It has been three years since the last edition of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in a completely normal environment. In 2020, with a world on increasing alert for the effects of COVID-19, it was the first major technological event to be suspended, trusting that in 2021 the storm would have passed. But it was not like that, and in the midst of one of the waves of the pandemic in recent months, the entity that organizes the fair, the GSMA, decided to postpone it until June and convene a 2021 edition that is partly face-to-face and partly virtual. Even with the postponement, the pandemic did not subside, and many technology companies decided not to participate in the face-to-face edition.
For this year, the GSMA was confident that normality would have arrived, but that is not the case either. In a scenario that points, yes, towards the end of the pandemic, the 2022 Mobile World Congress is about to open its doors, to celebrate an event that will not yet be completely normal (in fact, attendees have to endure not a few security measures), but which is getting closer and closer to him.
Despite having had some casualties in its face-to-face edition (they will be online), such as Asus, Lenovo or Sony, on this occasion the main technology companies will not only participate in their online version, and will be among the exhibitors with a stand and participation in the conferences when the fair opens its doors, next February 28, until March 3, when it will end.
Exhibitor numbers close to normal
With Connectivity Unleashed as its motto, the MWC 2022 in Barcelona will have more than 1,500 exhibitors and 37 country pavilionsstill below the around 2,400 exhibitors of 2019. In addition, it is expected that more than a thousand speakers will participate in its conferences, and that in total there will be more than 150 countries represented at the event.
These are figures that, although somewhat lower, begin to remind those of the fair before the pandemic. However, when it comes to attendees, the organization prefers to be cautious and not make forecasts. Undoubtedly, fewer attendees will attend than in “normal” years, but in the hotel sector in Barcelona and its surroundings this year they have already noticed a certain movement in terms of accommodation reservations for companies and visitors.
Meanwhile, the organization has confirmed that it will have the usual internal sections and events, such as 4YFNdedicated to startups or the Ministerial Program for leaders of the IT and telecommunications sector and governors. There will also be a cycle of thematic conferences on diversity in the company, Diversity4Techand even a new area, Industrial Citywith talks and exhibitors dedicated to showing how certain sectors, such as fintech, manufacturing and mobility, are collaborating and converging in the face of the reinvention of companies and the way of doing business.
In-person conferences gain prominence again
In this edition, the face-to-face part of the Mobile World Congress conferences and talks once again has a leading role, with the participation of leaders from all kinds of sectors as speakers. Not only from technology, since representatives from sectors such as finance and sports will participate. Also from various governments. Among them will be Adam Selipsky, CEO of AWS; Jim McKelvey, Director and one of the founders of Block (formerly Square); Nick Read, CEO of Vodafone; or Cristiano Amon, CEO and President of Qualcomm.
As for the Ministerial Program of the MWC, it will bring together some 140 official delegations from countries. Ministers and legal experts from around the world will meet with leaders from the IT and telecommunications sector to discuss issues related to the digital divide and the development of policies to move towards a digital world always keeping in mind the goals to be met for care enviroment.
4YFN brings startups back to the center of the MWC
Hall 6 of the Fira de Barcelona will once again host 4YFN, the Mobile World Congress event dedicated to startups. In this edition, some 500 startups from all over the world are expected to gather at the pavilion. Its organizers have also launched a cycle of talks and conferences, in which some 300 speakers will participate, focused on sharing information to advance the ecosystem and companies. 4YFN also serves as a framework for startups to have access to investment, and in this edition its organizers hope that 200 can present their business model, products and services to different funds and investors.
On this occasion, 4YFN will have four main themes: technological humanism, founders, creative minds, and financing and corporate investment. In addition to them, the participating startups belong to sectors such as digital health, sports, communities or the frontiers of technology. And among the main speakers who will share their knowledge with the attendees are David Siegel, CEO of Meetup; Maximilian Tayenthal, founder of N26or Francesca Bria, President of the Italian National Innovation Fund.
Exhibitors from the main technology companies
As we have mentioned, despite some casualties, which in the end have not been as many as initially feared, the Mobile World Congress 2022 in Barcelona will have exhibitors from the main technology companies. Among them, Cisco, Deutsche Telekom, Ericsson, Google, Huawei, IBM, Intel, Nokia, Orange, Qualcomm, Red Hat, Samsung Electronics, Telefonica, Realme, Xiaomi, Vodafone or ZTE. They will all bring their main novelties to the fair, and will take the opportunity to present them to the public.
Thus, for example, as Muycanal points out, Google will be present with its Android Garden exhibition, located between pavilions 2 and 3 of the fairgrounds. IBMhand in hand with engineers from Boston Dynamicswill show attendees how Spot works, the robot that both companies have designed for work environments.
In the meantime, RedHat participates again in person, and will show attendees its proposals to help the telecommunications sector promote innovation that goes beyond infrastructure, in order to differentiate itself in 5G services and applications. Also to make it easier for them to build, manage and scale cloud-native networks from core to edge. In addition, the company will organize the session Open RAN: The Next Stepwhich will deal with the potential of Open RAN in telecommunications.
Samsung is among the mobile manufacturers that will show their latest terminals at the fair, although it may also take the opportunity to present some novelties in portable devices. For its part, Realme will present its new high-end smartphone model, the GT2 Pro, and Oppowhich will bring its new phones from the Find X5 series, will present a new product related to connectivity, of which no further details are known.
These are just some of the technology companies that will come with their latest technology proposals to Mobile World Congress 2022, whose organizers (and attendees) hope that it will be the last edition before fully recovering normalcy in 2023.
