Expo 2020 Dubai has teamed up with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support grassroots innovators across the globe.

The announcement came at the end of the fifth Expo 2020 International Participants Meeting (IPM) on 27 August.

The collaboration will promote innovation in global humanitarian and development response by identifying, co-funding and upscaling ambitious innovative solutions geared towards improving the lives of people.

Expo Live is Expo 2020’s global innovation and partnership programme, providing grants and an international platform for novel solutions. 

Grantees identified under the initiative include several regional innovators such as Seenaryo, which supports life skills and academic achievement for children in refugee and local communities across Lebanon and Jordan; UAE-based startup Ustad Mobile, which provides online and offline educational resources in remote locations across Afghanistan, Jordan and Kenya; and Lebanon-based CubeX, which provides an automated home-scale wastewater and solid waste treatment system.

Expo organisers and participants convened remotely at the virtual IPM, where more information on Expo’s specialist programming was revealed, including themed weeks and international day events to highlight global issues such as climate change, health and wellness, urban and rural development and space.