Under the motto "Un Sorso di Zurigo – Energia per la Vita", the city and canton of Zurich as well as Zurich Tourism in the Swiss Pavilion at the World Exhibition in Milan showed the impact of clean water on the innovative strength and quality of life of a region.
The Zurich exhibition attracted around 500,000 visitors for three months . In particular, the recyclable glass objects, the innovative Water Filter DrinkPure from the ETH spin-off Novamem and Aquaponic, the combined fish and vegetable farming, which was further developed at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), were able to inspire the audience.
The specialist and public events as part of the Zurich Week on the topics of food research, Zurich fashion, game design as well as the Gotthard corridor and the sustainable use of food were also very well received. Over more than 25 days, the Zurich music programme with contributions from jazz to electro provided an additional cultural dimension in Zurich's performance and gave the Swiss Pavilion an urban touch.
The appearance at the World Exhibition in Milan was accompanied by a three-year PR campaign, which generated around 20 million contacts and was able to position Zurich as an attractive cultural city and innovative place of knowledge. The approach of Milan and Zurich as part of the NEAT opening was also discussed in the media.
With the opening of the Gotthard Base Tunnel in 2016 and the Ceneri Base Tunnel in 2019, Zurich and Milan, two of the strongest economic regions in Europe, are moving together on a three-hour travel time. Zurich's participation in the Expo was therefore a good opportunity to present Zurich's qualities to a broad Italian audience and to strengthen relations with the Milanese government, business and universities.
