MWCapital points to “availability of talent” as Europe’s main challenge to be relevant in the digital revolution 

• The CEO of MWCapital has claimed the impact of technology in all areas of society during Mobile Lunch 2025, the annual meeting of the digital ecosystem that marks the beginning of the MWC and was held at the Palau de la Música Catalana  

• Networking event brought together nearly 400 people and included the immersive gastronomic experience of Celler de Can Roca ‘Magical journey through cocoa’ 

02/March/2025

Digital talent has been the central theme of Mobile Lunch 2025, the annual meeting that marks the beginning of the MWC week and is organized by the Mobile World Capital Barcelona Foundation (MWCapital) with the aim of offering a networking space which brings together the MWCapital board of trustees, the IT community, institutions, business people, entrepreneurs, investors and academia.  

In this context, MWCapital CEO Francesc Fajula has stated that “the availability of talent is Europe’s main challenge to strengthen its role in the digital revolution” and has highlighted Barcelona’s role as a technological hub connected to the world and with the capacity to train, retain and attract qualified digital profiles that respond to the growing demand for professionals in the ICT sector. 

Along these lines, Fajula has referred to the main novelty of this week in which Barcelona becomes the world epicentre of technology, which is the celebration of the first edition of the Talent Arena, which will bring together developers, IT students and managers from the world of technology. The meeting proposes technological challenges through the organisation of hackathons, mentoring sessions and a programme of presentations with more than 200 national and international figures such as Steve Wozniak, Garry Kasparov or Cassie Kozyrkov. 

“For the first time, Barcelona will bring together the three ecosystems that make up the technology sector over these four days: the industry at MWC, startups at 4YFN and digital professionals at Talent Arena”, said the CEO of MWCapital. 

Mobile Lunch 2025 brought together around 400 people representing institutions, corporations and the city’s technological ecosystem at the Palau de la Música Catalana. 

The event included speeches by the fourth deputy mayor of Barcelona City Council, Jordi Valls; the Minister of Business and Employment of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Miquel Sàmper; the Secretary of State for Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructures, Antonio Hernando Vera; and the CEO of Mobile World Capital Barcelona, Francesc Fajula. GSMA CEO, John Hoffman, attended later. 

The fourth deputy mayor for Economy, Finance, Economic Promotion and Tourism, Jordi Valls, has said that “Barcelona has managed to accelerate an ecosystem of innovation and technology and also of science”, taking into account that technology is not neutral and “success does not depend only on technology but on the people who make it possible”. “We are in the capital of science and technology in Spain and we are at the service of Europe”, he stressed. 

The Minister for Business and Employment of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Miquel Sàmper, remembered during his speech that this is already the 19th edition of the MWC in Catalonia, a territory that “has five elements that make this trade fair and collective success possible”: An ecosystem with 160 technological hubs and 2,285 startups; talent with top-level training centres; international positioning; digital infrastructures, and “political vision”. 

Secretary of State Antonio Hernando Vera has highlighted the role of technology in a context of political, social and economic changes, as well as the importance of the MWC in responding to the challenges and opportunities of digital transformation, and has advocated promoting these days “agreements, projects and ideas that make technology a driver of shared prosperity”. 

In addition, this year the event’s gastronomic proposal included an immersive experience developed jointly by MWCapital and Celler de Can Roca, called ‘Magical journey through cocoa’.