fira de barcelona

More “quality” on offer with over 40 international destinations, according to fair’s president

Number of attendees at this year’s international food and drinks fair expected to exceed 150,000

50a50 presented on Tuesday an all-female list of candidates for president of Barcelona Chamber of Commerce

Political instability had no effect, according to general director of trade fair organization

Barcelona’s car show, which has brought the main novelties of the automotive sector to the Catalan capital for nearly a century, has reinvented itself. The new ‘Automobile Barcelona’ fair opened its doors this Thursday focused on innovation, said the fair’s president, Enric Lacalle. During the next ten days, more than 90 companies, 30 car brands, and 108 speakers are expected at the Fira de Barcelona, including Tesla and other companies related to the new technologies such as Google or Facebook. Volkswagen is a notable exception. Catalan President, Carles Pugidemont, welcomed the “partnership” between connectivity and the car industry but insisted that the main challenge is that everyone be able to enjoy this combination and not just a select few.

The Manga Fair opened its doors this Thursday in Barcelona and will be the meeting point for comic and Japanese culture lovers until Sunday. This year the event has increased both the number of visitors and that of the companies and professionals taking part, and consequently the fair’s exhibition space in Montjuic’s Fira de Barcelona has been extended to 60,000 m². The fair commemorates this year the 30^th anniversary of one of the most iconic characters of Japanese culture and the international video games industry: Super Mario Bros. Another outstanding exhibition at this 21^st edition shows the influence of Gaudí’s architecture within Japanese culture and the work of Japanese architects in Barcelona. The 70^th anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings is also a topic which is taken into account at the fair and around which some exhibitions are centred. The organisers of the fair expect to welcome more than 130,000 visitors. A good sign of this high participation is the tickets for the weekend, which have already sold out. 

Barcelona’s International Art Fair, ‘Swab’ aims to make the contemporary art scene more accessible to the general public and this year it had a new focus on African and Caribbean artwork. A record number of 65 galleries from 22 countries around the world took part in the 2015 edition of the event and over 200 emerging artists will present their work. In addition to the overall programme, the 2015 edition of the art fair sees the opening of “Swab Gate” from the Fundació Lluís Coromina, which consists of individual presentations from African and Caribbean artists with a focus on painting.

Over 28,000 people visited the 5th edition of Barcelona DeGusta from Thursday to Sunday this September at the Fira de Barcelona, Barcelona’s trade fair institution. The popular food show where visitors can discover and taste new products and learn how great chefs work has returned to Barcelona after a 4-year break. This year it coincided with the main feast of Barcelona's patron saint, 'La Merce', and will continue to do so as the organisers of the event stated that this contributed to the event's success. More than 90 activities were scheduled to be attended by 27 chefs with a total of 10 Michelin stars, including Joan Roca, Carme Ruscalleda, Nandu Jubany, the Torres brothers and Carles Abellán.

Barcelona will continue to host each year the world's main event of the mobile phone-related industries until at least 2023, it has been confirmed by the company organising the Mobile World Congress, GSMA, on Tuesday through a press release. “We are very pleased to confirm that Barcelona will continue to serve as the Mobile World Capital and home of the Mobile World Congress for the next eight years”, stated the CEO of GSMA, John Hoffman. The Catalan capital has been uninterruptedly hosting this annual event since 2006 and has been declared the Mobile World Capital, as the project goes beyond the congress and involves the development of a business environment focused on this type of industry at international level. The current contract was due to end in 2018 and a few months ago Barcelona officially told GSMA it was willing to continue hosting the event until 2023.

The 22^nd edition of Sónar, the largest electronic music festival in Europe, roared out of the gate Thursday in Barcelona. Considered the "most ambitious" iteration of the festival in Sónar's history, this year's programme has 147 performances scheduled between the festival's two campuses – Sónar by Day at Fira Montjüic and Sónar by Night at Fira GranVia – from Thursday to Saturday. But apart from the musical acts, there is a greater presence of audiovisual and technological shows than ever before. In addition, Sónar+D is an international tech conference at the festival geared toward artists, entrepreneurs and businesses and features over 120 activities and networking opportunities, showcasing big-name companies like Kickstarter, Google and Vimeo.The festival's biggest attractions include The Chemical Brothers, Skrillex, Duran Duran, Die Antwoord, A$AP Rocky, FKA Twigs, Hot Chip, Flying Lotus, Jamie XX and Arca.

