world

U2 will play at Barcelona’s Estadi Olimpic on the 18th of July, as part of their world tour to commemorate the 30th anniversary of their acclaimed album ‘The Joshua Tree’. This will be the only concert of the Irish band in Spain, which will perform the entire album at each of the 25 shows they have confirmed. “I've sung some of these songs a lot - but never all of them”, U2 frontman Bono explained. "It seems like we have come full circle from when The Joshua Tree songs were originally written, with global upheaval, extreme right-wing politics and some fundamental human rights at risk", added guitarist The Edge. The tour will start on the 12^th of May and former Oasis member, Noel Gallagher will be the opening act at the eight European shows. Tickets for the Barcelona concert will be released next Monday, the 16th of January.

The 155 pictures that won the last ‘World Press Photo’ contest – the main photojournalism event at international level - will be on show at the Barcelona Centre of Contemporary Culture (CCCB). The Photographic Social Vision foundation, which is in charge of the creation, production and promotion of photojournalism and documentaries, launched this week the 12^th edition of the ‘World Press Photo’ exhibition in Barcelona, which will run until the 11^th of December. The images presented to the public were taken in 2015 throughout the world and won the prestigious international photojournalism award. In this year’s edition, visitors can see the photos of the awarded Spanish photographers Daniel Ochoa de Olza, Sebastián Liste, José Bautista and Mikel Aristregi. 

170 international companies will take part in the second edition of the Internet of Things Solutions World Congress (IoTSWC), twice the number of participants from the first edition. Moreover, 160 speakers will discuss as to what extent the Internet is "radically transforming" the industry. The event, held in the Fira de Barcelona facility on Gran Via, kicked off this Tuesday and will continue to offer the latest developments in this sector until next 27th of October. Although the principal focus is the application of the Internet of Things in the Industry, the Catalan Minister for Business and Knowledge Jordi Baiget pointed out during the inauguration ceremony the multiple uses of the IoT, that “it has to do with the industry, but also the daily life of individuals and society, and we have Catalan companies at the event presenting solutions regarding cybersecurity, measurement and data transmission, mobility control and applications in health and agriculture". 

Barcelona Games World has kicked off this Thursday at the Montjuic Exhibition Centre in the Catalan Capital. In its first edition in Barcelona, after the organisers decided to move it from Madrid, the fair expects to surpass the 90,000 visitors that attended Madrid Games Week last year. The event, which will last until the 9^th of October, will count on the participation of 155 exhibitors setting up showcases by brands such as Electronic Arts, Nintendo and Badland Games. The fair will serve as a connecting point between businesses, facilitating the market for professionals who work in the field, but there will also be room for amateur and professional video games competitions and conferences by key gurus of the video game industry. 

Over 50 speakers from all around the globe are to attend this week the Second World Gaudí Congress. From the 4th to the 7th of October the Historic Building of the University of Barcelona is hosting this biennial event organised by the Gaudí Research Institute (TGRI) and the University of Barcelona, ??where Antoni Gaudí received the title of architect in 1878. One of the main attractions of the congress is the thesis that the Blessed Sacrament Chapel of the Church of Sant Joan de Gràcia, in Barcelona, is a work by Gaudí, an idea defended by the biographer of the Catalan architect, Josep Maria Tarragona. This second edition has as a novelty the incorporation of the three-day session in Shanghai, which took place between the 21st and the 23rd of June, in collaboration with several Chinese universities of Tsinghua and with the support of the City of Shanghai. 

The pop diva Beyoncé chose the Catalan capital as her one and only stop in Spain on ‘The Formation World Tour’. Nearly 50,000 fans will enjoy the show, which is set to combine both the diva’s main hits and her latest songs from her album ‘Lemonade’. ‘The Formation World Tour’, which started in Miami last April, will end in September and has sold more than a million tickets so far. The last time Beyoncé visited Barcelona was in 2014, as part of her 'Mrs. Carter World Tour’. Beyoncé’s concert at Barcelona’s Estadi Olimpic confirms that the Catalan capital is an unmissable stop for international music. This year alone, Adele, Coldplay, Beyoncé and Rihanna have chosen Barcelona for their only tour dates in Spain. 

Catalan Minister for Foreign Affairs, Raül Romeva, staked a claim for Catalonia’s “own voice in the world” to defend “universal values” such as that which Catalan soldiers stood for in World War I. Romeva made this statement this Monday at Belloy-en-Santerre (France) where he paid tribute to the Catalan volunteers who fought with the French Foreign Legion to liberate this region from German forces, on the 4^th of July 1916. Romeva emphasised that those soldiers “fought for these ideals, against authoritarianism and for republican values”. After a diplomatic conflict which nearly banned the Catalan Government from taking part in the homage, Romeva celebrated that Catalonia could finally pay tribute to the soldiers with the Catalan flag and apart from the Spanish Government. 

The Recreational and Tourist Centre of Vila-seca and Salou, the project which was originally named ‘BCN World’, will start to be built in summer 2017. The resort will be located between these two villages – Vila-seca and Salou – on the Costa Daurada, near PortAventura theme park. After numerous reorganisations and changes in the legislation, the project’s hotel surface area will decrease by 29.2% in comparison with the urban plan approved in 2015. The surface area designated for gambling and amusement activities will ultimately be 30,000 m² instead of 60,000 m². The surface area for commercial use and that designated for theatres and congresses has been kept the same. Thus, the total surface area of the project will be 750,000 m² rather than 1,000,000m². The project is expected to receive €2,500 million in private investment and will generate 10,000 jobs when fully operational.

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.

From the 6th until the 9th of October, Barcelona will host the main annual video game fair in Spain, which until now has been held in Madrid. This was announced by the Spanish Video Games Association (AEVI), which will host the event along with Fira de Barcelona. The video game-centred fair is called ‘Barcelona World Games’, which will replace the original name ‘Madrid Games Week’. The event will take place at the Montjuïc exhibition centre, and will gather together the leading companies in the industry, which are to present the new products to be expected for the Christmas season. The general director of AEVI, José María Moreno, released a statement saying that that the fair will be "an opportunity to find new audiences and markets, generate synergy between industry professionals and discover the potential of gaming in the fields of economy, culture and education".

In Napa Valley, California, 8 companies, 7 wineries, and 2 chefs from Catalonia will participate in the World of Flavors conference on the 22^nd of April. The event is renowned as the leading conference in the field of gastronomy in the United States. This year, 800 restaurant chains, hotels, chefs, and operators will attend the conference to check out the latest culinary trends and techniques. Catalonia’s participation in the conference is part of a business mission led by ACCIÓ, a project of the Generalitat to promote Catalan business competition, innovation and cooperation around the world. Catalan Ministry for Business and Knowledge Jordi Baiget will also accompany the culinary participants to the United States, making several stops in California, Miami, and Washington D.C. to discuss Catalan business expansion in the country. 

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.