According to experts, Expo 2020 holds outstanding and remarkable signs in the medium and long term. However, the possibility for overheating in the short term should be well studied and cautiously observed.
After being nominated for Expo, Dubai expects of having positive economic impact in various sectors benefiting from several billion dollars projects, initially through wide-range infrastructure investments, growth in tourism, positive consumer and investor sentiment, high levels of job creation, and a resulting increase in the population.
The International Data Corporation (IDC) does not see any key impact on the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector in the UAE before 2016.
“In the medium to long term, the ICT industry is expected to witness additional IT growth of around 1–2 per cent as a result of hosting the Expo. The anticipated large-scale infrastructure-based capital expenditure will include ICT-related investments, which will drive growth in the medium term,” Jyoti Lalchandani, group vice-president and regional managing director for IDC in the Middle East, Africa, and Turkey declared.
He said the increasing demand for products and services will result in new businesses starting operations, as well as existing ones beefing up their operations, both resulting in significant investments in ICT.
As more objects become embedded with sensors and gain the ability to communicate, Taj El Khayat, General Manager for Mena at Riverbed Technology, said in an emailed statement that the resulting information networks promise to create new business models, improve business processes and reduce costs and risks. Many industries are gaining a competitive advantage from “connectedness” – among them: fleet management (for tracking goods and vehicles), consumer electronics and retail (stock control).
“Manufacturing, oil and gas, automotive, security, transport and even environmental management [smart cities] are gaining in this area. In 2014, adoption increases as companies continue to search for competitive advantages that also drive cost savings,” he said.
The large-scale infrastructure projects are expected to result in investments in the areas of systems integration, IT consulting, and networking infrastructure. As new businesses start operations and existing ones expand their footprint, investments in systems and storage solutions, software applications, and peripherals are expected to surge.
He said SMEs have a unique opportunity in leveraging IT, given some of the new delivery models that are coming, which are less capital intensive.
“We believe SMEs are going to represent a larger share of the overall IT spending. With the Expo 2020, we expect to see more influx of SMEs in the UAE,” Lalchandani added.
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