News item | 10-04-2025 | 14:37
The next world exhibition will start on 13 April, in Osaka, Japan. The Netherlands participates with its own circularly built pavilion under the theme ‘Common Ground’. The pavilion shows how important international cooperation is to tackle major challenges, such as accelerating the energy transition and keeping the planet liveable. There is also an extensive program for six months where Dutch companies, knowledge institutions and organizations can get acquainted with Japan and get or strengthen contacts there.
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Participation in Expo 2025 offers the opportunity to deepen the bilateral relationship with Japan. As a reliable cooperation partner in East Asia and fourth economy in the world, Japan is important for the Netherlands. This year we are celebrating bilateral tires for 425 years. These form the basis for good cooperation on (economic) safety, trade, agriculture, food security, defense, cyber and innovation.
Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Aid, Reinette Klever: ‘Expo 2025 is a unique opportunity for Dutch companies and knowledge institutes to present their expertise to a large international audience. With their innovative power, business is crucial for solving worldwide challenges, for example on food security and health. ‘
Promising sectors
An extensive program has been drawn up for six months, where Dutch companies and institutions can present themselves and get to know companies from Japan. Various theme weeks are planned for promising sectors such as energy, food, health, tech and there is a constantly cultural program with work by Dutch artists and ensembles. Six trade missions are organized from the Netherlands. On April 22, Prime Minister will officially open the Dutch pavilion during his visit to Japan.
Common Ground
The Dutch participation is inspired by the unique relationship that the Netherlands has with the water. Our location, partly below sea level, taught us to work together centuries ago. Now that we face new challenges in 2025, cooperation is again of great importance, at international level. The Netherlands therefore invites Japan – and other countries – to step on ‘Common Ground’ and to work together on solutions.
Circular pavilion
The Dutch Pavilion was designed and realized by the Dutch-Japanse Consortium and BV, consisting of architectural firm RAU, engineering firm DGMR, Experience Design Studio Tellart and the Japanese contracting company Asanuma. The pavilion has the shape of a rectangular building with a luminous sphere-an impressive symbol of a “man-made sun”: a clean and inexhaustible energy source based on hydropower. The facade is covered with wavy slats that depict the flowing water. Together they form a length of exactly 425 meters, as a tribute to 425 years of trade relationships between the Netherlands and Japan. The pavilion is also a powerful example of circular construction. All materials used are registered in Madaster, the digital material passport for circular construction and infrastructure. In this way exactly insight into which materials have been applied and no valuable raw materials are lost.
Interactive visitor experience
When visitors arrive in the pavilion, they get a small luminous sphere. This responds to the installations that have been installed in different places in the building. In this way people are taken along the history between the Netherlands and Japan and our fight against the water. As the highlight of the show, visitors step into the big sphere in the middle of the pavilion. There they get to see an AI film in a 360-degree dome. Finally, visitors can share their own ideas and dreams for the future through an interactive artwork.
Dutch innovations
Central to the pavilion are ten impressive Dutch innovations that all use the power of nature. These contribute in their own way to changing the way we generate energy, transport ourselves and grow food. The presented innovations include the cultivation of fish from cells (upstream foods), the use of waves from the sea to generate electricity (WECO) and self -managing boats for fast and clean transport (roboat).
Expo 2025 Osaka is open from 13 April to 13 October 2025. About 160 countries and organizations participate. The organization of Expo expects to receive more than 28 million visitors.