4YFN bolsters its presence at the GSMA Mobile World Congress Shanghai, to feature nearly 150 startups from 16 countries

• For the second straight year, 4YFN will have its own space at the most important mobile industry event in Asia, from June 28 to 30
• A delegation of 18 Spanish companies promoted by the Ministry of Energy, Tourism and Digital Agenda, represented by the Secretary of State for Information Society and Digital Agenda and Red.es, the Regional Government of Catalonia (through ACCIÓ), and the Barcelona City Council (through Barcelona Activa), will be present at the event
• 4YFN will conclude with the naming of the winner of the 4YFN Awards Shanghai, to be awarded a booth at the next edition of 4YFN Barcelona

June 12, 2017

For the second straight year, 4 Years From Now (4YFN), the Mobile World Capital Barcelona (MWCapital) global business platform for the growing community of technology startups, will form part of the GSMA Mobile World Congress Shanghai. 4YFN, the event for entrepreneurs, will be held from 28 to 30 June, 2017.

Nearly 150 startups from 16 countries, including China, Korea, Germany, Spain, Israel, India and Japan, will have the opportunity to introduce themselves to the Chinese technological ecosystem and open up to the Asian market. There will be delegations from Korea, China and Taiwan, as well as from other European countries such as Spain, which will travel with a total of 18 companies. At this edition, Microsoft Accelerator has signed on as a Gold Partner of 4YFN and will feature 18 startups selected from its acceleration programme.

4YFN will occupy 3,400 m2 in Hall W2, one of the spaces at the Shanghai New International Expo Center, the convention facility hosting the Mobile World Congress Shanghai, Asia’s biggest mobile industry event. Over the course of three days the startups will participate in a complete programme of activities prepared specifically to allow them to present their projects and interact with the Asian entrepreneurial ecosystem. 

A complete programme for startups, corporations and investors 

The event’s agenda will include several pitching sessions by startups, through which entrepreneurs will share their projects with investors, corporations and other attendees. In addition, 4YFN will place the startups in contact with 50 investors and different corporations that will participate in the event.

The forum will also feature a group of 25 experts from the technology sector, who will discuss the role of startups in the global technology ecosystem. Speakers will include: David Tang, Managing Director of Nokia Growth Partners; James Chou, CEO of Microsoft Accelerator Shanghai; Azita Arvani, Head of Innovation Partner & Venture Management at Nokia; and Veronika Kuznetsova, CFA, Managing Director at SuperCharger Fintech Accelerator, among others.

On Friday, June 30, the last day of 4YFN, the second edition of the 4YFN Awards Shanghai will be held in order to reveal the most innovative startups. From amongst all those participating in the congress, 4YFN will have previously selected five that will present their projects on stage. The winning startup will be chosen by a panel including Donna Nguyenphuoc, Partner of SPARQ Technology Investors Society and David Tang, Managing Director of Nokia Growth Partners, among others, and will be able to participate in the 4YFN space at GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

At this edition, 4YFN is delivering an experience-oriented programme outside the congress to promote the country’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, with visits to Chinaccelerator, China’s leading acceleration programme, and TechCode, a company focused on helping entrepreneurs in their innovation process and that has already set up incubation systems in China, Israel and Germany. For three days, different activities will be organised, such as networking sessions, workshops, tours with investors, government delegations and corporations, and social events that will foster relationships with the Asian technology community. 

Delegation of Spanish companies in Shanghai 

MWCapital will travel to Shanghai with a delegation of 18 Spanish companies connected to technology and innovation in sectors such as Health, Tourism and Telecommunications, among others. This is the third year that MWCapital has organised this initiative, together with the Ministry of Energy, Tourism and the Digital Agenda, represented by the Secretary of State for Information Society and Digital Agenda and Red.es; the Regional Government of Catalonia, through ACCIÓ; and the Barcelona City Council, through Barcelona Activa, to promote the Spanish business community in the tech sector and strengthen ties with the Asian market. The delegation will be madeup of:

Accent Systems (Barcelona): a company dedicated to IoT solutions and the creation of customised electronic products. They work on the development of the solution through to its mass production.

