The president of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, and the Minister of Business and Work, Roger Torrent, today presided over the official inauguration of the Catalunya stand within the Mobile World Congress 2024. During the event, the head of the Catalan Government highlighted that “the Mobile World Congress has played a determining role in making Catalonia today a technological hub of reference for Europe.”
Aragonès highlighted that Catalonia has “enormous potential in the technological field and an ideal ecosystem for technological development at the service of citizens.” He gave as an example the data relating to the digital sector, which represents 12.9% of the Catalan GDP. “We are talking about about 23,500 companies, which have a turnover of about 34.7 billion euros, that is, 15.3% more than the previous year,” he stressed. Likewise, he recalled that technology companies employ 185,000 workers.
According to the president of the Generalitat, these data “make us look forward with complete optimism”, although he has warned that “we have not reached the ceiling” since this sector is growing: more than half of the 23,500 companies in Catalonia They were established less than 10 years ago.
Roger Torrent has stated that “the Government of the Generalitat is working to consolidate Catalonia as a reference for the technology sector in southern Europe” and has highlighted that “Mobile helps us position ourselves internationally and contribute to our technological system playing a key role.”
Torrent has highlighted that “Catalonia is on the European podium in receiving technological investment projects and is an outstanding leader in Spain. Technological investments represent 43% of the foreign investment projects carried out in Catalonia in the last 5 years.” In this sense, the Minister recalled that “In 2023, Catalonia has been the second European region with the most projects captured, 6. 2% of the total, only behind Ireland.”
During the event, the exhibition Catalunya: modeling the future with supercomputing was presented, with which the Government wants to project the leadership of Catalonia as a technological hub and the commitment to become a world reference in the field of supercomputing, with the of the Government of the Generalitat and the largest supercomputing center in Europe, the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), and the MareNostrum 5 supercomputer.
Located in the demonstration space of the Catalonia stand, and through a tour of three pixel free installations (without screens), in which sand and stones are the protagonists, the demo invites you to discover the past, present and future of supercomputing and its transformative power to respond to the great global challenges and build a more humane and sustainable society of the future.
Previously, President Aragonès also participated in the official opening ceremony of the MWC. And throughout the day he has visited different stands of companies located in the room. He highlighted that “this year we once again break the record of Catalan companies in Mobile”, with a total of 360. The Catalunya stand this year has 46 Catalan companies, entities and technological centers, which participate in the event hand in hand of the Generalitat.
The participation of the Generalitat also includes, for another year, the organization of the Open Innovation Challenge, a set of meetings between Catalan and international companies with large companies to promote open innovation.
Six Catalan startups presented their projects today at a Demo Day at the Barcelona stand
The Generalitat will also be present at the MWC with the seminar on future teachers next Thursday, a space to debate the future of teaching and the good use of digital tools in schools.
