Another record breaking year for the Mobile World Congress and 4YFN in the current edition! In this articles I will be briefly describing how the Mobile World Congress was, and then will go over the latest mobile insight we discovered & talked about!

Over 107,000 attendees this year
205 countries and territories were present
3,500 members of the international press and media
More than 2,400 companies participated to showcase the most innovative products & services and share the big ideas that will influence the future of the industry
7,700 CEOs

MWC is the epi-centre for innovation! Startups and the most cutting-edge companies exhibit their latest products and services, and they all have one thing in common; a devotion and interest for innovation. This is a perfect place to discover latest mobile insight from the mobile leaders and to discover breathtaking projects from every continent of the globe. Everything going from virtual reality to mobile phones and app ideas, to privacy protection and backend solutions were presented and discussed in MWC and 4YFN this year.

4YFN 2018: mobile insight

4YFNis the fastest growing digital startup event in the world! The home of the growing global tech startup community, creating lasting connections among startups, investors and corporations during the GSMA Mobile World Congress Barcelona, the world’s largest mobile industry exhibition. There you will be one of the first ones to hear mobile insight of the upcoming years from the disruptors and leading startups.

4YFN is really a place to get inspired, to learn, to get advice, to participate, to show and to share your ideas with the world’s most prominent mobile influencers of our time. In 4YFN you will find promising startups now not only from Spain, but from all over the world. Projects starting from innovative mobile apps that may revolutionalize the way we live to services and algorithms that may help us increase officiency and performance. The event brought together mobile leaders, start-ups, investors and interested business owners for learning and networking opportunities, with the aim of giving them the exposure they need to take their mobile insight and mobile ideas to the next level.

4YFN event really builds, empowers and boosts connections between Barcelona’s tech ecosystem and international tech hubs. 4YFN helps corporations to innovate in collaboration with a global ecosystem of tech entrepreneurs. They bridge the gap between corporations and startups and help them to approach innovation with a shared vision in order to co-create products and services. Also what is valuable they help investors to connect with other investors from different international markets, while discovering together the most promising startups from each ecosystem. They build an exclusive platform for investors to share mobile insight, co-investment projects and increase their deal flow.

Other than that, 4YFN featured interactive workshops, cutting-edge exhibitions and unique networking opportunities. The programme included also stages where experts discussed hot topics with the audience and discussion was led by globally known experts and entrepreneurs.

There were over 20.539 attendees, 650 startups, 275 speakers, 700 investors. All these participants came from over 45 countries, among them Belgium, Colombia, France, Germany, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Sri Lanka, UK, Spain, etc.

In this edition, 275 speakers gave interesting presentations regarding innovation and our future, for example, Co-founder of HolaLuz, Carlota Pi, CEO of ABA English, Javier Figarola, Chief Research Officer de VMware, CTO of Cloud&Enrerprise Security Division of Microsoft, Gloria Molins head of Global launches at Trip4Real, Adeo Ressi – CEO at Founder Institute, Jacinto Roca – CEO at Rakuten TV, Javier Suarez – CPO & Co-Founder at TravelPerk, David Okuniev – Co-CEO & Co-founder at Typeform, Miguel Arias – Global Director at Telefonica Open Future, Paulin Dementhon – CEO & Founder at Drivy and many others.

As for the topics, there were some very interesting ones, like: innovation in the field of cybersecurity, driving innovation through global technology disruption, lessons From Silicon Valley, disruption to create sustainability for smart cities

There were several competitions and Boxmotions project from Barcelona won an award as the most disruptive project of this year. The project is about a storage, which you can actually control with your mobile phone.

MWC17: mobile insight

As for the MWC 2018, as always it was the biggest mobile industry trade show and this year, there were many hot topics ranging from artificial intelligence to 5G connectivity. Mobile manufacturers came from all over the world to show off their best mobile devices. Also, there were a lot of interesting talks and seminars, for example: Future Networks Seminar: 5G for industry-specific services, Payments as a Platform: Unlocking the API Economy and the Future of Digital Innovation, Generating Value through IoT and Big Data, How are identity regulations shaping the digital world?, IoT Security and Drones – Creating a Connected and Secure Future, IoT security, AI in digital marketing, Cybercrime, etc.

Let’s look at some innovative trends that made headlines this year.

