The Mobile World Congress is back, yes, but in a very different format from previous editions. With 30% of the exhibiting companies present online only.
The new Mobile World Congress kicked off on Monday, June 28 and ran through Thursday, July 1, after the February 2020 edition was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The GSMA (Global Systems for Mobile Association) has always championed holding the event to demonstrate its leadership to the world.
Connected Impact is the event’s new motto. It highlights how technology has helped people cope with the pandemic, with the most prominent sectors being Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, Robotics and home automation, as well as software and hardware.
Attendance and Covid-19 protocols
Between 30k and 50k attendees are expected, with a total of 700 in-person exhibitors and 600 speakers across 100k m2, which means there will be fewer congress-goers.
It’s also worth remembering that this new edition has created between 5k and 7k jobs across a range of profiles, far from the 14k of two years ago, though it remains a positive sign in this post-Covid-19 era.
They have put safety measures in place to tackle the virus, such as mandatory testing and FFP2 masks. This health plan includes the established safety distances along with temperature checks and hand-sanitizer dispensers.
Which leading companies are taking part?
The main ones attending in person include Citi, Orange, Accenture, Acciona, Amazon Web Services, Telefónica, Verizon, Vodafone and Xiaomi, among others.
Among the companies not attending in person are Qualcomm, Xiaomi, Samsung, Google, Oracle, Facebook, Cisco, Vodafone, Microsoft, Lenovo, Intel and others.
What’s new this edition
MWC will once again showcase the latest mobile technologies, from new devices to advances in the rollout of 5G networks.
Some standout products include the eye-controlled coffee machine from the Azkoyen Group, a smart t-shirt called YouCare whose fabric detects different signals from the body such as breathing, sweat and muscular effort, Samsung’s answer to the Apple Watch, and smart glasses capable of turning into a cinema.
Another very important highlight is the number of startups that didn’t want to miss the chance to showcase their projects and future plans to demonstrate their strong social impact across multiple sectors.
At StockAgile we wanted to take advantage of this occasion: on Monday our CEO & Co-founder Miquel Subirats i Salvans gave a speech at 4YFN to introduce our software and the many advantages that make it special and unique in the retail market.