The Mobile equals its pre-Covid record and closes with 109,000 visitors

It seems a lot of water has passed under the bridge since the pandemic. Five years have gone by since the world came to a halt and since, from one day to the next, all activity and routine were canceled. However, the world is still slowly recovering that pre-pandemic normality, also in the case of the Mobile World Congress (MWC). The event, which has been held in Barcelona from Monday until this Thursday, seems to be on its way to definitively overcoming the pandemic, as it has matched its 2019 records, when the exhibition managed to gather 109,000 attendees.

With this figure, the congress has not only once again surpassed the 100,000 attendee mark, as forecasts indicated and as it already did last year, but it has even managed to match that historical record set in 2019. Thus, this new edition of the exhibition has brought together attendees from 205 countries and regions around the world.

These are 109,000 attendees with whom, if the 20,000 visitors attracted by the first edition of the Talent Arena are added, "the 2019 attendance record would evidently be far exceeded." This was stated by the general director of Fira de Barcelona, Constantí Serrallonga, in reference to the event that occupied Fira's Montjuïc venue for the first three days of the congress with the aim of awakening technological vocations.

The general director of Fira highlighted the "resounding success" of the new edition of MWC and explained that the CEO of GSMA as the organizing entity, John Hoffman, conveyed to him that the exhibition "could not have gone better." Serrallonga assured that from this very moment they are already starting to plan the next edition of Mobile, which will be held in Barcelona from March 2 to 5 next year.

Throughout its four days, Fira de Barcelona's Gran Via venue has hosted more than 2,900 exhibitors from around the world, showcasing the main innovations in the technology sector, with artificial intelligence as the main protagonist. The exhibition that began as a fair to show the world the advances in mobile devices has been transforming into an exhibition where new technologies shine, with mobiles increasingly relegated to the background. In fact, the organization has detailed that only 56% of attendees represent industries adjacent to the mobile ecosystem.

Thus, the usual Google or Microsoft have not missed the appointment, as well as manufacturers such as Samsung or Huawei. But without a doubt, it has been the devices that incorporate artificial intelligence in different forms that have garnered the most photographs and glances. Humanized robots, mobile phones that incorporate AI to erase unwanted elements from photographs or simultaneously transcribe a meeting, and even cars driven remotely thanks to 5G technology.

The CEO of GSMA, Mats Granryd, who this year is stepping down and handing over the baton to Vivek Badrinath, has stated that the exhibition shows that the technological sector is beginning "a new era" led by these new technologies, as well as by the irruption of 6G. Hoffman expressed himself along the same lines, assuring that "what happens at MWC does not stay at the exhibition, but causes real change throughout the world."

The GSMA has also highlighted the highly qualified profile of the congress attendees at Mobile, as half of the 109,000 attendees were at least at a managerial level. The organization of the congress also celebrated that in a still masculinized sector, the fair has advanced towards parity, since, of the more than 1,200 speakers and opinion leaders who have passed through the exhibition, 41% have been women.

For Catalan companies, the exhibition has also represented a success, since, according to the Government, the 98 companies that have participated in the exhibition through the Generalitat expect to generate 22.7 million euros in business volume during the coming months thanks to their activity during the congress. This is a 23% growth compared to the previous year's figures, "a historical record" as highlighted by the Secretary of Digital Policies of the Generalitat, Maria Galindo, who assured that two out of ten companies have closed agreements during their presence at the exhibition. In addition to these almost 100 Catalan companies, a total of 1,000 startups from all over the world have participated in 4 Years From Now (4FYN), as well as some 380 speakers and more than 900 investors.

In addition to the usual crowds in the hall, long queues have also been registered at the Talent Arena, the new event to awaken technological vocations among young people and students, which occupied Fira Montjuïc from Monday to Wednesday. Students, developers and professionals from the sector from all over the world gathered in about twenty conferences, led by personalities such as Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak; former chess player Garry Kasparov, or astronaut and former Minister of Science, Pedro Duque, but also in their hackathons and workshops. In total, more than 20,000 people from 115 countries have attended the Talent Arena program.

Among the attendees, one could find students or recent graduates looking for job opportunities, as highlighted by the CEO of MWCapital, Francesc Fajula, who valued that this new space has put on the table "the challenge we have in generating talent to respond to the growth of a technological sector that is synonymous with innovation, growth and competitiveness". Thus, it is estimated that almost half of the event attendees (47%) have been young people from the sector, while 53% have been senior professionals.

The initiative has therefore exceeded the expectations of its organizers, who are already planning the second edition for 2026, with a program also designed for the first three days of Mobile, from March 2 to 4, but with an expanded program. An event that will foreseeably return to occupy Fira Montjuïc, since, as Serrallonga recalled, Mobile has already filled the entire Fira Gran Via this year, awaiting the long-awaited expansion of the L'Hospitalet de Llobregat complex by 2027.