The foundation to turn Barcelona into a world ‘hub’ of new technologies is born

Barcelona (ACN).- The foundation that will foster Barcelona’s Mobile World Capital status was officially created on Tuesday. Barcelona City Council, the Catalan Government and the Spanish Government have created the ‘Fundació Barcelona Mobile World Capital’, providing €30 million each. The foundation is open to the private sector and aims to foster projects related to the mobile phone technology in the Catalan capital. It also aims to attract foreign investment and transform Barcelona into one of the main world hubs of the mobile phone industry and new technologies. The foundation will develop Barcelona’s Mobile World Capital status, which the city was awarded last summer. Barcelona was also declared the organising city of the Mobile World Congress, the world’s main trade fair and conference of the cell phone industry and related technology and services until at least 2018. The Catalan capital will not only organise the MWC every year, but related activities will be held throughout the year. Furthermore, a Mobile World Hub and a Mobile World Centre will be set in Barcelona, in order to provide advice to the sector at international level, as well as many other services. The project foresees the settlement of many technology companies in the Catalan capital.

The Mayor of Barcelona will chair the Board of Trustees of the newly created foundation, which will also include representatives from the Catalan and Spanish Governments, Fira de Barcelona (Barcelona’s Trade Fair) and GSMA Ltd, the organisers of the Mobile World Congress. Barcelona’s Mayor Xavier Trias believes it is the time “to go into action” after having planned Barcelona’s status as international capital of the mobile industry. Trias stated that this new foundation is an example of the new growth model Barcelona is moving towards, “a model that will create quality jobs”. The Catalan Minister for Employment and Business, Francesc Xavier Mena, said that the Mobile World Capital is one of the “main tractor plans for the Catalan economy” for the coming years. Furthermore, the Spanish Deputy Minister for Telecommunications and the Information Society, Víctor Calvo-Sotelo, said that Barcelona’s new status creates “a solid base” for the future of the economy. He also added that it is a “valuable tool” to create jobs.

The CEO of GSMA Ltd, the organising company of the Mobile World Congress, John Hoffman, celebrated the moment that the action had arrived, and that now the next challenge is “to go from action to results”. Hoffman was very satisfied regarding the 2012 edition of the Mobile World Congress, which takes place in the Catalan capital always at the end of February. Finally, the President of Fira de Barcelona, Josep Lluís Bonet, stated that giving birth to this foundation means placing the “formal stone” to a building that will become the world’s true capital of the mobile industry.