Mobility forms the bridge to opportunity; facilitating connections between people, goods and ideas, providing easier access to markets, knowledge and innovation, fuelling trade and tourism and forging links between people and communities. Our desire for experiences and connections to fulfil our dreams, ambitions, and goals impels new means, modes and destinations of travel beyond the physical and into virtual networks. Our quest for mobility is central to future growth and prosperity. Human history is itself a journey of migrations and exploration, first on foot and most recently into the virtual world allowing us to explore places not accessible by physical means. By enabling connections, mobility stimulates progress and opens the door to new realms of unimagined possibilities.
From the design of future cities to the development of national and regional infrastructure for travel and trade, new policies and research and innovation efforts are underway in this domain across the globe.
They will map out new ways in which transportation will shape our societies, economies and environment and influence future requirements for energy. The impact will be far-reaching; by 2050 it is expected that air transport alone will account for 16 billion passengers (equal to the entire current population of the world – flying return!) and 400 million tonnes of freight (equivalent to transporting two Burj Khalifas or 108 Eiffel Towers every day).
The invention of the standardised shipping container transformed the economics of transport, reducing freight unloading costs by 90 per cent.
Physical mobility has always provided new opportunities to develop and enrich people lives and this sub-theme ultimately aims to highlight partnerships that will enhance the physical flow of people and goods through smart, safe and robust systems for logistics and transportation in the future.
The UAE is already a significant trade, commercial and service hub between East and West and at Expo 2020 Dubai we aim to showcase how our focus on efficient logistics and transportation systems will help us create the relationships that will define and support our future.
In the links below we speak with leading academics to explore how we can improve our future transport logistics and what benefits it will bring.