mobile

The Barcelona Games World video game fair, to be held from the 6^th to the 9^th of October, has released more information about its upcoming event in 2016. Previously held in Madrid, the event will now also focus on mobile games, to “open (the fair) to other forms of interactive digital entertainment”, according to Josep Antoni Llopart, director of the fair. This decision was made in part thanks to Barcelona’s “bond” with the Mobile World Congress event. Still, the gamer will continue to be “the centre of the experience”, with over 90,000 expected to attend, competitions and prizes of up to €15,000, and the giants of the sector present (such as Nintendo, Sony, etc.). What’s more, another novelty is that the fair will be used to connect businesses, offer jobs, and help people who would like to do studies in the field of gaming. Lastly, there will be a ‘space for socialisation’ on the fairground, complete with lectures, concerts, music sessions with DJs, fashion shows and competitions.

The 2016 edition of the Mobile World Congress (MWC) registered a record participation of 101,000 visitors, 6% more than last year’s edition. The 2,200 stands distributed across two different venues, L’Hospitalet Gran Via and Fira de Montjuic, constituted an exhibition of 110,000 square metres where the latest news in the mobile phone-related industry was unveiled. Presentations on virtual reality held the spotlight throughout the week, with newly unveiled gadgets and discussions on how virtual reality will change how we live and communicate.Despite the mobility problems, mainly derived from the metro strike which diluted the opening of Barcelona’s new L9 underground line, GSMA CEO John Hoffmann confirmed that the MWC will stay in Barcelona until 2023. The 2017 edition will take place from the 27^th of February to the 2^nd of March.

Sharing Academy connects students with other peer tutors at different universities. Through the app, students can sort through a marketplace of tutors that can help them in various course subjects. According to Jordi Llonch, the CEO and creator of Sharing Academy, the idea for the app came from a personal struggle with one of his classes. After struggling to pass a course in university, Llonch sought the help of a friend studying the same course at a different school. Since the largest Mobile World Congress (MWC) to date opened its doors on Monday, much of the presenters at the event have focused on a few key topics. By 2020, industry leaders hope lead their users into a new generation of technology that can connect more devices at once, allowing for more advancement in other industry sectors outside of mobile such as health, automotive, and telecommunications technology.

From this Monday until the 25^th of February leading brands in the mobile phone-related industries such as Samsung, LG and Sony will present their latest wares and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and F1 driver Lewis Hamilton will be amongst the speakers. A record figure of 100,000 visitors are expected and 2,100 international exhibitors have confirmed their attendance at the fair, consolidating Barcelona as a true meeting point for the sector. The 2016 edition of the Mobile World Congress (MWC) will take place amid major security measures due to the terrorist attacks in Paris last November and will also be affected by the metro strike, whichTransports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB) will carry out on the key days of the MWC. Thus, the recently opened new metro line, the L9, won’t contribute as much mobility as expected.

Hotels around Barcelona are starting to fill as the city prepares to host the 11^th edition of the Mobile World Congress (MWC) from the 22^nd to the 25^th of February at the Gran Via venue of the Fira de Barcelona. With between 95,000 to 100,000 visitors expected to attend, the highest number ever for the MWC, Barcelona’s Hotel Association expects to reach full occupancy on the peak days. Although the average rate for a room has gone down from €278 to €237 per night this year, some hotel rooms in central areas like Passeig de Gracia report rooms going for as much as €800 to €1,100 per night. Although the event blocked 26,300 rooms for the event with the city’s hotel association, the high demand for rooms in Barcelona has pushed some participants to look outside the city for rooms in Sitges, Castelldefels and even as far as Girona. 

Mobile World Congress 2016 expects 95,000 visitors, 2,000 more than in 2015. 2,100 exhibitors, 160 government delegates and 4,000 journalists from all over the world will also attend the fair, which is considered the most important in the mobile sector. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg will feature, for the third year in a row, as one of the congress’ most high-profile speakers and F1 driver Lewis Hamilton will take part in a round table to discuss the implementation of wireless technology in the automotive sector. Giants from the sector, such as Google, Samsung, Sony and LG, will be present at the fair, while Apple will once again be the most notable absentee. The Mobile World Congress will generate a 460 million euros impact on Barcelona and its surroundings and will create 13,000 jobs. Security measures for this year’s edition will be increased due to the terrorist attacks which occurred in Paris in November.