Top highlights: 4YFN & MWC 2018

1. 5G

5G is a trendy topic for many years. I am sure you know what it means, but just in case, let me sum up it in very simple way: 5G will be up to 100x faster than current 4G and 10x faster than the broadband connectivity that we are used to. With this speed the promise of other technology trends like IoT, AR, VR, Edge Computing and more really become not only possible but much better. This year, Kester Mann for CCS Insight states, “The first 5G standard has been confirmed and the second iteration is due in June, so we will see people talking more authoritatively about the technology: We will start to get some firm plans.” Also, Libby Robinson of M&C Saatchi Mobile states, “One of the key advancements will be 5G. Faster connectivity will significantly improve the user experience on mobile, delivering richer brand-consumer engagement. Last year focused a lot on the concept of 5G so it will be interesting to see how that is progressing into planning and implementation.” According to figures from the GSM Association (GSMA), there are currently 77 operators trialling 5G across 49 countries.

2. AI

To continue with 5G, it is the added ability to handle other technologies like AI. According to Forbes, AI can be used to improve the way networks are planned and managed. Operators will be able to predict their consumer demand while easing the use of the tariffs.

3. New phones

Huawei didn’t have a new flagship phone, LG rebadged its old flagship phone, and Motorola and HTC had no phones to show at all. The traditional deluge of new super-specced phones just wasn’t here as it usually is. However, Nokia reached back into the archives to revive another classic, pricing the 8110 at less than $100, the company gives you a surprising amount of advanced functionality to go with the familiar slider styling. This phone has LTE, Google Assistant and Google Maps, Twitter and Facebook apps, Snake (because it has to), and a promised standby time of 25 days.

According to Verge, A lot of people said tat there was no better phone at MWC than Samsung’s new flagship duo. With a new dual-aperture camera, a fingerprint reader now sanely position in the middle of the back, and the best and latest processors, the Galaxy S9 is having all the opportunities to become a strong leader in the market.

4. IoT gains momentum

At MWC in Barcelona, GSMA Intelligence predicted that there will be 25bn connections to IoT globally in 2025. This will include 5.6bn connections in Europe, 5.8bn connections in North America, 1.3bn in Latin America, 1.4bn in Africa and the Middle East, and a whopping 10.9bn in Asia-Pacific. Key players such as Sierra Wireless, Huawai, Ericsson, Dell, IBM, NEC and Intel demonstrated a range of applications in IIoT, from smart cities and transport to smart agriculture, smart aviation, e-stadiums in action, worker safety, robotic manufacturing and cloud VR.

5. Mobile money

The GSMA estimated that mobile money services generated $2.4bn in direct revenue during 2017 as the industry processed $1bn worth of transactions daily. The GSMA’s annual State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money revealed that there were 690m registered accounts across 90 countries last year, up 25pc year on year.

6. Connected cars

If anything, the fuel of connected cars will be data and the pulse of this will be 5G. Spanish carmaker SEAT announced the creation of a new company, Xmoba, which is going to identify, test and invest in initiatives that succeed in promoting solutions that improve the future of mobility. Seat also shared it’s willingness to participate in one of the most significant projects facing Barcelona: turning the city into a 5G technological hub. As for the Huawei, it puts effort into converting a Porsche Panamera into a driverless vehicle by combining it with the AI power of the new Mate 10 Pro smartphone. The device was able to use its neural processing unit to recognise objects such as people, animals or footballs using machine learning and the same technology it employed to learn 50,000 languages with Microsoft for real-time translation.

7. Data analytics

Having bucket loads of user data at your fingertips is one thing; deciphering what it means, and drawing from it actionable insights, is something else entirely. Right now companiesstart hiring data analysts like crazy!

8. Smart Cities

This year MWC has demonstrated the capabilities possible with smart cities. Cisco IoT really tapped into the technology, demonstrating everything from water supply to tackling fog on the roads. The focus for smart cities is inevitably to achieve a more efficient and well working city to live in, with the people of the city the driving force behind the ideas. User needs are ultimately the game changer in what innovative ideas smart cities will present over the next year.

If I forgot something, feel free to add your highlights in the comments section below!;)

And if you couldn’t attend the Barcelona’s MWC, you still have a chance to get a ticket and go to Shanghai! Save the date:27-29 June! Enjoy!!

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