Anticipation Builds as MWC19 Barcelona Approaches

By MTS Staff Writer On Jan 22, 2019

GSMA Announces Additional Keynote Speakers, Programme and Event Updates

The GSMA announced final updates for MWC19 Barcelona (formerly Mobile World Congress), including additional keynote speakers, participating companies, programmes and events. Taking place 25-28 February 2019, with events being staged at Fira Gran Via, Fira Montjuïc and La Farga L’Hospitalet, MWC19 Barcelona is set to attract more than 107,000 professionals from over 200 countries and territories.

“With the anticipated arrival of 5G, this year’s event is set to be one of the most exciting as the industry convenes to showcase Intelligent Connectivity across new technologies on the brink of reaching millions of people across the world”

“With the anticipated arrival of 5G, this year’s event is set to be one of the most exciting as the industry convenes to showcase Intelligent Connectivity across new technologies on the brink of reaching millions of people across the world,” said John Hoffman, CEO, GSMA Ltd. “Over the four days of MWC19, attendees will have the opportunity to hear from leaders who are driving innovation and we look forward once again to welcoming the mobile world to Barcelona.”

Also Read: Prediction Series 2019: Interview with Elizabeth Walton, VP Marketing, Yext

Global Leaders to Keynote

The GSMA announced the addition of several new keynote speakers for MWC19 including executives from leading mobile operators and organisations shaping the future of mobile. New keynote speakers include:

Chuck Robbins, Chairman and CEO, Cisco
Dieter Zetsche, Chairman, Daimler AG and Mercedes Benz
Mariya Gabriel, Commissioner, Digital Economy and Society, European Union
Thomas Bach, President, IOC
Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft
John Hanke, Founder and CEO, Niantic Inc.
Hiroshi Mikitani, Founder, CEO and Chairman, Rakuten
H.E. Dr. Aisha Bin Bishr, Director General, Smart Dubai
Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary General, United Nations
Lucian Grainge, Chairman and CEO, Universal Music Group

4YFN: Start-ups Reach for the Stratosphere

4 Years from Now (4YFN), one of the most influential start-up event platforms in the world, will welcome over 21,000 attendees in its sixth edition in Barcelona, with sponsors including Banco Sabadell, Airbus, Telefonica and Vueling. This year 4YFN will be the first conference ever to reach the stratosphere, releasing the resolutions of start-ups for a better future into the atmosphere and taking the 4YFN Awards trophy to new heights.

4YFN attendees will have the opportunity to meet the growing global tech start-up community, including over 600 tech start-ups exhibiting in the Innovation Market. The 4YFN programme will feature notable speakers including Claudia Nemat, Board Member, Deutsche Telekom; Adeo Ressi, Founder, Founder Institute and Jared Ficklin, Strategic Design Partner with Magic Leap and Chief Creative Technologist, argodesign. This year’s 4YFN themes will be Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robotics, Tech4Good and Blockchain.

Innovation City: Intelligent Connectivity

The popular GSMA Innovation City will return to MWC19, placing a particular emphasis on the theme of ‘Intelligent Connectivity’ – the mix of 5G, IoT, AI and big data and how it will positively impact the lives of citizens and businesses around the world. Visitors will have the opportunity to experience a number of hands-on demonstrations across a range of diverse sectors including entertainment, transportation, environment and robotics from our partners Google, Huawei, KT Corporation, Sierra Wireless and Turkcell, as well as from GSMA industry and advocacy programmes.

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MWC Tours: Tailored Experience at MWC19

MWC Barcelona will again offer attendees focused Topic Tours of the exhibition at Fira Gran Via, led by industry experts. The GSMA also offers bespoke Custom Experience Tours to address attendees’ specific business objectives and requirements. Newly announced Topic Tour Partners include:

5G and NFV Tour: Award Solutions, Nishith Tripathi and Mark Harms (Internet of Things)
Mobile Advertising and Apps Tour: Geometry, Olivia Pasquinelli and Doug Chavez (Retail and Digital Commerce)
What’s Hot at MWC Tour: Stratacache, Manolo Almargro and Ben Gauthier (Artificial Intelligence)
Cybersecurity Tour: BLUE Software – Stephen Kaufman

New Partnerships Announced

Attendees will have the opportunity to attend a variety of programmes in Hall 8.0 NEXTech. Here they can gain insights from industry leaders who will hold more than 35 sessions over the course of MWC19.

Recently confirmed Partner Programmes include; China Unicom, Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Huawei, mSchools, Mobile World Scholar Challenge, Samsung, Tappy Technologies, Tanla, Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA), and Vertiv. While Dow Silicones, KLIX Media, NetNumber, Netsia, Tealium and Xilinx will host Power Hour Sessions. In addition, SalesForce.com will hold programmes in their Networking Garden.

CNN International joins Mobile World Live as Global Media Partners for MWC19 Barcelona. Newly confirmed Official Media Partners include CBS Interactive, CNBC, Euronews, Tencent News, The Wall Street Journal, TIME and Fortune, and Ziff Davis.

New Activities at Women4Tech Summit

Back for its third year and continuing the GSMA’s commitment to reducing the gender gap in the mobile ecosystem, the GSMA Women4Tech Summit will gather senior leaders to discuss hot topics ranging from finding AI talent to working in a post #MeToo world, among others. Newly confirmed speakers include:

Dr. Athina Kanioura, Chief Data Scientist, Applied Intelligence, Accenture
Miriam Vogel, Executive Director, EqualAI
Helena Norrman SVP, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, Ericsson
Ursula Soritsch-Renier, Group CIO and Digital Leader, Nokia
Lauren Brown, Director of Special Projects, Quartz
Catherine Michel, CTO, Sigma Systems
Kjersti Jamne, CMO and VP Consumer, Telia
Alex Badenoch, Group Executive Transformation and People, Telstra
Elisabetta Romano, CTO, TIM

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The GSMA announced several new events within the Women4Tech Summit. Inside Track offers attendees seeking to be more competitive in the industry, the opportunity to gain critical insights on their own professional skills from a Fortune 500 expert. Additionally, the GSMA has introduced two invitation-only activities: the Women4Tech Roundtable and Women4Tech Dinner, both of which explore ways women can progress to leadership positions and have more participation in Executive Boards.

Accenture is the Official Sponsor for the Women4Tech Summit and also Women4Tech Dinner. Supporting Summit Sponsors are HP Inc., Pinsent Masons and Synchronoss. Other sponsors across the programme include; Cisco, Master Card, Red Hat, and Visa. Women4Tech Partners includes CBS Interactive, mBolden and the Wall Street Journal.

YoMo Barcelona: The Youth Mobile Festival

New for 2019, YoMo will showcase a number of exciting new activities. Among them, the Magma Exporecerca Jove Research Fair, featuring an award presentation for competing students at a gala on Saturday, 2 March; the Ciencia en Accción international competition for students, professors and researchers in the science community; the launch of the “choose your crew” career program; new Tech4Girls activities and a new Teacher Track from the Institute of European Design inclusive of speakers, immersive fashion and wearables.

Fundación Repsol and Fundación Telefónica are newly announced YoMo partners while other recently signed sponsors include Elisava, Grupo Edelvives, Grupo SM, Intech3D, Microsoft and Robotix Lego Education. YoMo media partners include Diari De L’Educació and Harvard Duesto Learning and Pedagogics.