The cost of the World Cup
Qatar has spent $220bn to build an entire city and its various infrastructure to host the Mondial World Cup.
The more realistic cost is estimated at a whopping $300bn by Bloomberg.
What Qatar Built for the Most Expensive World Cup Ever
Qatar has spent $300 billion preparing for the FIFA World Cup
This has nothing to do with innovation. But let me help with some random points of reference:
- $100bn - Promised Loss and Damage fund for helping developing countries fight climate change during the various COP (which never materialized)
- $52bn - Recent U.S. Chip and Science Act voted to reboot the national chipmaking industry
- $42bn - Annual French energy sector in 2019 (2% of the country's GDP)
- $26.25bn - Apple's R&D budget in 2022
- <$18bn - European Space Agency's budget for the next three years
- <$5bn- Moderna's cumulated R&D budget since 2016
- $1.14bn - Total cost of improving bike infrastructures in the Netherlands up to 2030