Expo Milano 2015 kicked off on 1 May, promising to be an exceptional world fair. The Expo, which is taking place on a 200 hectare (490 acre) site about 15km (10 miles) northwest of Milan in Lombardy, Italy, features 145 participating countries and expects around 20 million visitors over its six-month run.

The Expo hopes to confront issues around agriculture, sustainable development and energy conservation, inviting the countries of the world to showcase the best in technology and innovation to guarantee the food supply the global population needs. The theme is Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life.

The event is being managed by Expo 2015 SpA, led by CEO Giuseppe Sala. The team’s expertise cover event management, marketing and design. Expo Milano is supported by the Italian government and the regional governments of Lombardy and the municipality and province of Milan.

Public investment in the Expo is €1.3bn ($1.4bn, £950m), which is within the planned budget of €1.6bn ($1.7bn, £1.2bn) proposed in 2012. According to the organisers, operating costs of €800m ($869m, £584m) are balanced with €800m in revenues received from sponsors, ticket sales and merchandise.

Official participants have invested approximately €1bn ($1.1bn, £730m). Italy’s Chamber of Commerce and the University Bocconi in Milan have estimated the Expo is worth an extra €10bn ($11bn, £7.3bn) to the Italian economy and €5bn ($5.4bn, £3.7bn) to the tourism sector. It’s thought the Expo will create more than 60,000 direct and indirect jobs.

FEEDING THE PLANET
“With the theme of Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life, Expo Milano 2015 provides an opportunity to reflect upon and seek solutions to the contradictions of our world,” says Piero Galli, general manager of the Expo’s event management division.

“There were approximately 870 million people undernourished in the period 2010 to 2012. During the same time period, approximately 2.8 million deaths from diseases related to obesity or to being overweight occurred,” he says.

“In addition, about 1.3 billion tons of food are wasted every year,” says Galli. “We need to make conscious political choices, develop sustainable lifestyles, and use the best technology to create a balance between the availability and the consumption of resources.”

“While the central theme is nutrition – human nutrition, first and foremost – it also focuses on nurturing the environment in which we live, the place where the food we eat comes from,” says Galli.

Milan and its home region of Lombardy make a prime place to begin to tackle the topic of food, and Italy’s contributions to global cuisine are well known.

“In Milan and Lombardy, there are 60,000 prestigious agricultural production companies and another 20,000 businesses involved in food processing and nutrition,” says Galli. “They are ready to meet the challenges of the Expo’s theme in a skilled, capable way, representing an Italian tradition that has been exported to the whole world as a true model of food and culture.”

Galli points out that Expo Milano is placing a strong emphasis on creating a collaborative and educational environment for the exchange of ideas in a serious effort to search for solutions.

“The Expo offers a unique, unrepeatable opportunity to create concrete solutions to nurture our planet and its inhabitants in a proper, healthy, sufficient and sustainable manner. It’s a global and interactive event, whose key players are 145 participating countries, international organisations, civil society associations, the international scientific and economic communities.”

Demonstrating this commitment, the theme of the Expo has been closely linked with the work of the UN. UN General-Secretary Ban Ki-moon has already tied the world fair to the Millennium Development Goals – the deadline for them is also this year.

After the Expo, citizens, institutions, companies, associations, academia and international organisations will sign the Charter of Milan, which will be delivered in October to Ban Ki-moon, linking the Expo to the Millennium Development Goals.

FROM NEAR AND FAR
As Italy is the fifth-most popular tourist destination in the world, attracting 49 million visitors per year, Expo Milano has made a particular effort to appeal to visitors from abroad. “We expect 40 per cent of the tickets, 8 million out of 20 million, to be sold abroad,” Galli says. “We estimate one in five Italian citizens on average will visit the Expo, while in the Lombardy region the estimated rate is that at least every second person will visit.”
During the Expo, which runs until 31 October, Galli says up to 250,000 people could visit on the busiest days. “Including the national and corporate pavilions, five thematic areas and nine ‘clusters’ – shared exhibition areas for countries that don’t have their own pavilion – there are 90 buildings to see. To see the whole Expo, a visitor would need a week,” he says.

VISITOR EXPERIENCE
For visitors, Galli says the content has been divided into two formats that will appeal to different levels and styles of engagement: experiences and focuses.

‘Experiences’ are aimed at people searching leisure, fun and entertainment. ‘Focuses’ are in-depth analyses of the challenges of feeding the planet.

The ‘experiences’ are organised by theme, and include topics such as food, family and lifestyle. The food theme, for example, involves 26 million meals being distributed over the course of the Expo, with cuisines from around the world on offer. The Supermarket of the Future is also part of the food experience, showing how food might one day be produced and consumed. Visitors can also learn about the Slow Food movement and food biodiversity.

The lifestyle theme promotes campaigns around the message of the Expo, such as the legacy of the Expo and the art and photography exhibits taking place. There’ll also be live entertainment, such as the Cirque du Soleil and music concerts.

For deeper insights, three ‘focuses’ include debates, talks and conferences. “The first focus tells the story of man and food. It shows the contemporary paradox of abundance and shortage, explains what the future of food will be, analyses why a fair world originates from the production of sustainable food, highlights the relationship between taste and knowledge,” says Galli.

The second focus looks at food groups and agricultural zones, while the third focus is on special projects such as the UN’s Blue Spoon Against Hunger installation.

WIDER EFFECTS
Of course, it’s good news for Italy and tourism. There should be an influx of visitors for years to come. However, beyond the exposition itself and the signing of the Charter of Milan (which Italy will propose to the world on the big global questions relating to food), Expo Milano also hopes to promote collaboration between people and nations.

“For the first time in its history, the Expo won’t simply be an exhibition of human progress, but a chance for discussion and cooperation between nations, organisations and businesses to develop joint strategies to improve quality of life and support the environment,” Galli says. “It’s a platform to share ideas and solutions on the topic of nutrition; it’s a way to stimulate creativity and innovation in companies.”