During the next World Expo in Dubai in 2020, Belgium will show the world its technological progress to connect minds and create the future. The country’s pavilion, specially built for the occasion, will be a real jewel of architecture and engineering; it will be a green ark spanning several levels.

From 20 October 2020 to 10 April 2021, Expo 2020 Dubai will bring together 190 participating countries and millions of visitors at its vast 4.38 sq km site. The aim of the Expo’s organisers is to encourage creativity, innovation and collaboration on a global scale. The principal theme of Expo 2020, ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’, will be underpinned by three subthemes: Opportunity, Mobility and Sustainability.

The public tender for the design, construction, scenography, maintenance and decommission of the Belgian pavilion has just been awarded. The group BEMOB-2020 won the competitive tender process and includes the Belgian contractors BESIX and Vanhout, the design firms ASSAR ARCHITECTS and VINCENT CALLEBAUT ARCHITECTURES, and scenographers from Krafthaus.

The pavilion will showcase Belgian techniques, applications, products and materials throughout the interior and the exterior of the pavilion. It will not just be green on the outside, but has been designed to produce more energy than it consumes. The preservation of the environment is at the heart of its design and of our concerns, with natural light and ventilation, renewable energies and the smart use of water.

The pavilion will feature an exhibition trail, shops selling Belgian souvenirs, places to taste culinary specialties and a business centre, as well as a brasserie with a terrace. These will offer Belgian companies the opportunity to get involved and present themselves to the world.

The pavilion, in the heart of Expo 2020’s Mobility district, will present Belgium’s latest technological innovations for bringing people, goods and ideas together. It will offer all kinds of interactive discoveries where people can explore the ‘Belgium of the future’.

The pavilion is already popular with businesses and a number of them are already co-financing or contributing to its construction, with the structural work due to complete by the end of 2019. Contributions by other people and companies, from SMEs to multinationals, are still welcome.