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The winners of the 19^th Global Mobile Awards were announced on Tuesday afternoon, in a ceremony held at the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The prizes recognize the most innovative mobile products, apps, services and initiatives from all over the world. More than 175 international industry experts, analysts, journalists and academics were involved in the judging process.In the category of the Best Mobile Handsets and Devices, the HTC One scooped top award of the Best Smartphone, defeating other nominees such as Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and Apple iPhone 5S.The Apple iPad Air was announced as Best Mobile Tablet. Nokia was a runaway winner having received awards in two different categories. The Catalan Government was also honoured for the educational mSchools project. The award ceremony was hosted by British comedian James Corden.

Mobile World Congress (MWC), the world’s biggest congress in the mobile phone industry, takes place from today until Thursday in Barcelona. The Catalan capital is hosting this event for the 9th consecutive year. More than 1,800 companies from all over the world showcase their latest products at the event and more than 77,000 visitors are anticipated at the conference centre at Fira Gran Via. Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook and new owner of Whatsapp, will follow today’s earlier speech by Whatsapp founder Jan Koum with his highly anticipated keynote talk. Virginia Rometty, IBM´s CEO and recently pronounced most powerful woman in Business, will also appear as a keynote speaker on Wednesday. Leading mobile phone companies such as Samsung, Sony, Nokia, Huawei, HTC and others are expected to launch their new devices at the exhibition.

Some 1,900 police officers, both from the Catalan Police Force (called Mossos d’Esquadra), and from the local polices of Barcelona and L'Hospitalet de Llobregat (Greater Barcelona), will ensure the safety of the 75,000 visitors expected to attend the Mobile World Congress, the main international event of the mobile-phone-related industry. This trade fair and conference takes place each year in Barcelona and the upcoming edition will run from the 24^th to the 27^th of February. With this safety reinforcement plan, plain-clothed police officers will be deployed in the pavilions of the Mobile World Congress, while the number of uniformed-police patrols will be increased to dissuade pickpockets. Furthermore, there will be more private security guards controlling the premises this year and a dedicated police station where attendees can report any loss or theft will be open all day long.

The Director General of Fira de Barcelona and Executive Vice President of Mobile World Capital Barcelona, Agustí Cordón, presented on Wednesday the initiative ‘Mobile Ready’, a set of activities that will show citizens and tourists in Barcelona the potential transformations of mobile technology on their daily lives. ‘Mobile Ready’ will travel across the main architectural, commercial and entertainment points of the Catalan capital. Moreover, coinciding with the Mobile World Congress, the Fira de Barcelona facilities in Montjuïc will host the event ‘4 Years From Now’, which will bring together international investors and over 1,000 entrepreneurs in the Information and Communication Technology sector.

The Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2) has set up its new headquarters at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) campus. The new faculties are located in a 6,000 square meter building with 40 laboratories, where scientific projects will be developed in different areas, from biomedicine to the development of everyday products such as paint or detergents.. This project is funded by both the Catalan and Spanish Governments and aims to make the centre a flagship in the European scientific field.

‘elBulli1846’, the ambitious initiative of acclaimed Chef Ferran Adrià, could well become a reality in March 2016 thanks to a €9 million investment made through the Catalan Chef’s foundation. The Catalan Government described such an initiative as “a national project”. ‘elBulli1846’ is named after the number of dishes created in the 3-Michelin-star El Bulli, which was awarded the world’s best restaurant on 5 occasions. Adrià’s new project is notably looking to establish a unique centre in the world for innovation, research, and training in the field of avant-garde cuisine. Besides, for 20 days a year, visitors will have access to ElBulli restaurant, with half of the available entrances awarded for free through a lottery. The centre will be located in the old restaurant’s venue in the Cap de Creus Natural Park (Costa Brava). 3,000 square metres will be added but built respecting the environment.

The Born Cultural Centre has been selected as the venue to host the latest edition of the 080 Barcelona Fashion Week, from the 27^th until the 31^st of January where the newest collections for Fall/Winter 2014-2015 will be showcased. In the show’s 13^th edition, more than thirty designers and brands are ready to participate from Albéniz to Zazo & Brull to already established names such as Custo Barcelona, Desigual, Mango, Sita Murt, TCN or Punto Blanco. The fashion show will take over different spaces inside the Born Cultural Centre leading to the closure of the cultural and historical centre, which has closed its doors to the public from the 25^th to the 1^st of February 2014.

