Women play a decisive role in shaping the world and can bring about positive changes with their innovative and creative solutions to the problems of our age. The achievements of female entrepreneurs and researchers who contribute to the transformation to a green, liveable, sustainable future will therefore be given special recognition at the world exhibition in Dubai. “Women and their innovative power are sending a strong message at EXPO 2020 in Dubai. It is our goal to inspire more women and girls to take up STEM professions (mathematics, IT, science and technology) and to get them into technical training schemes. Strong female role models show that women can achieve anything, also on an international stage,” says Minister of Digital and Economic Affairs Margarete Schramböck.

Female Innovative Prowess from Austria

The 52 companies and research institutes presenting their developments and products in the iLab — the knowledge platform inside the Austria Pavilion — boast strong female participation. Their projects prove that women not only provide a breath of fresh air in research, but above all deliver important input and outstanding results. They make a decisive contribution to advancing innovation in Austria and on the world stage.

Livin Farms Agrifood — Mealworm farming for the home

Livin Farms is a Vienna and Hong-Kong-based start-up that works towards a sustainable and circular food system. The key to this is mealworms. Project Manager Valerija Volcic: “With the Hive Explorer, a circular economy is created and put into practice by feeding mealworms with food waste and in turn utilising the mealworms as protein, and the mealworm droppings as plant fertiliser.” Livin Farms thinks big and sees opportunities to improve our food systems everywhere – in households, schools, business and industry.

University of Art and Design Linz — Fashion & Technology

Fashion & Technology is a bachelor’s and master’s degree programme for forward-looking, sustainable and inclusive fashion design at the University of Art and Design Linz that combines design and research. Ute Ploier, Head of the Fashion & Technology programme, takes a surprising look at sustainable, inclusive and democratic future of fashion in her project IN THE LAB.

“With its inhumane and environmentally-destructive production methods, ‘fast fashion’ has long since gone beyond all limits of decency. Fashion & Technology counters the fashion system with new, sustainable alternative processes”, she says.

Fashion & Technology explores the question of how traditional systems in fashion can be rethought in terms of design strategies and production methods.

Lite-Soil — water saving products

Greenpass — GREENPASS — enabling liveable cities

GREENPASS — enabling liveable cities is the first all-in-one SaaS planning, optimisation and certification tool for climate-resilient urban planning & architecture that can be used internationally. The goal of the Vienna-based company that was founded in 2018 as a spin-off of the research institute Green4Cities, is to create climate-resilient and liveable cities across the world and to cool them by up to 4 degrees centigrade.

The complementary team of GREENPASS includes several women who bring many years of experience, expertise and a lot of passion to the project. Lisa Maria Enzenhofer, a landscape architect and expert in climate-friendly design, is also a partner in the GREENPASS project, providing advice and support.

MOSTLY AI Solutions — Mostly GENERATE — solution for synthetic data

Mostly AI is a high-tech start-up that has developed game-changing AI technology for anonymising big data. “MOSTLY AI enables you to automatically convert your privacy-sensitive big data assets into highly realistic and precise synthetic data sets. The advantage is that synthetic data is completely anonymous and therefore not subject to data protection regulations”, explains Alexandra Ebert from MOSTLY AI. The result is data that is as good as real and that can be freely used, passed on or marketed. The privacy of the customer remains completely protected. “With the MOSTLY AI’s synthetic data platform, you are finally able to innovate freely with one of your most valuable resources — while avoiding the financial, regulatory and reputational risks of a data breach“, Alexandra Ebert adds.

Destination Live — VR Experiential Dome

“Destination Live makes it possible to explore the world at large without leaving your own world. It gives you the opportunity to make every day a holiday”, is how Fjolla Holzleithner, owner and managing director of Destination Live, sums up her VR experiential dome project. To make this possible, Destination Live uses virtual reality. “It gives diverse experiences a new reality. It fulfils travel wishes fast and on a modest budget and offers a sneak preview of a planned holiday”, adds Fjolla Holzleithner. In addition, it saves resources and reduces carbon emissions.

The three metre-wide and high VR experiential dome takes virtual reality to an even higher level. See 360-degree views of everything around you. Smell the specific fragrances of the destination and feel the live-streamed wind in your hair while hearing the sound of the destination.