Mobile World Capital Barcelona rewards Catalonia’s most innovative schools at the MWCongress

• The fourth edition of the Mobile Learning Awards, organised by mSchools, recognised schools that have implemented educational initiatives benefitting from the broad incorporation of digital technology
• 4YFN closed out its third edition posting record participation figures, with over 12,500 attendees
• With a pilot programme carried out between Catalonia and Finland, Mobile Connect becomes the first global mobile identity authentication system
• The “Health & Wellness” days, promoted by the ECHAlliance programme, along with mHealth, brought together more than 400 Health professionals at the MWCongress

February 25, 2016

The Mobile World Capital Barcelona Foundation, in collaboration with GSMA, the Regional Government of Catalonia and the City Hall of Barcelona, announced today at the GSMA Mobile World Congress the winners of the fourth edition of the Mobile Learning Awards (MLA), organised through the mSchools programme. These awards recognise the most innovative projects at Catalonian schools using mobile technology in education.

With more than 100 entries this year for the 2016 MLA, the Institut Vallverdú (Les Borges Blanques) was the winner in the “Best learning experiences with mobile technology in the classroom” category, for its “360º immersion learning” project. This category examined experiences presented through the mSchools Toolbox platform, a directory of applications selected after being used and evaluated by Catalonian teachers and education professionals.

Meanwhile, in the category of “Most Innovative School in mEducation,” MSchools honoured the best initiatives undertaken at public or private schools in Catalonia. The winner was the school Els Cossetans (Cunit, Baix Penedès for its “Digital library and school radio.”Coinciding with the MLA, mSchools organised the second edition of Changing Education Together, a seminar to reflect on the role of mobile technology in education and to share best practices. The programming included a talk by Francesc Pedró, section chief for consulting on sector policies and ICTs in education at the UNESCO, which has explored in depth how to advance the digital transformation of classrooms, beyond just infrastructure, examining how digital solutions should be integrated.

The event was also attended by Neus Munté, Regional Government of Catalonia Minister of the Presidency; Meritxell Ruiz, Regional Government of Catalonia Minister of Education; and John Hoffman, CEO of GSMA Ltd.

Digital Innovation

The third edition of 4YFN, promoted by MWCapital and GSMA, drew more than 12,500 attendees, 50% more than the previous year. From 22 to 24 February entrepreneurs, startups, investors, accelerators, innovation directors and renowned speakers converged at the Fira de Barcelona-Montjuïc convention facilities. Today, the last day of the Congress, 4YFN’s participants attended the closing day of the MWCongress.

4YFN boasted 500 startups, corporations and accelerators at its Innovation Market, the event’s exhibition area. Over the course of three days a total of 5,200 meetings were put together between investors and entrepreneurs (Founders & Investors sessions), and 160 hours of talks were given by more than 230 speakers.

Health, technology and monitoring patients

More than 400 experts from 20 countries in the Mobile Health sector came together to discuss the challenges involved in implementing mHealth at the “Health & Wellness” sessions, which attracted professionals from the healthcare divisions of IBM, Roche, Dell, Telefónica, Nokia and Samsung, and institutional representatives, including Estonia’s Secretary General of Digital Services, under the country’s Ministry of Social Affairs.mHealth also sponsored the seminar “Motivating behavioural change through mobile technologies” to promote changes in the public’s habits and healthy lifestyles.

Universal mobile authentication   

MWCB presented the results of the pilot programme for the Mobile Connect service, supported by the Regional Government of Catalonia, GSMA, Vodafone, Telefónica and Orange. This initiative, subject to Europe’s eIDAS regulation governing mobile identity authentication and trustworthy services for electronic transactions, featured cooperation by the governments of Finland and Catalonia.

Mobile Connect is a secure, interoperable and standard citizen authentication service providing access to all kinds of digital services, both public and private. In this way it allows for the gradual phasing out of different usernames and passwords and adds an additional layer of security to data and processes carried out online. MWCB, the Regional Government of Catalonia and GSMA demonstrated their commitment to continuing to implement Mobile Connect at Catalonian government entities next year.

Public impact

The fourth edition of Mobile Ready, an initiative designed to provide Barcelona citizens and visitors with “smart experiences,” presented ground-breaking digital initiatives involving how mobile technologies can improve shopping experiences and driving in a smart city.

In order to experiment with new digital trends affecting the daily tasks of Barcelona’s citizens of tomorrow, Mobile Ready was present at city supermarkets (Veritas), stores (Benito Sports and Casa Viva) and car parks (SABA – SEAT) with mobile solutions in the fields of commerce and connected carsFor yet another year the Mobile World Centre also hosted an exhibition of devices presented at the MWCongress in order to share with citizens the latest devices and solutions presented at the Congress. 14 manufacturers (Samsung, Huawei, Microsoft, HTC, etc.) will be displaying their devices until March 5.