Yesterday, Bill Gates, philanthropist and the co-founder of Microsoft, visited Expo 2020 Dubai where he was received by Reem bint Ibrahim Al Hashemy, Minister of State for International Cooperation, and Director General of the Expo.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is working together with Expo 2020 to support grassroots innovators with the ambition and potential to improve the lives of people across a variety of complex, fragile or marginalised humanitarian settings. Along with Al Hashemy, Gates toured the key projects of Expo Live, the global innovation and partnership programme that supports innovators who develop extraordinary low-cost solutions.
Sustainable innovation
As part of the tour, Gates was introduced to the Ideabatic, a low-cost system developed by Kitty Liao of the UK that keeps vaccines and life-saving medicines fresh during long journeys to remote rural areas. Gates also spent time learning about Desert Control, a new technology developed by Atle Idland of Norway, to help foster an agricultural revolution for arid regions. Desert Control uses Liquid NonoClay, a technology that converts poor soil into fertile land to create a solution that works quickly and uses less water than conventional agricultural methods.
A call to action
Gates then toured the Sustainability Pavilion, which highlights technologies that consume no energy. Speaking to Expo TV, Gates urged the world to speed up the implementation of its commitments to the Sustainable Development Goals 2030, with the deadline just eight years away.
He also said that the world was going through a difficult stage in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, despite the success achieved, and called for more efforts for a fair distribution of vaccines.
