There is an increasing diversity of companies present at the Mobile. Mobile phones, which gave their name to the congress, are still there and remain the main focus of attention, although there is now a much broader catalogue of products offered by the more than 2,000 exhibitors taking part in the Mobile World Congress (MWC). Transport, logistics, health, industry… All sectors can be related to technology and, therefore, to the MWC, which is being held from 27 February to 2 March in the Gran Via site of Fira de Barcelona.
The change has been taking place gradually for years, but has accelerated following the pandemic. More than half of those attending belong to sectors other than mobile telephony. The CEO of the GSMA, John Hoffman, therefore insists on calling the event MWC instead of Mobile, a name that it should be recalled is an evolution of 3GSM which is how the event was known when it arrived in Barcelona almost 20 years ago.
The evolution toward a much broader spectrum also entails a wider variety of attendees, exhibitors and speakers. An example is the list of the main conferences, in which the CEOs of the big worldwide operators, such as Telefónica, share the bill with the shipping company Maersk. The synergies between companies which apparently have nothing in common are much more usual at the MWC.
This has strengthened Barcelona’s role as a global meeting point for the sector. Americans and Asians come together here to find common ground and to do business on the large number of issues that the industries from both continents share. Tired of video conferences, this year is expected to receive Chinese congress-goers again following the lifting of the severe restrictions which prevented them from leaving their country. Most have not visited the Catalan capital since 2019 and are eager to meet up with their colleagues from the rest of the world. Huawei, one of the sector’s giants, will again occupy almost an entire pavilion in order to hold its professional meetings, like on important occasions.
This is not an isolated case. The 240,000 m2 of the eight pavilions available at the Gran Via exhibition site in Hospitalet are again full, moreover consolidating the inclusion of 4YFN as one more element of the fair. It therefore represents a unique opportunity for the powerful local ecosystem, which can hobnob with the senior executives with decision-making power from the big multinationals. Although Hoffman and his team prefer quality to quantity, the works to expand the Hospitalet exhibition site represent a great opportunity to continue growing in the future.
This accelerated recovery of the MWC leads us to think big and forget about the hapless years of the pandemic. It was precisely the suspension of the 2020 event which foresaw everything that was going to happen starting from March that year, and it was also the 2022 event which reopened the hotels that had spent months accumulating dust and which marked the beginning of the recovery. More than 80,000 attendees are expected this year, still below pre-Covid levels but up 30% on last year. Very optimistic forecasts have been made both by the organizers and by the city’s economic sectors which benefit from the holding of the congress. This year’s economic impact will exceed €350m in Barcelona metropolitan area.
The city and the administrations involved have been breathing easily since last summer, when the GSMA sealed an almost lifelong commitment to Barcelona. The long-term contract has been renewed until 2030 and continuity is confirmed beyond that date unless indicated otherwise by one of the parties, currently an unimaginable circumstance. “This is a huge window of opportunity; it allows us to address long-term projects from a different perspective”, said Francesc Fajula, CEO of Mobile World Capital Barcelona.
Not only the congress is evolving, but also the foundation which was created a decade ago to leave a legacy of the congress in the city and promote the local ecosystem. “Technology is as important as people and the sustainability of the planet”, summarized Fajula. This is shown, with a high degree of maturity, by the exhibition spaces of the MWCapital within the fair, both at the MWC and at 4YFN, and in the novel afterwork point Beat Barcelona. The specific services and uses exhibited in these locations have been designed to make the most of the five senses of the visitors, this being imposed on the former purely technological infrastructure. Virtual reality glasses are still there and play a fundamental role, but they do so with a clearly specific purpose in each case.
