For everything related to mobile technology, head to MWC Barcelona

mobilecongressgraphic1 What’s in Barcelona? More than tapas, for sure. If you love your mobile technology, there’s no better place to be than Barcelona. The mobile phone that is so ubiquitous in today’s human landscape is set to experience even more spectacular growth. It’s no wonder that the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, (Feb.22-25), is attracting so much attention. GSMA, which is organizing the MWC, points out: By 2020, around three-fifths of the global population will have a mobile subscription, with close to 1 billion new subscribers added over the period.

So, yes, there’s lots to look forward to at the MWC – new technologies being unveiled, policy matters relating to the field being debated vigorously, amaze-worthy products being debuted.

Let’s look at what’s new at this year’s MWC ‘state of the art’ Innovation City demos. Take pioneering IoT solutions, for instance. The Low-Power Wide-Area Network is technology which demonstrates its readiness to go into remote areas, specially in the logistics & remote utility sectors. You want to monitor if your vehicle is performing well, is healthy? Korean operator, KT is using in-car IoT data service to develop local market insights at an enterprise level. There’s a elephant in the room – security of IoT. But they’re talking about it at the MWC. Telenor Connexion & Ericsson, among others, are showcasing their security products in the IoT sector. Intel will be debuting their drone tech in a 1st-time-ever event at the Congress – the Yuneec Typhoon H with Intel RealSense Technology.

One of the avowed goals of the MWC is the nurturing of entrepreneurs in the mobile industry. 4YN (4 Years from Now) is a business platform bringing together innovators, business people & corporations celebrating the startup habit. The Founders & Investors Program meetings brings together entrepreneurs & potential investors/VCs.

Keeping the theme of empowerment intact, MWC is hosting an event that will look at the challenges faced by women in the mobile industry. The ‘Connected Women Program’ aims to identify problem areas for women in the industry & address them efficaciously. Keynote speaker will be GSMA’s Director General, Mats Granryd, & panelists include Keri Gilder, Vice-president, Ciena; Jose van Dijk, VP, Business Operations, Cisco Service Provider Segment.

MWC has lined up an impressive list of speakers at the keynote conference. Among them are Gavin Patterson, CEO, BT Group, Shang Bing, Chairman, China Mobile, Mark Zuckerberg, Founder/CEO, Facebook, Mark Fields President/CEO, Ford Motor Company, Chuck Robbins, CEO, Cisco, Ann Cairns President, International Markets, MasterCard & Anne Bouverot, Chair/CEO, Morpho (Safran).

The spotlight at MWC 2016 highlights these themes: