Mobile World Capital Barcelona broadens its range of activities in a comprehensive social and economic programme

• 4YFN is entering its fourth edition and will gather more than 600 startups, 700 investors and 20,000 visitors, 60% more than last year
• Mobile Lunch Barcelona will reveal the impact of digital transformation, with a special focus on the automotive industry, and see the participation of more than 350 professionals
• d-LAB, MWCapital’s digital transformation programme, will present the results of its project that connects the latest Big Data and IoT technologies with tourism at the Sagrada Familia church
• Mobile Week Barcelona will mix technology and art with 10 dialogues, 10 artistic creations and 10 inspiring routes throughout Barcelona’s 10 districts

February 14, 2017

The Barcelona Mobile World Capital Foundation (MWCapital) presents its programme of activities within the framework of the GMSA Mobile World Congress. Between 20 February and 2 March, MWCapital will deploy a series of initiatives in different areas of the city which will increase Barcelona’s impact as the mobile capital. The aim is to show different sectors of society and the economy the potential of digital transformation through initiatives that cover sectors ranging from industry to entrepreneurship, education and the general population.

Aleix Valls, CEO of MWCapital, has presented the Foundation’s programme of activities at an event presided over by Ada Colau, Mayor of Barcelona and President of the Mobile World Capital Barcelona Foundation. The event also saw the participation of Jordi Baiget, Minister for Business and Knowledge at the Regional Government of Catalonia and Vice-President of the MWCapital Board of Trustees; José María Lassalle, Secretary of State for the Information Society and the Digital Agenda and Vice-President of the MWCapital Board of Trustees; and Constantí Serrallonga, CEO of Fira Barcelona and Vice-President of the Executive Committee at MWCapital.

4YFN: four years as a meeting place for the international entrepreneurial community

4 Years From Now (4YFN), the MWCapital global business platform for the growing community of digital startups, is going into its fourth edition, consolidating its role as a meeting point and business hub for international entrepreneurs, investors and large corporations. Between 27 February and 1 March, 4YFN will gather more than 600 startups and 700 investors at Fira Barcelona in Montjuïc with a forecast of 20,000 visitors, 60% more than last year. The event will host more than 100 talks given by 270 speakers over 3 days. Noteworthy among them are Terry von Bibra, Global Manager EMEA at Alibaba; Michael Spiegelman, Director of Product Innovation for Growth & Acquisition at Netflix; Harper Reed, Next Gen Commerce at PayPal; Fernando Fanton, CTO of Just Eat and Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP Group.

4YFN Barcelona 2017 takes off with new spaces for promoting exchanges and interaction between participants such as the Startup Pitching Sessions, a space in which startups – classified by sector and maturity – can present their projects to prospective investors. Furthermore, entrepreneurs can also take part in the Industry Networking Sessions. Unlike the pitching sessions, these meetings have been created as a straightforward networking forum that gathers startups, entrepreneurs, investors, corporations and potential clients depending on their interests. This year’s edition will also have an app (4YFNetwork, available for Android and iOS) that has been developed to foster connections between entrepreneurs, investors and large corporations before, during, and after the event.

The 4YFN Awards, aimed at the most disruptive startups at the event, will reward the greatest national and international innovative talent for the fourth year running. Startups will also lead several different creative and hacking initiatives at the event, among which the Hack_d_Gap Global Challenge stands out. This challenge has been organised by 4YFN and Women4Tech, GSMA’s new programme to promote gender diversity and gender equality among leaders and employees within the mobile industry.

Last, but not least, the event will also feature the NUMA BARCELONA and Startupbootcamp IoT & Data Demo Days, which will allow accelerated startups in these programmes to pitch their project to a specialised audience of investors, corporations and other entrepreneurs. The distinguishing feature of the former programme is that 10 growth-phase startups will pitch; in the case of the latter, it will be 8 startups specialising in IoT and Big Data. Both programmes are part of mVenturesBcn, the MWCapital programme that promotes the creation and growth of startups in the digital and mobile industries.

Digital transformation for business and industry

MWCapital and GSMA are organising the second edition of Mobile Lunch Barcelona, a meeting prior to the Congress that aims to spread digitalisation throughout all industry sectors. The lunch will take place on 21 February and will gather more than 350 professionals from SMEs in the ICT sector and companies in the mobile arena.

