That Barcelona is a city of fairs is nothing new, it is a historical fact. Without going any further, the Catalan capital is already preparing to celebrate the centenary of the 1929 Universal Exhibition. But in recent years it has been the great technological events, with the Mobile World Congress (MWC) as a great but not the only exponent, the standard bearers. of this potential. Calls like this have been consolidated, have taken root and left a legacy in the territory, and others such as Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) have arrived. In addition, many more traditional fairs have mutated and now have central spaces dedicated to technology and digitalization. However, Barcelona's classic potential as a trade fair venue has led the city to also be one of the great forums on digitalization in southern Europe.
“We have been focusing on attracting technological events for many years now, and in this sense we have clearly positioned ourselves as references,” considers Constantí Serrallonga, general director of Fira de Barcelona. “The celebration of world-leading events such as MWC, ISE or Smart City Expo exerts a magnet effect for other sector and corporate events of technological multinationals,” adds Serrallonga.
At Fira de Barcelona they hope to reinforce their international positioning this year. Just taking into account technological events, they plan to carry out around twenty events and reach around 250,000 professional visitors and around 6,000 companies. The MWC, which starts tomorrow, has some 95,000 expected attendees. Later on, the ISE will arrive, with 74,000 attendees, and the Smart City Expo World Congress, with 25,000. Specific forums are also planned on topics such as cybersecurity and corporate events by companies such as IBM, among others.
“Barcelona is a reality as a venue for major technological events,” considers the special delegate of the State in the Barcelona Free Trade Zone Consortium (CZFB), a public institution that also organizes several fairs, Pere Navarro. He created, in the middle of the pandemic, the Barcelona New Economy Week, dedicated to the new economy and which has been consolidating until reaching 12,500 participants, 30% international.
“In the classic International Logistics Exhibition (SIL) we no longer talk only about forklifts, but also about topics such as artificial intelligence or big data,” says Navarro. And the same thing has also been happening in the Fira samples. To cite some examples, in the Automobile, the displacement of cars has given prominence to the connected vehicle, Alimentaria has two specific areas to discuss the challenges of digitalization of the sector and even artificial intelligence will be a major protagonist in the next Bridal, dedicated to bridal fashion.
According to data from the organization, the MWC has had, from 2006 to the past, an economic impact of 5.8 billion euros between the creation of temporary jobs and impact on sectors such as hotels and restaurants. And the last ISE, 385 million. “The economic impact is relevant, but we give more and more importance to the long-term legacy that these shows leave in the form of investments, business headquarters, attraction of talent, knowledge and business opportunities,” says Constantí Serrallonga. The Barcelona brand is positioned internationally thanks to these fairs, facilitating the arrival of investments. For example, eight international companies in the audiovisual field have established themselves in Barcelona since the arrival of the ISE.
