Barcelona, November 13, 2024.- The Government is doubling its commitment to the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, which has already become one of the most important technology and innovation fairs in the world. The Minister for Digital Transformation and Public Function, Óscar López, has announced that the commitment to the Mobile will materialize, among other measures, in an increase in the contribution of the Government to the Mobile World Capital Barcelona Foundation, and in the support of the first edition of Talent Arena, an event focused on digital talent that will be developed within the Mobile of 2025.
The minister reaffirmed this commitment to Mobile at the meeting of the Board of Trustees of Mobile World Capital Barcelona, which he attended for the first time since he assumed the portfolio of Digital Transformation and Public Function.
“The Foundation and Mobile are a clear example of co-governance, social and territorial cohesion and public-private collaboration. Thanks to the role of the Foundation, we all work together so that Barcelona is not only technological capital during the celebration of the Mobile, but so that Spain is a global reference of technology throughout the year”, said the minister during his speech at the Board meeting.
Óscar López has been convinced that the next edition of the Mobile World Congress in March 2025 will be “the ideal showcase for the best Catalonia and the progress of the digital transformation that Spain is leading in Europe”. In this sense, he has advanced that the Spain Pavilion will increase the number of companies that it will host within until it reaches 50.
After the meeting of the Board of Trustees, which was also attended by the Secretary of State for Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence, María González Veracruz, and the general director of Red.es, Jesús Herrero, the first edition of Talent Arena has been presented, an event that will take place within the Mobile World Congress of 2025 and that will bring together developers, leading technology companies and educational centers to promote learning, networking and professional growth in the digital field. It is an initiative promoted by Mobile World Capital Barcelona in collaboration with GSMA, the Barcelona City Council, the Generalitat de Catalunya and the Ministry.
Before the Board meeting, held at the City Hall, the minister met with Mayor Jaume Collboni and, subsequently, with the director of GSMA, organizer of the Mobile, John Hoffman.
Visit technology hub Pier 07
The minister then moved to the technology hub Pier 07, focusing on the application of AI in health, life sciences and biotechnology. It is one of the hubs promoted by Tech Barcelona, the largest start-up organization in Europe. Tech Barcelona has more than 60 corporate partners, including a good representation of Ibex 35 companies. There, Óscar López got to know first-hand some projects that are being developed to improve the lung recovery of patients admitted to ICU, to advance the detection of childhood diseases or to detect mental health or cognitive impairment diseases such as Alzheimer’s through voice analysis.
Some of the projects developed at Pier 07 are funded by the Ministry, such as the start-up ELEM Biotech, which develops virtual patient populations to help companies predict the outcome of their drug therapies and medical devices.
In the afternoon of this Wednesday, Minister López will hold a meeting with the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, and later he will travel to L’Hospitalet de Llobregat. There, with the help of the mayor, David Quirós, he will visit at the Municipal Market the works of the Florida 6.0 innovation laboratory, funded by the Recovery Plan and which will house a new model of citizen care office, a coworking space, a conference room and training spaces.