A clinical trial conducted in nine Catalan health care centres and published in the ‘British Medical Journal’ found that “in the case of mild respiratory infections such as acute bronchitis, there is a misuse of antibiotics, which is of no benefit to patients, and only helps increasing resistance to these drugs”. The study has been coordinated by the prestigious Vall d’Hebron Research Institute (VHIR). From 2010 to 2012, 416 patients, who showed several signs of acute bronchitis, were randomly assigned one of three different treatments. The main conclusion was that antibiotics, the most widely prescribed treatment for this type of illness, are ineffective. The study also showed that anti-inflammatory treatments increased in a minimal way the chances of ending coughs faster.

Barcelona’s next Mobile World Congress, which will take place from the 24^th to the 27^th of February, should be the “best edition ever”, according to the CEO of GSMA and Director of the event, John Hoffman. Indeed, 75,000 visitors are expected to attend the world’s most important fair in the mobile industry, meaning 3,000 more than in February 2013. Besides, so far, five weeks ahead of the opening, the number of online registrations is already 15% higher than last year. The economic impact on the Catalan capital will be an additional income of €356 million and the creation of 7,220 jobs. One of the highlights of this year’s edition will be the participation of Facebook-inventor Mark Zuckerberg, who will give a conference on the 24^th of February.

Referring to yesterday’s announcement, Carles Constante, the Director General for Regulation, Planning and Health Resources at the Catalan Ministry of Health, said that the Director of Barcelona’s Centre for Regenerative Medicine (CMRB), Juan Carlos Izpisúa had resigned due to the need for a more direct management. Constante explained that even though research centres now had a “high level of interconnection and ongoing dialogue”, they also needed “direction, management and a drive of energy within the centre itself, something that could be difficult to maintain from a distance”. Constante stressed that Izpisúa working from the United States for most of the time had been the main reason for him stepping down.

The Director of Barcelona’s Centre for Regenerative Medicine (CMRB), world-famous scientist Juan Carlos Izpisúa, resigned due to the lack of financial and political support from both Spanish and Catalan Governments. Such news was first published by Spanish newspaper ‘El País’ and then confirmed by sources in the research centre. Internationally, Izpisúa is considered to be one of the most esteemed and learned scientists in the field of stem cells. With the Director stepping down, the CMRB could well lose most of its current projects. Indeed, 18 of the 21 projects are the intellectual property of Izpisúa and might no longer be carried out in the Barcelona-based research centre if Izpisúa quit.

People who follow a Mediterranean diet enriched with extra virgin olive oil will reduce by 40% the risk of having diabetes, and by 18% if the diet is enriched with nuts. This is one of the main conclusions of a scientific study conducted by 18 research centres throughout Spain on 3,500 people. Jordi Salas-Salvadó, Director of this study, said that such results would change the usual perception of diabetes prevention. The Mediterranean diet is not solely efficient against diabetes. Indeed, the results showed that following such a diet also reduced by 30% the chances of contracting cardiovascular diseases.

The Catalan pharmaceutical company Grífols and Barcelona’s Alzheimer Treatment&Research Center of Fundació ACE – a family charity – have announced that they will run tests of a vaccine against this neurodegenerative illness from January 2014. It will target 365 Alzheimer’s patients at mild and moderate stages of the illness. The first investigation project that ACE’s centre will host is called Ambar. The 365 participants will be randomly divided into three treatment groups plus a fourth control group. The patients will come from 17 Spanish hospitals and 20 United States’ medical centres. From 1996, the ACE Foundation has evaluated more than 14,000 people, 47% of whom were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. It has the largest bank of genetic data in Europe.

Next February, the Mobile World Congress (MWC), the world’s most important event in the mobile industry, will open its doors in Barcelona for the 9^th consecutive year. The major companies in the sector will introduce new products or give conferences on applications designed for many innovative uses. By hosting the fair each year at least until 2018, Barcelona, named Mobile World Capital, is looking to become an international leader in this industry. The city has also created a HUB to develop the sector even further. The 2014 edition of the fair expects to break all records. The Director of the MWC, John Hoffman, stated that 75,000 visitors were expected, meaning 3,000 more than last year. Besides, once the fair will be over, it is estimated the local economy could have gained €340 million from it.

Doctor Joan Massagué has been appointed Scientific Director of the Sloan-Kettering Institute in New York , the world’s leading cancer research centre, which is part of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre. The Catalan scientist has been chosen by an international expert committee and will take office on the 1^st of January 2014. The President and CEO of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering, Craig B. Thomson, said that Massagué had been given the job for his “exemplarity as a scientist” and because he is an “international leader” in the study of metastasis and factors regulating cell growth. This announcement follows last year’s appointment of another Catalan Doctor, Josep Baselga, as the Physician-in-Chief of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre. Both Baselga and Massagué will continue to combine their responsibilities in New York with their research in Barcelona.