Adele Robots (Asturias): a company that generates ideas and products that make it possible to enhance people’s quality of life through robots and virtual assistants. They focus on improving interaction between humans and robots.

LifeVite (Santa Perpètua de Mogoda): a health sector application by the company B&B Trends making it possible to diagnose, prevent, control and monitor vital signs, as well as save and share medical history data with family and health centres, among other functions.

Barcelona Technology School (Barcelona): a leading project in digital education that trains the professionals who will transform the industries of tomorrow. It offers training in subjects such as mobile development, website development, cloud computing, the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, among others.

BIBOLD (Barcelona): modular and sectorial solutions to furnish the execution of business strategies with intelligence and responsiveness, integrating business intelligence, transactions and multimedia.ChineSpain (Madrid): a European travel platform aimed at Chinese tourists and suppliers of local tourism experiences. With extensive knowledge of Chinese culture and specialised staff of both nationalities, they organise unique experiences for their clients.

Conecta Wireless (Barcelona): a global IT services provider and business telecommunications operator. They design, provide and support secure solutions that make possible digital transformation, with the potential of technologies such as the cloud, analytics, Wi-Fi and the IoT, among others.

Crazy4Media Group (Seville): a company specialising in digital marketing and the promotion and monetization of mobile entertainment value-added services (VAS).

Cronos Group (Barcelona): a multinational telecommunications company that offers voice telecommunications services and advanced data services to consumers, corporations, service providers and operators.

E3tcity (Valencia): focused on applying the smart city concept, it develops wireless machine-to-machine (M2M) devices designed to work with the Internet of Things (IoT), which allow it to offer services for smart cities.

EasyVirtualFair (Madrid): a company dedicated to the development of virtual events, offering a complete mobile experience for visitors and exhibitors. Aimed at digital event organisers, it currently operates in 15 countries.

Help Flash (Asturias): an illumination device that makes it possible to immediately indicate any obstacle in the road, minimising the danger of accidents while automatic emergency calls are made.

Lakento (Madrid): a company specialised in entertainment and virtual reality (VR). Currently they have two games, Sharks VR and House of Terror VR, ranking among the top ten VR games on GooglePlay and the AppStore.

MedUX (Madrid): specialists in the measurement and improvement of customers’ digital experiences, providing state-of-the-art tools and innovative solutions to telecom operators, governments and companies.

OPINATOR (Madrid): a customer experience management and interactive marketing platform that helps companies to digitise communication and processes with people (from customers to employees).

Tappx (Barcelona): a complete advertising technology solution for the acquisition of users and the monetization of applications. The solution connects hundreds of sources of demand and supplies ads for the audience.

VintegrisTECH (L’Hospitalet de Llobregat):  a maker of innovative systems and applications for the management of digital certificates, digital signatures, and the kind of high-security authentication used today by banks, insurance companies, and leading distribution companies.

Waterrevive (Madrid): a company that has developed and patented the “Waterrevive Blue” solution. This patent, made into a product, allows any customer, even without technical knowledge, to “revive” a phone that has suffered water damage, and in just seven minutes. 

4YFN’s international presence 

Since its inception at the GSMA Mobile World Congress Barcelona 2014, the 4YFN platform has increased its international presence, developing into the most important entrepreneurship platform in the world.

In addition to its participation in Barcelona and Shanghai, 4YFN will also be present in Tel Aviv (Israel), where it will have its own space at the DLD Tel Aviv Innovation Festival, to be held this year from 5 to 7 September.

Last February, 4YFN’s participation in Mobile World Congress Americas was announced. The congress will be held in San Francisco from 12 to 14 September, marking the business platform’s expansion into the Americas.