Aleix Valls, CEO of MWCapital, and Luca de Meo, CEO of SEAT, will lead an opening session that will allow visitors to discover the impact of digital transformation on industry, with a particular focus on the automotive sector. Also including the participation of John Hoffman, CEO of GSMA Ltd., Mobile Lunch Barcelona is reinforcing its role as a space for interaction and digital innovation within the framework of the Congress. Adigital, AMETIC, CTecno, Barcelona Global, Barcelona Tech City, MMA, Sinergia, AEBALL, Pimec, Barcelona Activa, Acció, Red.es, ICEX and APD (Association for the Progress of Management) will also be involved in the event.

MWCapital is also organising the MWC Tours & Experiences, a series of guided, themed tours through the GMSA Mobile World Congress premises, aimed at maintaining its commitment to business and industry. These tours are centred on connected commerce and retail, disruption in the media, emerging technologies and the Internet of Things.

Within the framework of the Congress, MWCapital will also present the evolution of its digital transformation programmes: d-LAB and Going Digital. d-LAB, a new digital transformation programme that aims to resolve social issues using mobile and digital technology, will present the results of its pilot project that links the latest Big Data and IoT technologies to tourism at the Sagrada Familia church. The results obtained will be presented on 28 February at 16:00, detailing the different phases of the project and the main conclusions that can be applied to services management, mobility and resources available to tourism in Barcelona. This international presentation will take place at the GMSA Mobile World Congress, where d-LAB will also host a seminar on the latest trends in digital identity on 2 March at 09:30. The session will tackle the use of the Mobile Connect solution in the private healthcare sector and public administration agencies.

For its part, the Going Digital programme proposes three educational experiences set in a space designed for learning and creating awareness and aimed to help professionals face the challenges of digitalisation. The courses will also be held within the framework of the Congress, and centre on Big Data, the purchasing experience for the digital consumer and retail.

Education and technology, digital training as a key to the future

mSchools, the educational programme sponsored by Mobile World Capital Barcelona in cooperation with the Regional Government of Catalonia, Barcelona City Hall and GSMA, will set up two of its own activities at the Congress.

On Wednesday 1 March, mSchools will organise a one-day event devoted entirely to education and technology in the GMSA Mobile World Congress grounds. The activity will include the presentation of awards to the teachers who have carried out the most innovative projects in the classroom (Mobile Learning Awards 2017), seminars with 500 participants to debate on the role of technology in teaching (Changing Education Together) and co-creation workshops in which teachers can develop projects collectively (Edu_Hack).

Moreover, mSchools will occupy exclusive spaces at the Youth Mobile Festival (YOMO), the new event promoted by GSMA in partnership with MWCapital and aimed at students between the ages of 10 and 16. mSchools will be present at YOMO with two areas of exclusive floorspace. The first area will house the mSchool Classrooms, which will hold information sessions on education topics and transformational teaching experiences thanks to mobile technologies. YOMO will also house the mSchools Experiences, where, in four different spaces, teachers who have already taken part in the programme will explain how they have applied the different mSchools initiatives when bringing the use of mobile technology into the classroom to improve their students’ learning experiences.

Bringing digital transformation closer to the general population

This year, MWCapital is broadening the reach of its activity in the city and is launching Mobile Week Barcelona, a new initiative to encourage open reflection on digital transformation and mobile technology. 10 dialogues, 10 artistic creations and 10 inspiring routes are the backbone of this proposal which will take place between 20 – 26 February and will include activities in all 10 of Barcelona’s districts.

As a city project, Mobile Week Barcelona will gather artists, scientists, thinkers, engineers, entrepreneurs and professionals from the cultural sector in a wide-ranging event that is open to the public and free of charge. Some of the nearly 60 speakers who will take part in this first edition of Mobile Week Barcelona include Marc Vidal, a digital transformation consultant; Josep Ramoneda, a journalist, philosopher and writer; and Josep A. Planell, Dean of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, among others.

Mobile World Centre will also hold an activity of its own in the MWCapital programme: A MOBILE Story is an exhibition that encourages reflection on the evolution of mobile technology and the most important digital advances in contemporary history. It offers a tour through 10 installations that analyse the present and the future of smart industries, the professions of the future, the evolution of mobile devices from the first phone call, and advances towards technological convergence, among others. A MOBILE Story culminates with a Virtual Escape Room that uses the latest virtual reality technology.

For the fourth year running, “A window on the Mobile World Congress” will once again convert the Mobile World Centre into a showcase for mobile-related innovation. After the success of last year’s edition, brands such as Samsung, Huawei, LG, Motorola, Alcatel, BQ, ZTE and Acer will exhibit the latest trends in tablets, smartphones and wearables that they will be presenting at the GMSA Mobile World Congress. The most ground-breaking devices and the latest technology in the sector presented at the Congress will be displayed at this exhibition, which will be open between 27 February and 2 March.