MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS 2015 Event Highlights

MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS 2015 Event Highlights

AT THE EDGE OF INNOVATION: MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS 2015

Surpassing all projections, GSMA Mobile World Congress, the world’s biggest and most influential mobile event, had a record-breaking 93,000+ attendees from 200 countries.

Hosted in the Mobile World Capital Barcelona for the 10th year, Mobile World Congress 2015 attendees were treated to a wealth of learning and networking opportunities; product showcases and announcements; inspiration and innovation, including:

CONFERENCE

Inspiring speakers from consumer brands, mobile organisations, mobile operators and industries touched by the mobile market — including advertising, banking, health, entertainment and education — presented at more than 40 conferencesessions at MWC. Keynote speakers included:

• Jon Fredrik Baksaas, President and CEO, Telenor Group and Chairman, GSMA
• Anne Bouverot, Director General, GSMA
• Simon Segars, CEO, ARM
• Ralph de la Vega, President & CEO, AT&T Mobile & Business Solutions
• Joerg Tewes, CEO, Avegant
• Gary Kovacs, CEO, AVG Technologies
• Francisco González, Chairman and CEO, BBVA
• Karsten Ottenberg, CEO, BSH Home Appliances
• Timotheus Höttges, CEO, Deutsche Telekom
• Dr Hans Wijayasuriya, Group Chief Executive, Dialog, Dialog Axiata
• Taavi Kotka, CIO, e-Estonia
• Hans Vestberg, President & CEO, Ericsson
• Guenther Oettinger, Commissioner for the Digital Economy & Society, European Commission
• Raja Teh Maimunah, MDCEO and COO, Digital and Transactional Banking, Hong Leong Islamic Bank
• Ken Hu, Deputy Chairman and Rotating CEO, Huawei
• Brian Krzanich, CEO, Intel
• Niklas Adalberth, Co-Founder, Klarna
• Chang-Gyu Hwang, CEO, KT
• Jeanie Han, CEO, LINE Euro-Americas
• Ajay Banga, President & CEO, MasterCard
• Sanjay Kapoor, Chairman, Micromax Informatics
• Mitchell Baker, Executive Chairwoman, Mozilla Foundation
• Rajeev Suri, President & CEO, Nokia
• Stéphane Richard, Chairman & CEO, Orange Group
• Thiru Arunachalam, Founder and CEO, Peel
• Steve Mollenkopf, CEO, Qualcomm Incorporated
• Carlos Ghosn, Chairman and CEO, Renault-Nissan Alliance
• Bill McDermott, CEO, SAP
• Alvaro del Castillo, Founder and CEO, TAPTAP Networks
• César Alierta, Executive Chairman & CEO, Telefónica
• Davor Sutija, CEO, Thinfilm
• Patrick Gelsinger, CEO, VMWare
• Vittorio Colao, Chief Executive, Vodafone
• Robert Beckman, CEO, Wicab
• Jimmy Wales, Founder, Wikipedia

The Mobile World Live Keynotes, held Monday and Tuesday afternoon, were streamed live to viewers around the globe on www.mobileworldlive.com. Featuring Mark Zuckerberg, Founder, Chairman & CEO, Facebook, and Tom Wheeler, Chairman, Federal Communications Commission (FCC), these sessions provided much thought-provoking discussion amongst attendees. Want to add your thoughts to the discussion? Watch the presentations now by clicking here.

The GSMA also hosted the GSMA Seminar programme, educating attendees on industry initiatives such as Connected Living, Big Data, mHealth, Connected Women, Mobile Identity, Development and Inclusion.

AN EXHIBITION SURPASSING ALL OTHERS

Over 2,100 companies showcased their organisations via exhibition stands and hospitality spaces across nine halls and outdoor spaces at Fira Gran Via and Fira Montjuïc, including a vastly expanded exhibition in Hall 8.0. Visiting the exhibition halls provided glimpses of exciting new devices, connected cars, wearables, back-end solutions, technologies, tablets, applications, accessories, and more. Many new devices and services were announced at the event, and our attendees had the opportunity to get their hands on the latest tech.

New ‘Connected Living’ innovations were on display in the GSMA Innovation City, where attendees could see first-hand how mobile-connected products will continue to transform our personal and working lives. Several specialty pavilions throughout the exhibition highlighted important initiatives benefiting the industry, including Mobile Apps, Cloud, Green Technology, Mobile Money and Wearables. And more than 34 countries and territories from around the world showcased innovative companies and ideas from their citizens in dedicated Country Pavilions.

MOBILE WORLD LIVE TV

Our award-winning Mobile World Live team were once again on hand to keep our attendees up-to-date on the latest news from MWC, via the Mobile World Live Daily and by broadcasting live from the event on Mobile World Live TV. The team broadcast two Mobile World Live Keynote presentations to audiences around the world, featuring Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, and Tom Wheeler, FCC.

