Inayat-ur-Rahman, Gulf Today

The ambitious architectural concept that is the Austria Pavilion will be home to a dozen futuristic and ingenious companies at Expo 2020 Dubai. This contemporary and remarkable pavilion will not only represent a comprehensive picture of modern Austria, but will showcase its rich history of innovation.

With their tag “Austria makes sense”, the pavilion supports Expo 2020’s vision of organising one of the most sustainable world expos of all time. They have done this by building a pavilion that needs 70 per cent less energy than a conventionally air-conditioned building in the UAE, and by only incorporating companies with spectacular vision for a better future.

“The sustainable, responsible use of resources has a long tradition in Austria. Expo 2020 Dubai will be the biggest event in the world this year and will thus provide a global podium for the key questions of our time. We want to use this forum to showcase prototypical future scenarios for climate and resource-efficient buildings of tomorrow,” said Commissioner General Beatrix Karl.

The pavilion combines ecology and technology to an optimum and thus sets a strong signal for climate protection. The Austria Pavilion also focuses above all on the creative use of digitalisation, made possible by the inclusion of Austrian high-tech companies.

Currently, Austrian companies are making lasting impressions at the Expo 2020 Dubai site with their strength and creativity while highlighting the possibilities of sustainable construction with their future-oriented creations. In fact, a list of different Austrian companies have already left their mark at the Expo 2020 site including Unger Stahlbau, who are among the team to construct the four entrance gates at the Expo. They are one of Austria’s most successful steel construction companies on the world market.

The Austrian based Raintime, a company that focuses on fogging technology, is also part of the Expo grounds. Their innovations will protect the Austria Pavilion and its audience from heat. This same fogging technology will also be used in the Singapore Pavilion to provide cooling.

No less than three Austrian companies offer timber construction at Expo 2020, including Rubner Holzbau, a leader in the field of sophisticated timber-frame buildings, Stora Enso, a supplier of Cross Laminated Timber, and Austrian-based company Tilly, which supplies joinery and three-layer boards made of natural wood.

While Austrian artist Thomas Medicus, who creates his pieces out of glass, built a sculpture that will be placed in the newly established underground station near the Expo main entrance. In order to make a hidden Expo 2020 logo appears every 90 degrees when the artwork is rotated, he had to create almost 1000 hand-painted and hand-cut glass fragments that were spread over 100 blank glass strips.

The Austrian construction company PORR has had a strong presence in the UAE for numerous years. They’ve accomplished the “Deep Tunnel Storm Water System” project for Dubai Municipality together with Belhasa Six Construct. That tunnel will be used to channel groundwater and rainwater towards a pumping station by the sea. 40 per cent of Dubai’s urban area will be drained by means of the tunnel. A project that will permanently change life in Dubai.

With new and unique digital services, Doka is focusing on the construction methods of tomorrow. As one of the world’s leading companies for innovative formwork, solutions and services in all areas of construction, Doka is also a global provider of scaffolding solutions for a wide range of applications.

And finally, Helioz, an Austrian social enterprise working in the field of water disinfection and climate project development. They rely on environmentally friendly solutions for water disinfection. It plans to help supply thousands of families in India, Africa and Southeast Asia with clean drinking water.

The country’s site at Expo 2020 Dubai is located in the Opportunity district and is now converging on the upcoming highlight of the year - the worlds’ greatest show.

The six-month event, which runs from October 1, 2021 until March 31, 2022, is the first World Expo to be held in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region. It is expected to attract millions of visitors from across the world.

Earlier this year, Expo 2020 Dubai also welcomed more than 100,000 visitors to experience Terra – The Sustainability Pavilion as part of a preview which ran from January 22 until April 10.

Expo 2020 looks forward to welcoming the world to Dubai, and we intend to not only honour the UAE’s incredible accomplishments, but also to enable action toward a better future for both people and planet.