fira

The Barcelona Bridal Fashion Week (BBFW) has completed its most international edition ever. Between April 25–30 more than 25 leading national and international firms presented their collections on the catwalk, and more than 300 brands from 25 countries offered their wedding designs to more than 800 key buyers from 70 countries during the professional trade fair. Renowned Catalan designer Rosa Clara was chosen to open the catwalks of the 27th edition of BBFW at the Barcelona’s Fira exhibition center.

The 2017 edition of the Mobile World Congress (MWC) registered a record participation of 108,000 visitors from 203 countries worldwide, 7% more than last year’s edition, according to figures released this Thursday by the event organisers GSMA. Those who passed through the MWC’s main venues at L’Hospitalet Gran Via and Fira de Montjuic were mostly senior executives, including 6,100 CEOs. The economic impact in Barcelona and its metropolitan area is estimated to reach €465 million and over 13,200 temporary jobs have been created due to the MWC. 2,300 international companies, which went beyond just the mobile phone industry, including firms from the automotive, financial and health sectors, presented their novelties at the world’s most important cell-phone and internet-related exhibition. 

The BIZBarcelona fair, geared towards ‘solutions for SMEs and entrepreneurship’ has begun, taking place at the Fira de Barcelona fairground facilities in Montjuïc. Since its opening on Wednesday, the number of accreditations has already increased by 30% compared to last year, according to director of the event Aleix Planas, showing a large number of young people in attendance. BIZBarcelona is ideal for entrepreneurs who want to speak to all the people necessary to start or grow their business, but in a matter of hours instead of weeks. However, according to the director, the crowd is “very heterogeneous”, as attendees range from all ages, including seniors. As regards the economic and unemployment situation of the country, Planas adds that the fair is a true picture of reality

A record 118,000 visitors attended Barcelona International Comic Fair, 5,000 more than in 2015. One of the main attractions of this edition was he 80th anniversary of Spanish comic book artist Francisco Ibáñez, who created the famous Mort & Phil. Another mayor exhibition, 'Comics on wheels', included some 200 originals works from around the world that showcased the relationship between two realms: comics and vehicles. Many professionals, comic fans and schoolchildren did not want to miss the opportunity to enjoy the opening of the event, which also drew together the video game industry and manga. Barcelona International Comic Fair was held from the May 6^th until the 9^th of May at Fira Barcelona Montjuïc venue. 

A record figure of 14,000 visitors attended the fifth edition of the 'Smart City Expo World Congress' the summit of smart cities organised by Fira de Barcelona. 465 exhibitors, more than 400 international speakers and 500 cities from the five continents presented their experiences regarding urban solutions and innovative technology. "This confirms the consolidation of the congress" stated Smart City's director, Ugo Valenti. He also highlighted urban transformation as one of the greatest challenges of the future and the congress as "a really valid platform for knowledge and experience exchange". The Catalan government presented three projects from the 'SmartCAT' framework to promote intelligent cities. Telecommunications and Information Society general director Jordi Puigneró recapped the 50 initiatives that have been launched in Catalonia during the 'SmartCAT' project’s first year of implementation. 

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. 

Manresa, a small city 50 kilometres away from Barcelona, will host this week host the 18th edition of 'Fira Mediterrània' ('Mediterranean Fair') a professional meeting oriented toward analysinge and improvinge the cultural sector in Catalonia. This year’s' edition will focus on innovation and entrepreneurship. Throughout the 10 sessions programmed from the 15th to the 17th of October the potentiality of culture in the social, economic, urban and communitarian areas will be discussed and the relationship between popular cultural and social actions will be analysed. The venue 'La Llotja' will also host meetings between artists and programmers, national and international companies' showcases and 200 'speed datesings', quick meetings between professionals.

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.

Most of the plays and performances that make up the FiraTàrrega’s programme for 2015 are open air performances, some 80% in fact. From Thursday until the 13^th of September, more than 50 art companies from all over the world will take part in one of the most important theatre festivals in Catalonia. Moreover, 30 of the shows at FiraTàrrega will be premieres. 250 performances held in 25 different venues, mainly outdoors, will turn this small town in the east of Catalonia into a big creative hub with more than 150,000 visitors expected. For the first time this year, three different shows from international companies will be performed on opening day.  

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.