A meeting point, a respite, a space to show the best and most active face of Barcelona to the attendees of the Mobile World Congress (MWC). Beat Barcelona returns to the event for the third consecutive year with more space (1,600 m2) and a better location, in the gardens of Hall 8, next to the entrance to 4YFN. Culture, mainly in the form of music, and gastronomy will accompany the most reflective edition of the Beat with a new space, the agora, where conferences and talks will take place to explain what is happening in the city.
The first Beat Barcelona promoted by the City Council, at MWC22, served as a testing ground to measure the potential that a low-pressure recreational and networking space could have in the middle of the gigantic technological event (although that edition was burdened by the pandemic ). There was a clear commitment to music with a prolific alliance with the city's festivals, Sónar, Cruïlla and Mira de arte digital. The bet was consolidated last year, in which gastronomy gained weight and in this edition, Beat Barcelona takes another leap.
Added to the recreational offering is a new space, the Ágora, “where we want to explain in person the city's projects and commitments, at the level of research centers, start-ups or how we apply technology in healthcare. elderly and disabled people; “We will give the space a more reflective tone,” explains the Economic Promotion Manager of Barcelona City Council, Miquel Rodríguez.
With capacity for about forty people, the Agora will offer continuous programming designed by the City Council and MWCapital. Among the proposals, the Barcelona Capital of the Xip, in which Mateo Valero (Barcelona Supercomputing Center) will participate; an InnoFAB manager or Andreu Vilamitjana (Cisco). In the gastronomic field, there will be some stars, such as Oriol Castro from Fácilr or Paolo Casagrande from Restaurante Lasarte. The America's Cup and its involvement with technological innovation will also pass through the Ágora under the guidance of Roger Frigola (engineer of the Emirates Team New Zealand) and Jaume Triay (engineer of the Swiss team Alinghi Red Bull).
Beyond this more formal conference space, the presence of music will be permanent with two different proposals, that of the Associació de Sales de Concerts de Catalunya-Barcelona, which will program from ten in the morning until five in the afternoon ; and the Barcelona Music Lab, which will be in charge of the musical menu from 5 p.m. until the Beat closes, at 8 p.m. “The ultimate goal is for this space to be the meeting point, the place where things always happen and where people can be comfortable and relax,” adds Rodríguez. Some totems will serve to display ongoing city projects and other assets.
Throughout the day there will also be culinary demonstrations to highlight the gastronomic culture of proximity and quality. This space will be integrated with the Damm bars, one with cold products and the other with hot products. The space also incorporates a Virtual Reality experience that provides, through state-of-the-art glasses, a dizzying journey through the city that will begin at the top of the Collserola tower and will transport the user to shop in the Sant Antoni market or to give a tour of the port and virtually follow your path through a city in motion.