Between the 5^th and 16^th of August, Barcelona will once again become the world's LGBT capital. For the 8^th consecutive year, the Catalan capital and its metropolitan area will play host to the Circuit Festival, which comprises a wide range of parties, concerts, sports events and other leisure activities for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transsexual people. The organisers expect more than 72,000 to attend this year, with 80% of them being foreigners. The average attendee is a gay male aged between 25-40, spending 250 euros per day and staying 8.4 days. However, the organisers also stress that many women and people of many other age groups are also coming to enjoy the festival and the manifold targeted activities. They estimate that the LGBT festival will bring €150 million to the local economy. Indeed, it is one of Barcelona's most important and most international events in terms of number of attendees and economic impact, although it is still way behind the city's jewel, the Mobile World Congress.

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.

Lombardy, Baden-Württemberg, Rhône-Alpes and Catalonia will work together to develop strategies to foster the Information and Communication Technology sector in both their own territories and at European level, in order to make the continent hold a leading position in this sector at world level. This has been the main conclusion of the main event of the current presidency of the Four Motors for Europe, which is a regional association formed in 1988 by the aforementioned 4 territories in order to develop common projects and lobby at European level. Catalonia currently holds the association's rotating presidency and has made the development of the ICT sector its main objective, particularly focusing on smart city and 4.0 technologies. Lombardy, Baden-Württemberg, Rhône-Alpes and Catalonia signed on Wednesday in Barcelona a shared declaration strengthening their commitment in this field.

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 38^th edition of the Barcelona International Motor Show (SIAB) will be held between 9 and 17 May at the Montjuïc venue of the Catalan capital's trade fair. This year, the event will host at least 38 brands and others could be added in the following weeks. This is the biggest number since the economic crisis started. According to Mario Armero, ANFAC Executive Vice President, "the show coincides with a clear recovery of the sector, where 2-digit growth rates have been registered in sales, production and exports volumes". Organised by Fira de Barcelona, SIAB is the only motor show in Spain recognised by the International Organisation of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers. The coming edition will also coincide with the Spanish Formula 1 Grand Prix, transforming the Catalan city into the world's motor capital for a few days.

Barcelona-based Abertis' telecommunications subsidiary, Abertis Telecom Terrestre, will operate as Cellnex Telecom, S.A. from 1 April, as approved by the company's Shareholder General Assembly on Tuesday. The new name and brand are part of the preparations for a potential stock market flotation, as announced last October in the context of Abertis' 2015-2017 Strategic Plan. However, neither the Catalan group's President Salvador Alemany, nor Vice President and CEO, Francisco Reynés, have set a precise date yet for its admission to trading, which will be announced during this year's first semester. The new company's slogan will be "driving telecom connectivity".

The 2015 Mobile World Congress, which takes place each year in Barcelona, has shattered the records by hosting more than 93,000 visitors from 200 different countries, as reported by event organiser GSMA on Thursday, the last day of the trade fair. Thisyear’s attendance exceeded by 9% the figures recorded in 2014 and by 45% the number of people who visited the event during its first edition in 2006. The 2015 Mobile World Congress confirmed itself as the global platform for the cell-phone-related industries, where a large number of news and products were unveiled for the first time by world-class companies such as Samsung, HTC, Sony, Microsoft and Google. Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), Sundar Pichai (Google) and Jimmy Wales (Wikipedia) were among this edition's main speakers.

This year at the Mobile World Congress one of the most discussed trends is the Internet of Things (IoT): everyday objects that are connected to the internet and which are able to control other machines. Although some of these implements do not yet have a direct application on the consumer market, the automobile sector is already selling vehicles with these functionalities. Smart cars can be controlled with a smartphone, for example, by creating a temporary digital key to access the car, and can also enable other devices in the home.