Last chance for South West creatives to represent UK at MilanExpo

The countdown is on for the region’s creatives to have a chance to design the UK pavilion at Milan Expo 2015.

The countdown is on for the region’s creatives to have a chance to design the UK pavilion at Milan Expo 2015.

Multi-disciplined teams of digital content developers, builders, designers, and sponsors have just a few days left to enter the competition to create the most original, inspiring and memorable visitor experience possible, with the successful party representing the Expo theme ‘Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life’. The deadline for making an expression of interest is 2pm on Wednesday 19 February.

The UK officially booked its place at the Milan Expo today, signing a participation agreement and committing to build the pavilion which will showcase the best of UK research, innovation and entrepreneurship.

Highlighting opportunities offered by participation at the Expo, Trade Minister Lord Livingston said:

"Through the UK Pavilion we will reach millions of people around the globe and build on the positive perception established by the UK Pavilion at Shanghai Expo 2010 and the London 2012 Olympic Games.

“As one of the most creative countries in the world we are looking for memorable designs that will help us stand head and shoulders above our international competitors.”

The UK plans to deliver a high-impact participation in Milan under the theme: Grown in Britain: Shared Globally. It will influence perceptions of the UK globally; stimulate domestic entrepreneurship and innovation; and increase British trade and inward investment.

Expo 2015 will raise awareness of how food production and consumption impacts on lives around the world - how food choices contribute to individual health and well-being and can have significant consequences for food supply in the developing world. Sustainability is a key component of the design brief which is currently open to competition.

142 countries worldwide are expected to take part. Sustainable development themes under discussion will include:

• Improving food quality and security: the security of having enough food to live on, and an assurance that the food is healthy and the water drinkable;
• Ensuring healthy and high-quality nutrition for all human beings, doing away with the hunger, drought, infantile mortality, and malnutrition that still afflict 850 million people on this planet, and extirpating famine and pandemic disease;
• Preventing the new epidemics and diseases of our time, including obesity, cardiovascular disease, and cancer, by championing practices that have proven to be effective;
• Promoting innovation in research, technology, and business practices along the entire food supply chain to improve the nutritional value, conservation, and distribution of foods;
• Providing education in proper nutrition and encouraging more healthy lifestyles, especially among children, adolescents, the disabled, and the elderly;
• Enhancing the value of cultural and ethnic heritage as expressed in culinary traditions