The 17^th edition of the annual International Logistics and Material Handling Exhibition (SIL) kicked off on Tuesday in Barcelona and will be on until Thursday 11^th June. Held at Fira de Barcelona's Montjuic venue, the show will host more than 550 companies (45% international) presenting about a hundred innovations for the first time. The event is the only one of its kind taking place in Spain and the second-biggest in Europe. During the opening ceremony, SIL's President, Enrique Lacalle, pointed out that the logistics sector had not been severely hit by the crisis and now "is giving good news" with a4% rise in corporate turnover expected for 2015. In addition, the nature of the exhibition reflects the character of the hosting city: the Catalan capital's port has the largest logistics concentration of southern Europe and the Mediterranean within a radius of 5 Km and also has a geostrategic location. Finally, the main roads and railway connecting the Iberian Peninsula with the rest of Europe pass through Greater Barcelona.

Every party with representation in the 41-seat Barcelona City Council, except for one small party holding 3 seats, were present at the signing of the official proposal that will be sent to the Mobile World Congress' organisers in order to continue hosting the event until 2023. The MWC is the world's main event of the mobile phone-related industries and since 2006 has taken place each year in Barcelona. The current contract expires in 2018 and there are other cities that want to host the event besides the Catalan capital. The 2015 edition attracted 93,000 visitors in Barcelona, 9% more than in 2014. Most of those who attended were executives from international companies staying for 4 or 5 days in town. It was estimated that the 2015 edition had a €436 million impact on the local economy and generated more than 12,600 temporary jobs. Furthermore, Barcelona has been named the Mobile World Capital, a long-term project to make the Catalan city a hub for this industry, hosting standardisation organisations, multinationals and international research centres focused on related technologies.

Ada Colau, who leads the alternative left and green coalition Barcelona en Comú, is very likely to become the Catalan capital's next Mayor, with there not being enough ground on which to build an alternative majority. Colau won Sunday’s elections by obtaining 11 seats in the 41-seat City Council, just 1 seat more than the incumbent Mayor from the centre-right pro-Catalan State Coalition CiU, Xavier Trias. In the last days, the People's Party – which runs the Spanish Government – and some economic powers have been pressuring for the building of an alternative majority led by Trias. However, the essential parties involved do not support the idea. In order to facilitate her election, Colau has cleared up any doubt surrounding her fully supporting the continuing of the Mobile World Congress, the world's main event of the mobile phone-related industries, which will take place each year in Barcelona until 2018. Colau has validated the offer prepared by Trias' team to extend the organisation of the congress until at least 2023.

The 19^th edition of Barcelona’s International Building & Construction Show opened its doors on Tuesday, rebranded as 'Beyond Building Barcelona-Construmat'. The event – which is held every two years – will be on until Saturday 23 May, hosting around 300 exhibitors from 15 different countries. For the first time after 7 years of continuous decline for the construction sector, Construmat – the most important trade fair for this industry in Spain – kicks off at a time of gradual recovery for this sector, according to the figures of the last few months. For Josep Miarnau, Chairman of the show, this year represents a turning point and the end of a cycle. Held in the Gran Via venue of Fira de Barcelona, the show is organised around 4 main thematic pillars: Innovation, Design, Renovation and Sustainability. Moreover, internationalisation will play an important role as well, with 145 projects from all over the world at the tendering stage.

Barcelona Bridal Week is both the most important convention of the bridal industry in Europe and an international benchmark. This year, the Catalan capital’s event opened its doors on Tuesday with its bridal dress catwalk, the Paserela Gaudí Novia Fashion Show (5-8 May). On Friday, the international and professional trade fair NoviaEspaña (8-10 May) is opening, with 231 exhibitors participating. The event is held at Fira de Barcelona's Gran Via venue and is attended by the most famous and trend-setting national and foreign designers in the field. According to the organisers, this 25^th edition of Barcelona Bridal Week will be the most international in its history, with the USA as guest country, bringing together US trends, buyers and retailers.