Barcelona welcomes the Four Years From Now (4YFN) international week of mobile entrepreneurship

• WhatsApp, Waze, Fon, Chartboost, Doodle, and Arduino are all slated to take part in a program set to feature entrepreneurs and investors like Morten Lund and Yossi Vardi
• 10 startups have been selected from among almost 200 companies from 50 countries to present their plans before investors and the international entrepreneurial community
• 4YFN opens the door of the Mobile World Congress to entrepreneurs

February 17, 2014

4 Years From Now (4YFN), the international mobile entrepreneurship event organized by Mobile World Capital Barcelona (MWCB) as part of the Mobile World Congress, has established its definitive program. From 24-26 February 4YFN will feature lectures, workshops, the first international mobile entrepreneurship competition, and meetings with experts and investors. On 27 February 4YFN attendees will be able to access the Mobile World Mobile World Congress and schedule meetings with exhibitors and convention participants.

The creation of 4YFN comes as a response to the importance that MWCB assigns to programs dedicated to entrepreneurship and innovation as essential assets to transform the industry.

Lectures and workshops

Through 4YFN Barcelona hosts the premier week for mobile entrepreneurship. The event will offer lectures and round tables at which entrepreneurs from around the world will share their experiences and knowledge with attendees. Of special note is the participation of Jan Koum (WhatsApp), who will be sharing his views with university students in a fireside chat with Martin Varsavsky(Fon). The programme includes also lectures and keynotes of Di-Ann Eisnor (Waze), Pepe Agell (Chartboost), Michael Näf (Doodle), Martin Varsavsky (Fon), Massimo Banzi (Arduino), Pablo Villalba (Teambox), Anand Chandrasekher (Qualcomm), Nathan Blecharczyk (Airbnb) and of the investors and entrepreneurs  Morten Lund and Yossi Vardi.

The lineup of 4YFN lectures also includes a round table on the future of journalism in the digital age, with speaker Ben Rooney (Informilo, and a former Tech editor at The Wall Street Journal) and Robin Wauters (Tech.eu), among others. Google will be present at the three 4YFN events; Ezequiel Vidra, head of Google for Entrepreneurs Europe, will give a talk on the main stage. Experts on the Google Cloud Platform will share their usage experiences with this platform on the Agora stage, and a workshop will be held to promote Google’s cloud-based platform as an instrument to launch businesses.

The almost 30 4YFN workshops will allow attendees to delve in depth into concepts like Big Data, the Internet of Things and the new initiatives and tools in the mobile universe. Catchoom will look at augmented reality; Cyberclick will analyze mobile marketing opportunities and Instagram will present the keys to using this social network as an effective brand communication channel. The Internet of Things (IoT) will be the main focus at the workshops led by Claro Partners on the designing of experiences, and MLove will examine trends and innovation. Conrad Mess will address audiovisual production with the iPhone, InnoQuant will explore Mobile Big Data and iBeacons, and Plexiq will analyze the opportunities offered by interactions between man and mobile solutions.

Mobile Startup Competition: 10 finalists

10 startups will participate in the first international mobile entrepreneurship competition: 4YFN’s Mobile Startup Competition. From a total of 192 companies from 50 countries initially selected, only ten have been chosen to present their plans at 4YFN: Airfy (Germany), Alima (France), Cell Buddy (Israel), Fairwaves (UAE), Infantium (Spain), ION Eyeware (Spain), Livemap (Russia), Qipp (Switzerland), Recommend (France) and Sterio.me (Great Britain) impressed a panel of almost 30 experts, investment companies and business angels, including John Hoffmann (GSMA), Di-Ann Eisnor (Waze), John Malloy (BlueRun Ventures) and mentor Angelika Blendstrup.

A meeting forum for investors and specialists

Speed Dating, a vehicle for interaction between startups and investors, business accelerators, and venture capital funds, will organize 10-minute one-to-one sessions at which entrepreneurs will present their business plans to more than 20 companies willing to invest in 4YFN’s best plans. 360 Capital Partners, Accel Partners, Active Venture Partners, Acton Capital Partners, Alice., BDMI, BStartup (Banc Sabadell), DFJ Esprit, Holtzbrinck Ventures, i5 Investors, Intel Capital, Inveready, Kibo Ventures, M8Capital, Nauta Capital, Northzone Venture, Open Ocean, Orange Fab, Profoundres, Startupbootcamp, Wayra, Techstars and Creathor Venture are some of the investment groups which will be present at this event.

4YFN will also feature Meet the Advisors, a consulting event in which 30 specialists from fields like Marketing, Design, Communications, Intellectual Property, and Technical Development will offer advice and recommendations to the entrepreneurial sector.

Imagine Express, Wayra DemoDay, and Startupbootcamp

4YFN will be the last stop for the Imagine Express, an entrepreneurial train that will cover the Barcelona – Paris – London – Barcelona route in four days to come up with ideas that will be presented to the 4YFN community of entrepreneurs. The international event will also include a special edition of Wayra DemoDay, which will bring together top talents from the world of mobile entrepreneurship “accelerated” at Wayra locations around the world; and a Startupbootcamp Pitch Day International, an informal event which allows entrepreneurs to share their ideas with high-level mentors.