innovations come from all over the world,” Mr Caires said.
“If you’ve got a great project, we are willing to give you a $100,000 grant and be part of Expo 2020.”