Barcelona to Host Talent Arena Alongside MWC

Mobile World Capital Barcelona announced the creation of Talent Arena, a developer-focused event. It will be held in parallel to MWC Barcelona. The first edition of the event will be held on the first three days of MWC Barcelona (3-5 March 2025).

The initiative was to consolidate Barcelona as a world-class hub for digital talent, attracting professionals, technology companies, and educational institutions from around the world. Talent Arena 2025 will focus on key areas for the development of digital talent including artificial intelligence, software engineering, cybersecurity, and cloud computing. This is alongside addressing future technologies such as quantum computing and NewSpace, and issues related to sustainability and talent management.

The primary audience for Talent Arena is developers, leading technology companies, and educational institutions. The event is expected to attract more than 4,000 attendees. Talent Arena 2025 is set to include conferences and round tables with more than 200 international speakers, ICT experts, and leaders of technology companies. It will also host a hackathon for GSMA Open Gateway to promote innovation in programmable networks, while the GSMA Open Gateway DevCon will deliver sessions for developers about the potential of network APIs.

Other highlights will include workshops, technology exhibitions, and company demos, as well as networking opportunities for attendees with industry leaders. Admission to Talent Arena 2025 will be free of charge. Confirmed speakers are Apple co-founder, Steve Wozniak, chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov, Xavier Amatriain, vice president of product at Google, open source expert Sarah Novotny, Meta Platforms head of AI Cristian Canton, and Lauren Lyon, former head of engineering development at SpaceX, Blue Origin and Starlink.

Talent Arena was piloted at MWC Barcelona 2024. The first full edition will take place in Hall 8 of Fira de Barcelona Montjuic, following in the footsteps of the 4YFN congress for start-ups, which later moved inside the main MWC Barcelona event. When Fira de Barcelona expands with the new Hall 0 pavilion in 2027, the Talent Arena is expected to also move to the Gran Via venue. The event was driven by Mobile World Capital Barcelona in collaboration with the GSMA, Barcelona City Council, Generalitat de Catalunya, and the Ministry of Digital Transformation and the Civil Service.