Urbanization has become a megatrend everywhere in the world. This same focus is reflected at the Shanghai Expo 2010, where solutions for a better city life are presented. Contributing to a cleaner future in urban areas is also part of Kemira’s strategy.
Shanghai, the host city of this year’s World Expo, is one the world’s largest urban areas. The Chinese government is building the Yangtze River Delta into a display of modern China, for all the world to see.
With its 1.3 billion inhabitants, China has recorded historically high growth rates in recent years; for 2010, the prediction is approximately 9 percent. This growth is manifested in the skyscrapers of Shanghai’s Pudong district and in the city’s incredible traffic and transportation options, to name but a few instances.
This is the first time the World Expo has an urban theme: Better City, Better Life. More than half of the world’s population lives in urban areas, and many of our future challenges will be urban ones.
The Shanghai World Expo explores urban development in, for example, the Urban Best Practices Area, which showcases 65 projects from around the world that focus on innovations for city living.
Sharing inspirations
Kemira participates in the World Expo by sponsoring Finland’s pavilion, “Kirnu” (Giant’s Kettle). The pavilion’s surface is comprised of 26,000 shingles made from recycled materials. In addition, Tikkurila, which recently separated from the Kemira Group, provided surface treatment materials for the pavilion’s steel frame, interior, entrance and external courtyard walls.
“The pavilion’s theme, Sharing Inspirations, is close to Kemira’s values, as is the World Expo’s urban theme,” explains Carol Jin, Communications Manager for Kemira Asia-Pacific.
Furthermore, environmental responsibility, one of the World Expo’s focus areas, is also strongly related to Kemira’s values and business opportunities. Kemira’s vision is to be a leading water chemistry company, and Kemira promotes everyone’s right to clean water. Moreover, Kemira helps companies and municipalities reduce their water footprints.
According to Jin, Kemira’s participation in the World Expo also makes strong business sense. The company holds customer events in Finland’s pavilion in Shanghai.
“The World Expo is an excellent opportunity for Kemira to enhance its profile in China and Asia, which is a strategically important growth area. We want to strengthen our position in China, the fastest growing economy in the Asia-Pacific region, to reach global leadership in our field,” says Jin.
Interesting business opportunities
Kemira helps customers in different sectors increase the efficiency of water use. In addition to people, the industry needs clean water, a natural resource that is becoming ever scarcer. More effective water use reduces costs and energy consumption.
In China, Kemira supplies products and services to municipalities and water-intensive industries, such as paper, oil and mining. Ronald Kwan, Regional Head for Kemira Asia-Pacific, points out that the increasing water treatment challenges present interesting business opportunities. For example, a significant share of the Chinese population has no access to clean water, and a considerable proportion of Chinese towns have no wastewater treatment.
“We aim to assume an important role in solving these problems while creating a sustainable business model. I am confident that the Shanghai Expo will accelerate this development and bring us closer to achieving our goal,” says Kwan.
Facts about Shanghai Expo 2010
The Shanghai Expo 2010, which opened its doors at the beginning of May, is the largest world exhibition to date—if the organizers reach their goals.
The World Expo looks impressive on paper: 192 nations and 50 international organizations have confirmed their participation in this 184-day mega-event in science, technology and culture.
A total of 70 million people are expected to visit the Expo, which promises more than 20,000 presentations and performances of different types. The budget totals approximately EUR 3 million.
China, the host country, boasts the largest of the 95 pavilions in the Expo. The construction, which resembles an upside-down pyramid, reaches 69 meters high and is expected to be visited by some 50,000 people each day.
In our era of fast connections and virtual realities, the idea of a world exhibition may seem outdated and unnecessary. Shanghai, however, offers a perfect location for such an event: with its 20 million inhabitants, this rapidly growing megalopolis is the quintessential platform for research into the future.
The subway system in Shanghai totals 400 kilometers – longer than the subways in New York or Tokyo. Over the past two decades, a new skyscraper has been completed almost every other day in Shanghai. The change has been rapid: Pudong, which was mostly cultivated land only two decades ago, is now a thicket of skyscrapers.
Text: Aleksi Kinnunen
Photo: Lehtikuva