Inside Mobile World Congress 2024 – AI, quantum tech, aviation innovation and Catalan startups
The world's biggest mobile technology fair is taking place in Barcelona once again, but Mobile World Congress goes way beyond phones. MWC 2024 showcases all kinds of emerging technology from tech giants such as Samsung, Google, Huawei and Microsoft, with artificial intelligence the buzzword on everyone's lips. Lorcan Doherty chats AI with Mobileum founder Avnish Chauhan, Dell's beer guy (and business development manager) Warren Jackson, and IMA CEO Eyal Reshef. Lea Beliaeva Bander talks to two Catalan companies at 4YFN (Four Years from Now), the startup space at MWC: Francesco Pititto, CEO of Envjoy Nature, and Dhespina Mena from WindowSight. Oriol Escudé Macià checks out one of this year's top attractions, Alef Aeronautics' flying car prototype, as well as other aviation innovations – SK Telecom's urban air mobility (UAM) aircraft, an AI-assisted drone used by Catalonia's Mossos d'Esquadra police, and Aalto's High Altitude Platform Station (HAPS). Cillian Shields heads to a session called 'Quantum Industry: A Bird's-Eye View' to discover more about this cutting-edge technology and how it is evolving in 2024. This week's Catalan phrase is 'A camí llarg, passa curta', which means 'On a long path, short steps'.