DUBAI 13 April 2017: Siemens AG, one of the largest manufacturing and electronic companies in the world, will set up its global headquarters for airports, cargo and ports logistics in Dubai.
The company will use the site of Expo 2020 Dubai as the future location for this business after the next World Expo ends in April 2021.
The decision of the German company to locate some of its key businesses in the 4.38-square kilometre Dubai South site will capitalise on the industrial and logistics developments in the emirate.
It is seen as a major vote of confidence for Expo’s legacy strategy, aimed at ensuring its site becomes a blossoming district for businesses, residents and tourists alike after the Expo closes.
Dubai South
Expo management anticipates that more world class companies will follow Siemens’ example, bringing new jobs and business to the developing area in Dubai South.
Siemens will make use of the existing infrastructure that is already being put in place on the site and use the permanent buildings of Expo 2020 Dubai as the new home for its future global logistics headquarters.
The new global HQ will include bases for Siemens’ airports, cargo infrastructure and ports teams. All levels of value addition will be represented in Dubai including global management and strategy, research and development, innovation, software development, sales, assembly, and production.
Additionally, Expo 2020 Dubai announced today that Siemens is to become a Premier Partner for Intelligent Infrastructure and Operations, providing a wide range of innovative solutions, technologies and products to help plan, build and operate an exceptional Expo that will continue to make a meaningful impact well beyond its closure.
Under the partnership, Siemens will also provide smart solutions for Expo 2020 technical and site operations and implement MindSphere, an open operating system for The Internet of Things.
MindSphere will initially be utilised for optimisation of energy management and building management across the site. MindSphere will enable the Expo, Siemens and other partners, small and medium enterprises and universities in the wider Expo ecosystem to make best use of data received.
Inspired by Dubai’s Vision 2021 and the Expo themes, the two parties will also promote the use of MindSphere outside Expo as well as for the 200-plus participants of Expo 2020 Dubai.
Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Expo 2020 Dubai Higher Committee, welcomed the addition of Siemens to its elite group of Premier Partners, and said the decision of such a leading company to set up its global logistics headquarters at the site after 2021 was a landmark in the overall journey of Expo.
“The decision by Siemens to set up its global headquarters for logistics in Dubai is a vote of confidence for the strong viable legacy plan for the Expo 2020 site and also confirms the global role that Dubai plays as an international hub for business, the logistics, aviation and maritime industries,” he said.
Siemens’ Chief Executive Officer, Joe Kaeser, said: “Siemens has a long history in Expo partnerships and we are delighted to be a Premier Partner for Intelligent Infrastructure and Operations leveraging our open IoT operating system, Mindsphere, for Expo 2020 Dubai and beyond.
“Through this collaboration, we look forward to supporting Dubai’s sustainable development goals with our innovative solutions, helping bring the emirate closer to its ambition of becoming one of the world’s smartest cities.”
51st on Forbes
The Germany-based company, which employs around 351,000 people worldwide with annual revenues of around EUR 80 billion last year, is the largest of its kind. It was ranked 51st in the Forbes 2000 world’s biggest public companies list of 2016 and 71st on last year’s Fortune Global 500 list of companies with the biggest revenues.
The Expo site is located near Dubai’s thriving Al Maktoum International Airport, which will be expanded by 2025 to become the busiest in the world with some 220 million passengers envisioned ultimately to be using it every year.
Additionally, it is only an hour’s drive from the equidistant Dubai and Abu Dhabi international airports as well as enjoying excellent road and metro links.
Siemens’ corporate headquarters are based out of Munich and Berlin. The company has operations in around 190 countries with 285 production and manufacturing facilities.
A number of businesses within Siemens support many of Expo 2020 Dubai’s key themes of sustainability, mobility and opportunity. Its portfolio focuses on the areas of electrification, automation and digitalisation, making it one of the world’s largest producers of energy-efficient technologies.
Its projects in the Middle East feature sustainable power generation, energy-efficient mobility solutions, industrial automation and smart building technologies, among others.
It joins DP World, Emirates, Etisalat and SAP as an Expo 2020 Dubai Premier Partner. Further important commercial partnerships are expected to be announced by Expo in the coming months.
By Rajive Singh