What do businesses need to understand about the Shanghai Expo and the opportunities it will open in the market?

The next 2-5 years will see a dramatic growth in a few areas. Here’s actually my take on this.

I just attended an expo in Beijing promoting the Shanghai Expo 2010. There are two major observations and some conclusions that I can draw from the information information given there.

1) Japan, apparently known for having won the award for best pavilion several times, will probably win the award this year. Their pavilion is 80% focused on Green Technology. Their winning will be due to Japanese engineering as well as the world’s attention on Green Technology. This will draw the attention of China and the desire to step up it’s Green Tech efforts even further. Currently the stimulus plan allocated a large sum of money on this sector, except I’ve heard that it’s not easy for Foreign Companies to get direct access to that money other than with partnerships with Chinese companies. Who knows what will happen afterwards though.

2) Japan winning, as well as the world focusing so much on Green Technology will further focus China’s eyes on encouraging innovation. China, known for wanting to learn from other countries and “copy” their style, will be further convinced that in order for innovation to start coming out of China certain laws and enforcement will need to be in place. This will increase the desire for the Gov’t to protect intellectual property rights.

Out of these two results, I think we will be seeing a huge increase in Green Techs focusing on efficiency as well as alternate sources of fuel, and China trying to lead the efforts in innovation in these aspects. Based on the fact that the Gov’t here has been pushing a lot in certain “experimental” hubs to promote development of technology, I think all these things will lead to creating a “goal” for China to become the world’s innovator. How likely they are to achieve that goal is another issue altogether, but the fact that it will become a goal will reveal a lot about where China will be headed.

What does this mean to business in China? Basically, If I were to bet my future on any market in China, I’d start learning either of the following:

either a) Ecommerce and Internet, which has a correlation with intellectual property rights as well as the push from the gov’t to promote the tech sector.

or b) Green Technology.

I’m pretty confident that the pattern that China is taking will lead to these results, and my advice to all those interested in China right now is to start looking for ways in on any of these fields and get first mover’s advantage.

What do you guys think will be the effect of the Expo?