Mobile World Congress celebrates its 20th anniversary in Barcelona in an edition marked by the war in Iran.

BarcelonaThe Mobile World Congress (MWC) is coming of age in Barcelona. This year's edition, which begins tomorrow, Monday, March 2nd, and runs until midday on Thursday, will be the twentieth edition of the Mobile World Congress in the Catalan capital; two decades of a congress that began as the mecca of mobile phones and has ended up becoming the global showcase for advances in connectivity and new technologies. Under the theme "The IQ era," the event will revolve around the ethics of artificial intelligence (AI), quantum technology, the future of the space economy, and the horizon of 6G, among many other topics related to the so-called deep techDeep technologies.

However, being an international meeting point, it will not be without international controversy, after the US and Israel launched attacks against Iran in the early hours of Saturday, resulting in the closure of several airspaces, including those of Israel, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and other Middle Eastern countries.

In fact, one of the hot topics of this edition was the presence of both Israeli and Palestinian companies at Mobile World Congress, which the CEO of GSMA Ltd. – the congress organizer – John Hoffman, had assured would coincide, touting the event as "a unifying space" in the face of geopolitical tensions. Ultimately, everything points to a limited presence from Middle Eastern countries, which will be especially noticeable for Israel, which has recently been establishing itself as a major force in technological innovation.

The GSMA maintains that they have "a small number of attendees, exhibitors, and speakers from the Middle East who may be affected by the transport issues," thus ruling out a major impact. On the other hand, this airspace closure could also affect flights from Asia that make a stopover in [location missing]. hubs International airlines such as Qatar or Dubai; in this case, the impact on MWC attendance could be greater. It should be noted that some of the main companies at this congress (Huawei, LG, Samsung, SK Telekom, among many others) are Asian. Travel difficulties have already begun to affect the city's hotels and restaurants; many of them, normally full during MWC dates, have already received cancellations for this reason.

However, the twentieth edition of Mobile World Congress in Barcelona is ambitious. The organizers expect a similar attendance to last year, between 100,000 and 110,000 attendees – pending confirmation of the impact of airspace closures – and estimate that over these two decades its economic impact will have been around 7.5 billion euros, including the 5 million euros.

The major new features

"Connectivity is at the heart of everything we do, and Mobile World Congress is a showcase of this," Hoffman explained during the presentation. "AI is dominant today; we'll discuss the changes it brings and also focus the debate on the ethics surrounding this technology, and examine the role of AI in the industry."telecoms"He explained. Thus, the major new features will be New Frontiers, an area in Hall 6 dedicated to space and quantum physics, which will include the participation of SpaceX and Starlink; the Airport of the Future area, an area outside the venue focused on aviation; and CircuitX, a proposal for smart mobility at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya."

MWC 2026 will also be the first for the new GSMA CEO, Vivek Badrinath, a former Vodafone executive, who took over from Mats Granryd just a few months ago.

Talent Arena and 4YFN

This will also be the second edition of Talent Arena, the space promoted by MWCapital dedicated to digital talent, held alongside MWC at the Montjuïc venue of Fira de Barcelona, ​​from March 2nd to 4th. This space, launched last year and a great success, is open to the public and will host some 22,000 professionals and university students this year to identify, develop, and then attract digital talent, with a program featuring more than 160 content sessions and 45 workshops. workshops30 robotics sessions and gaming and 5 hackathons.

Jordi Arrufí, director of the MWCapital Digital Talent program, explains to ARA that the creation of this space responds to the fact that "behind everything exhibited at Mobile World Congress and 4YFN there are people: digital talent, which is often unseen," he points out. "If Barcelona is a hub for digital talent, if Barcelona is a hub for talent."

An old acquaintance also returns: 4 Years From Now (4YFN), the space dedicated to entrepreneurs, investors, and innovative companies in the tech sector. start-ups. This will be the 14th edition of this event, which this year will feature a specific ticket priced at 399 euros, granting exclusive access to the northern area of ​​the venue. Twenty artists will be presented at the 4YFN Awards 26. start-ups under the watchful eye of investors with a total investment capacity of 60 billion euros.

€9.3 billion in five years

Catalonia has attracted €9.323 billion in foreign investment in the technology and digital sectors over the past five years, according to a study published this Sunday by Acció. The consortium has registered a 165% increase compared to investments made in the previous five-year period (2016-2020). According to the study, the Principality ranks eighth globally in the number of projects attracted during the 2021-2025 period, and second in the European Union, only behind Île-de-France. In total, 388 projects have been recorded over the last five years, 32% more than in the same period the previous year, with companies such as Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, NTT Data, and HP standing out among a total of 28,122 projects.

This flow of capital has contributed to the fact that the technology and digital sector already has 28,122 companies in Catalonia (2025 data) – representing a year-on-year increase of 13% – and that it provides work to 218,598 people (2024 data), a 10% increase.

Furthermore, for the first time, the business volume generated for this area exceeded the threshold of 40 billion euros and reached 41,495 million euros in 2024, 4.7% more than in the previous year.