Science and Tech Expos: Never was it just an event alone

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In recent years, there has been a boom and a competition among cities and institutions hosting tech expos and exhibitions in many technological areas, including but not limited to agritech, climate tech, engineering, AI, IT, and biotech. These fields directly relate to, benefit, and mobilise farmers, innovators, youth, entrepreneurs, and many other stakeholders, both directly and indirectly, to adopt newer solutions.

The perception of these technological expos is still sometimes misunderstood and reduced to being merely events, but the situation is completely different; they are actually vehicles of change and adaptation to new technologies in a growing ecosystem.

The Government of India supports them in various ways, including directly hosting, sponsoring, or actively participating through its organizations. This government intent, along with the enthusiasm of the people, has transformed the scenario, and these events are now emerging as mobile economic vehicles rather than just events, and they can certainly evolve into new means of enhancing economic development in toto.

Nowadays, with growing technology, the needs to showcase, sell, and subscribe have expanded. Showcasing and demonstrating emerging technologies has become the need of the time. It is not just about a market for selling but about a market of understanding needs and technological development for both manufacturers and consumers. This is the reason behind the success of many technological expos and exhibitions.

These expos are rapidly growing in India and around the world. It is not a one-sided game but a movement towards socially acceptable phenomenal change in this age of technological boom. These events flourish with thousands working hand in hand. It is important to understand how they are becoming more engaging.

Emerging needs

This is the age of dreaming, where everyone wants to fulfil their dreams through technology. Society is now riding the technological wave. From conception to the end of life, humans are closer to technology than ever before. This phenomenon is ever-increasing. Technology plays a role in every aspect of daily life. The loosely regulated access to technology poses a challenge in controlling human behavior, but humans have grown fond of technological aid and want to understand every new innovation.

Though sometimes seen negatively, in an inevitably entropy-increasing world, this is a natural phenomenon, and prosperity passes through a technologically aided human society. The unseen force behind the curtain is always searching for what’s new behind it. People are fond of such revelations and look for possibilities that can change their lives positively, fulfilling gaps they feel need to be filled. Even farming systems seek independence from labour shortages, and manual labour is gradually being replaced by technological aids, changing farmers into field-to-field farming entrepreneurs.

Economy

Expos and exhibition events today attract large audiences. Beyond technology-focused events, they provide platforms for natural manufacturers, self-help groups (SHGs), and other sections of society seeking business opportunities locally. It is fascinating to see that everyone, from chaiwalas to native recipe vendors, fully engages and enjoys these events. For local people, including tribes and women entrepreneurs, these expos offer a golden opportunity to achieve months’ worth of business in just a few days. This blend of people coming together behind the scenes before the curtains rises is intriguing.

Technological familiarisation

Large companies, while investing modestly in these events, smoothly attract brand value and popularity through the popularization of their technologies. It is not limited to advertising but helps connect them directly with stakeholders, enabling better understanding of the concepts and values associated with new technologies. Unlike changing channels during ads, these human platforms connect ambitions with developments and growth.

Building confidence

These events help build coalitions between users and manufacturers rather than relying solely on channelled marketing, which often leaves many aspects misunderstood by both stakeholders and manufacturers. This is further strengthened by local and intellectual leadership involvement at event venues. It is not a single interaction but a range of human engagements, reinforced by onsite visuals that increase confidence in technology. Meanwhile, manufacturers gain opportunities to understand people's aspirations and ambitions. This interaction is more fruitful than many realize.

Inculcating inspiration

Aspirations are essential for a growing society. Events that attract startups, entrepreneurs, and established companies help instill aspirations in local people, who see themselves as future economic drivers. They get to understand opportunities not only in terms of jobs but also the nature and requirements of jobs and the kinds of roles they could take on in the future. Many youth, even those not employed in a particular field, try to connect with other domains, fostering multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary technological interventions. These events serve as interactive platforms for youth ideas and help enrich their capacity to embrace new concepts. Many young people volunteer or engage with various activities, gaining experience in technological development and managing human aspirations.

Days for months

It is always fascinating to see event footfall translating into significant revenues for homemade products, local produce, and home-based enterprises. Although expos may not generate huge revenues due to their size and diverse audiences, they often generate sales equal to what businesses earn in months. They accelerate business growth, offering opportunities for small enterprises to demonstrate products and deploy them within days instead of months, thus shortening the gestation period of new business ideas and turning them into enterprises in days rather than months or years.

If the expos and exhibitions are blended with conferences, workshops, and other scientific events, along with accelerated participation from academia and industry, they may truly emerge as investments yielding compounded economic and innovation returns to society. Alongside, the integration of society, industries, startups, and academia may be further strengthened. That is what is slowly taking shape as a greater scientific economization through these events. Moreover, they are not only serving the purpose but are also well aligned with the people's responsibility to inculcate scientific attitude in them, by providing the atmosphere and opportunity to fulfill the constitutional duty of the people.

It is difficult to capture the full outcomes of these technology demonstration events and expos in a few paragraphs, but they serve as engines of change and platforms for the exchange of ideas among people, manufacturers, leaders, and youth in the making. These expos and exhibitions are not just events; they are vehicles of change, platforms for percolation of thoughts and ideas, and multifaceted golden gates of prosperity through a technologically equipped economy. They enable reaching the last person and allow that person to reach policymakers, companies, startups, industries, youth, women, and all others who can genuinely contribute to making the country a multi-trillion-dollar economy. This is the way to engage the last person scientifically in nation-building. Never was it just an event but the nation in making.

Dr Balendra Singh, Scientist ‘D’ at Department of Biotechnology

The article is written in personal capacity only, it’s nothing more than personal opinion only