After two years marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Mobile World Congress (MWC) returned in person this spring. The event attracted more than 60,000 attendees. Many IT professionals attended the congress at the Fira Gran Via, a huge trade fair, in Barcelona, Spain, between 28 February and 3 March. For yet another year, EHTEL member, the TIC Salut Social Foundation was there, with a spot at the Digital Catalonia stand.
The theme of this year’s congress was “Connectivity Unleashed”. The congress focused on six main themes: Artificial Intelligence, 5G connectivity, the use of the cloud (CloudNet), digital finance (FinTech), the metaverse, and the technological horizon (Tech Horizon). As a result, the most influential congress in the world of the connectivity industry fully recovered a face-to-face format, with more than 1,500 exhibitors and 1,000 speakers. In parallel to the MWC, the Four Years From Now (4YFN) event also took place. 4YFN is an international benchmark in connecting start-ups, investors, and companies and in promoting new business opportunities.
Catalonia looks up
The TIC Salut Social Foundation presented several projects at the Digital Catalonia stand. Among them were:
- the Catalan Health/ AI Programme,
- the European project, INCISIVE, which aims to use artificial intelligence for diagnosing and detecting cancer,
- the work of the Data Protection Officer department and the App Certification Service of the mHealth Office.
The stand was promoted by the Department of the Vice-Presidency and the Department of Digital Policies and Territory of the Generalitat de Catalunya under the slogan ‘Catalonia looks Up’. Besides Tic Salut Social, it provided 52 other Catalan companies, organisations, and technology centres with the opportunity to share their most innovative projects in the field of information and communication technology.
For the first time, Digital Catalonia showcased an innovative 360º holographic experience. It was designed to show both the benefits of Internet of Things/5G connectivity and the space missions that are being carried out with nanosatellites in the framework of the New Space Strategy for Catalonia.
Furthermore, there was a presentation of one of the Vice-Presidency’s most strategic projects: the AINA project which uses data technologies and Artificial Intelligence to teach machines to understand and speak Catalan.
Finally, the congress hosted the second edition of the Open Innovation Challenge, organised by the Catalan Department of Business and Employment, through the ACCIÓ programme, a B2B meeting between the key agents involved in the innovation ecosystem.
What’s in the Mobile World Congress for EHTEL members?
This year’s Mobile World Congress gave attendees and video watchers the opportunity to understand, as always, what is happening in the world of mobile and mobile apps. Yet, in addition, it showed what are the new trends are in the latest technologies – including the cloud and virtual reality. Especially for people interested in health and care, it alerted them to the latest developments in the use of artificial intelligence, including on cancer. Since cancer is likely to continue to be one of the big health-related killers in the 21st century, it is key not only to Catalonia’s work but European research and policy overall. Small and medium-sized enterprises are likely to find the materials especially interesting.
Watch this video on Fundació TIC Salut Social's participation at MWC.
