A new Great Exhibition can arrest Britain’s long decline
The Telegraph Opinion
23-05-22 12:44
The Great Exhibition of 1851, which more than two million people visited six million times over five and a half months, was a celebrated series of industry fairs aimed at promoting technological progress that in turn enabled global commerce, prosperity and peace. Today, specialist industry fairs and academic conferences replace these mass exhibitions, but like their predecessors, are a vehicle for industry innovation and are “a vital tool of innovation strategy”, according to Anton Howes, of The Entrepreneurs Network. He proposes that a modern Great Exhibition for the 21st century could showcase the drone deliveries in action, lifts in driverless cars, industrial manufacturing robots, lab-grown meat and the latest in fashion, art and architecture, powered by the cutting edge of energy technology. The event could also generate inspiring and creative opportunities and perhaps even unforeseeable advances that investors could then seek to capitalise on.