For video highlights and mobile industry news year-round, visit Mobile World Livetoday!

EXCITING PARTNER PROGRAMMES

Partners again led events, conferences, trainings and forums for attendees in the Hall 8.0 Theatre District. Our more than 30 industry partners covered nearly every imaginable topic in the mobile ecosystem, from gaming and mobile health to ‘hyperconnectivity’ and mobile entertainment. These programmes were open to all Congress attendees, and were widely attended. We’d like to extend our thanks to our many programme partners for providing these engaging experiences to our attendees, which you can learn about here.

HIGHLIGHTING THE BEST IN THE INDUSTRY

Excellence, Innovation and inspiration were recognised at the 20th Annual Global Mobile Awards, which recognised 37 outstanding offerings in a number of categories, covering a myriad of topics including best use of mobile in health, education and marketing; best mobile services in emerging markets and for accessibility; the best apps of the year; and innovation in mobile technology. For full categories and winners list, please click here. Our host this year was the very funny British actor, comedian, writer and film star, John Cleese.

OUTSTANDING NETWORKING OPPORTUNITIES

Our attendees highlight the outstanding networking opportunities as a major reason to attend Mobile World Congress. And this year proved no exception; between our record-setting attendance, ample networking locations across the venue, and LinkedIn integration into the My MWC Event app, attendees were able to make contacts, find new partners and hold meetings throughout the event. Thankfully, Barcelona provided us with lovely weather which allowed attendees to take full advantage of ten themed Networking Gardens scattered around the venue.

ADDING A BIT OF FUN TO THE EVENT

Passionate about fitness? The Garmin Healthband Challenge gave attendees the opportunity to purchase a discounted vívofit or vívosmart to track their steps during the event. It’s easy to understand why your feet are sore when you can look at your wrist and see that you’ve taken 15,000, 25,000 or 40,000 steps in a single day!

Love Art? Cisco sponsored a Graffiti Wall in the Artists Rambla Networking Garden, where local artists created a large mural that encapsulated #MWC15.

Etermax’s smash-hit app Trivia Crack had attendees competing against each other in multiple trivia categories, then gave them the opportunity to meet up at several locations throughout the venue.

GOING GREEN

Through reduction in printed materials, encouraging the re-use and recycling of materials at the venue, and utilising digital signage and electronic tools at our venues, the GSMA has steadily reduced our environmental impact since 2008. In fact, in 2014, Mobile World Congress was certified as the world’s largest certified Carbon Neutralevent. It’s a certification we intend to renew each year, so we’ll be announcing this summer our 2015 certification.

Attendees are encouraged to ask for digital collaterals and publications from exhibitors, to recycle their badges at the conclusion of the event, and to take advantage of our solar device charges at the venue. Exhibitors are encouraged to build green stands using sustainable materials. Many thanks to Schneider Electric for their support of our carbon neutrality initiatives at MWC.

4 YEARS FROM NOW

Mobile entrepreneurs and start-ups had their own programme at Fira Montjuïc called4 Years From Now (4YFN). This innovative programme, developed by Mobile World Capital Barcelona and the GSMA, brings together start-ups and interested business owners with amazing learning and networking opportunities to help them take their businesses to the next level.

THE NEXT GENERATION OF MWC ATTENDEES

More than 30 children participated in the “Mobile Explorers Club”, which brings together kids aged eight to 14 from around the globe. For the second year, Explorers learned new skills and had the opportunity to discover the world of mobile and technology.

You may have seen some small groups of kids in the exhibition during the week. Besides venturing into the show to explore some of the GSMA and selected exhibitor activities and products, the children had the opportunity to participate in a number of different activities, including a range of tech and mobile based workshops courtesy of selected sponsors and partners.

WHAT’S NEXT

Our next Barcelona event will be the 2016 Mobile World Congress, 22-25 February 2016, at Fira Gran Via in Barcelona, Spain. More information will be available in the coming months. If you’d like to receive email updates about the industry’s biggest and best event, please click here. To become a sponsor or partner of MWC 2016, please contact our sales team.

Unable to wait until February? Our next ‘Mobile World Congress’ event will be held 15-17 July in Shanghai, China. Join us for Mobile World Congress Shanghai where we will be discussing the unlimited possibilities mobile provides. This event continues the long-standing tradition of first-class, international events delivered by the GSMA. Make plans now to join us! You can learn more at www.MWCshanghai.com.

Throughout the year, the GSMA hosts smaller conferences as part of our Mobile 360 Series, which focus on topical or regional issues. In 2015 we’re holding events in Latin America, North America, the Middle East, Africa and Europe. Please visitwww.mobile360series.com to learn more and register for the event(s) near you.