- Barcelona maintains its position as a start-up hub in Europe and makes a commitment to the major potential of Deep Tech companies and digital talent
- The city will be present at the trade fair through the municipal economic promotion agency, Barcelona Activa, which doubles its exhibition space and contributes to the official content of the 4YFN
- Start-ups from relevant and growing sectors within the entrepreneurial ecosystem will be accompanied, such as health, creative industries, industry 4.0 and sports, among others
Barcelona City Council, through the economic promotion agency Barcelona Activa, will accompany 32 start-ups in this year's edition of 4YFN, the benchmark trade fair for start-ups that is held in parallel with the Mobile World Congress (MWC), making a commitment towards Deep Tech and digital talent.
The 4YFN, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year - all of them in Barcelona, is consolidating itself as a connection platform between entrepreneurs, corporations and investors. Throughout this decade, the City Council has supported the initiative, essentially through the agency, Barcelona Activa.
The city has established itself as a European hub for start-ups, as highlighted by the Startup Heatmap Europe, where Barcelona remains the third favourite city to promote a new start-up; and, according to data from ACCIÓ, in February 2024, the number of start-ups in Catalonia has increased by 4% in the last year and stands at 2,100.
The Barcelona Activa stand, the largest to date and with exhibitors for start-ups
In this edition of the 4YFN-MWC, the municipal stand will occupy an area of 202m2, almost double that of last year, in Hall 8.1 (C11), of the Fira de Gran Via. As a new element, some of the start-ups will have a showcase to give real-time demonstrations of their innovations. The projects to experience live are SITEP; VRi; Additive Spaces; Feeder; Laurel gaming; Edge Farming; and Blindstairs.
Barcelona Activa will also contribute to the official content of 4YFN by leading roundtables in which current trends in strategic areas will be debated. Thus, there will be a session on the recruitment and retention of digital talent and the role of the Barcelona International Welcome Desk; and a roundtable where the challenges and key milestones of Deep Tech start-ups will be discussed. In addition, in the Beat Barcelona space there will be a meeting with public-private investment funds where the different managers of the Accelera and Deep Tech Fund will talk about the current challenges for start-ups in fundraising.
Moreover, there will be a series of Barcelona Activa’s own activities at the stand in which relevant topics related to programmes led by the city's economic promotion agency will be addressed. Thus, there will be a digital talent session with companies that hire people trained at the IT Academy, a roundtable with companies that are part of the Connectio platform or a networking session with mentors from Lidera, the initiative to support professional women, directors and entrepreneurs.
Innovation and advanced technologies
The Barcelona Activa stand will have a Food Corner space for free tastings of entrepreneurial projects arising from Barcelona Activa's food, innovation and tech programmes, such as Incapto, Honestly, Gotic Ferments, Sidra Lapplana or Vacka.
Furthermore, most of the start-ups located at the Barcelona Activa stand will make a 3-minute pitch in front of a multi-interest audience and investors, at the Pitching Point (Hall 8.1), to explain their innovative solutions that are part of a wide range of activity sectors, such as Health Tech, cyber security, energy, Sports Tech or gaming, among others.
Likewise, tours have been organised within the Mobile World Congress for companies in the industrial estates, and in the creative and audiovisual sectors, and also for the mentors of the Barcelona Mentoring Programme, of Barcelona Activa.
The other Barcelona Activa start-ups that apply or develop AI and other advanced technologies and that will have space at the stand are Samoby, Senior Domo, Seven Sector, Smart Delphi, Steelter, Sycai Medical, Waital, Zenti SolarTech, IDG4.0, Kala, Lawwwwing, Lead2Team, Levelab, Ludens Projects, Magnettü, Método Wave, Nuwe, One Solar, Parallel, Artefacto Filmico, Beder, Breaz, Brickken; Feeder, Funos and Global Planning Solutions.
For more information: barcelonactiva.cat/4YFN24