The Mobile World Capital Barcelona Foundation Board names Aleix Valls Managing Director

• Aleix Valls will take over the Foundation’s administration, management and representation functions, formerly assigned to the executive vice-president’s office, occupied by Agustí Cordón from October 2013 to November 2015
• The Barcelona City Hall urged the new leadership to draw up a map of the digital gaps and needs affecting Barcelona’s different districts
• The study, which aims to assess how the MWC’s impact could be spread out to best benefit society at large, improve education, bolster the public’s digital literacy, and function as a tool to develop social and environmental applications, is to be presented before the next MWC, in February

December 9, 2015

The Board of Trustees of the Mobile World Capital Barcelona (MWCB) Foundation named Aleix Valls its Managing Director at a meeting held on Wednesday at Barcelona City Hall, presided over by Ada Colau, mayor of Barcelona and president of the MWCB Foundation, at which the general manager was unanimously charged with assuming the Foundation’s management, administration and representation functions.

Barcelona City Hall also urged the new management team headed up by Valls to draw up and present – prior to the next Mobile World Congress, slated for 22 February – a map reflecting the digital gaps and needs of Barcelona’s different districts. This map is intended to evaluate how the MWC’s impact can be spread out to most benefit society at large, enhance education, bolster the public’s digital literacy, and serve as an instrument to develop social and environmental applications.

Valls has directed the MWCB’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme since June 2012, and is also in charge of 4 Years From Now (4YFN), the business platform for the growing community of global technology startups. In addition, Valls heads up mVenturesBCN, a project focused on attracting international acceleration programmes and the creation of tech-based companies arising from universities and research centres.

At the meeting held today at Barcelona City Hall, the Board of Trustees unanimously approved the new general manager assuming responsibility for the Foundation’s administration, management and representation, tasks previously carried out by Agustí Cordón as the executive vice-president of MWCB’s executive committee. At this Board of Trustees session Cordón formally stepped down from all the positions he held in the MWCB’s governing bodies. The Board of Trustees underscored Cordón’s strong management work and thanked him for his dedication and efforts as the head of the Foundation. Constantí Serrallonga, General Manager of Fira de Barcelona, will be charged with handling Fira’s representation in the MWCB’s governance bodies.

Aleix Valls has been part of Mobile World Capital Barcelona ever since its inception. The new general manager formed part of the initial effort to make Barcelona the world’s mobile capital, and has been a member of the organisation’s management team since its launch.

A mathematician and engineer with a PhD. in Fluid Mechanics, Valls is an expert in new technologies and digital transformation. Before joining MWCB his career involved projects related to strategic consulting at The NODE Company and LOOP Consultancy (as the director of its Dubai office, and business development for the entire region of North Africa and the Middle East), and work as a project manager at Accenture.

The meeting was chaired by Ada Colau, mayor of Barcelona and president of the MWCB Foundation. At the session Colau asked the Foundation’s new leadership to draw up a new map of the different districts of Barcelona and their digital gaps and needs, in order to assess their situation with regards to Internet access and coverage in each area, as well as the population’s digital literacy levels based on socio-economic profiles and territorial distribution.

The study aims to assess how the impact and wealth generated by a major event can be spread out to benefit the entire city.

The mayor and president of the MWCB Foundation asked to have this map before the next Mobile World Congress (to be held from 22 to 26 February, 2016). She also offered the Barcelona City Hall’s statistical and technical services to contribute to the creation of this map indicating the city’s digital gaps. In this regard Felip Puig, acting Minister for Business and Employment for the Regional Government of Catalonia, underscored the role of the Smart Living programme, which addresses the public’s interaction with the city, fostering the adoption of mobile solutions by local stakeholders, from citizens to those in Industry and Government.

The meeting was also attended by representatives of all the institutions and entities that make up the Foundation: Agustí Cordón, outgoing vice-president of the Foundation; John Hoffman, CEO of GSMA Ltd.; Gerardo Pisarello, deputy mayor of Barcelona City Hall; Víctor Calvo-Sotelo, secretary of state for Telecommunications and the Information Society; Felip Puig, acting minister for Business and Employment for the Regional Government of Catalonia; Julio Linares, vice-president of Telefonica; Maite Arcos, director of Institutional Relations at Orange Spain, Francisco Román, president of Vodafone Spain; and Enric Crous, CEO of Damm.

Mobile World Congress 2016 and the capital’s consolidation

With a little over two a half months until the Mobile World Congress 2016, the Board of Trustees underscored the strategic importance of the event for Barcelona. Mobile World Capital Barcelona will strengthen its line-up of activities at both its facility on Gran Via, where the Foundation is present with its own space, and engages in constant collaboration with public institutions and organisations in the sector, as well as its facility on Montjuïc, where 4YFN is held. As in previous years, Mobile World Capital Barcelona will also expose the public to the transformative potential of mobile technologies through initiatives linked to strategic sectors such as Tourism, Hotels and Restaurants, and Commerce.

The Board of Trustees stressed MWCB’s growth potential, both nationally and internationally, and the impact it has on Barcelona’s citizens and the city’s industrial and business community. With a special stress on activity in the area of entrepreneurship and innovation, the Board’s members reviewed 4YFN’s forecasts, which call for growth, and its consolidation after just two years as one of the essential events in the global entrepreneurial ecosystem. The next edition of the forum, to be held between 22 and 25 February as part of the Mobile World Congress, will cover 18,000 m², more than double that at the previous edition, and boasts an extensive listing of activities to generate new business opportunities in the global entrepreneurial community.

The progress made by the mSchools programme in Catalonian classrooms also drew the Board’s attention. In the 2015-2016 academic year mSchools has expanded its scope. For the first time the programme has encompassed 3rd-year ESO (Obligatory Secondary Education) classrooms, while offering activities and content for primary, senior school and vocational training students.

Following the adoption in February 2015 of the mHealth Cat Plan by the Regional Government of Catalonia, MWCB’s mHealth team has been working in collaboration with the Fundació TicSalut on its implementation and development in the territory.

Finally, attention was focused on the partnership agreement between MWCB and the Regional Government of Catalonia’s DGTSI (General Telecommunications and Information Society Administration) and GSMA to promote pilot projects in the area of mobile identity in Catalonia. The project forms part of one of the main working lines of Smart Living, the MWCB programme that addresses interaction between citizens and the city, encouraging the adoption of mobile solutions by local stakeholders, from citizens, to industry, to government authorities.