The Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona expects to exceed this year's 101,000 attendees from the 2024 edition and generate an economic impact on the city and its surroundings of about 550 million euros, higher than the 502 million from last year.
In the event presentation, the GSMA officials, the global telecommunications operators' association organizing the congress, did not want to focus their message on numbers, but they did express confidence in the growth: "We expect everything to be better and bigger."
With the slogan "Converge. Connect. Create", the Mobile World Congress will once again showcase innovations in the application of artificial intelligence (AI) and the evolution of 5G. In this edition, it will even demonstrate how a car located in Finland can be remotely driven using network APIs (application programming interfaces).
Just over a month away from the event at the Gran Via venue of Fira de Barcelona (from March 3 to 6), the GSMA Director-General, Mats Granryd, CEO, John Hoffman, and Marketing Director, Lara Dewar, have detailed several proposals for the most important international telecommunications industry event, which will feature around 2,700 exhibitors and 1,200 speakers.
Following the pilot test of Talent Arena at the last edition, this space promoted by Mobile World Capital Barcelona debuts as a sub-event of the MWC and will take place at Fira Montjuïc from March 3 to 5.
This event is designed as a meeting point for developers, technology companies, and educational centers to promote learning, networking, and professional growth in the digital sector. Over 200 speakers will attend Talent Arena, including Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.
Thus, Talent Arena follows in the footsteps of 4YFN, the congress for startups and investors that grew alongside the MWC and fully integrated into it in 2021 when it moved from Fira Montjuïc to the Gran Via fairground.