BITRI is participating at the Global Expo which started on the 6th to the 9th August at Fairgrounds in Gaborone. The theme of the expo is “Harnessing the power of emerging markets for economic growth”. BITRI is participating mainly to market the CMS, Building Materials Laboratory and STTF. Officially opening the Global expo the President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi expressed delight that the expo has grown a lot, bringing in more exhibitors including those from outside the country compared to when it started in 2006. Dr Masisi alluded to the fact that the theme resonates well with the need for industrialization “so as to unlock the potential of the country’ s human and financial capital, as embraced by the mid-tier emerging economies that the country aspires to do business with”. He said slowly but surely emerging markets were upsetting the dominance of the more industriliased economies. He said as a country Botswana is willing to learn from the experiences of other developing economies and to develop strategic partnerships. The President said “entrepreneurship could be achieved through strategic partnerships with emerging economies which were more advanced in digitalization and application of artificial intelligence. We need to nurture the spirit of entrepreneurship in this country in order to stimulate economic growth through value addition and beneficiation of our natural resources” the President said.  For her part, the Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry, Ms Bogolo Kenewendo said “we want to industrialise and leapfrog to the forth industrial revolution, and for this we want to work with emerging markets in order to achieve desired economic transformation over the next 10 years”. The President and his delegation toured the stalls amongst which there was an exhibition by Batswana entrepreneurs under the “#PUSHABW” slogan. Apart from the exhibitions the expo also had presentation on various themes, hackathon and business matchmaking sessions.