Barcelona rewards Catalonia's innovative schools at MWC 2016

The Mobile World Capital Barcelona Foundation, in collaboration with GSMA, the Regional Government of Catalonia and the City Hall of Barcelona, announced at the GSMA Mobile World Congress the winners of the fourth edition of the Mobile Learning Awards (MLA), organised through the mSchools programme.

These awards recognise the most innovative projects at Catalonian schools using mobile technology in education.

With more than 100 entries this year for the 2016 MLA, the school Els Cossetans (Cunit, Baix Penedès) was the winner in the "Best learning experiences with mobile technology in the classroom" category, for its "Digital library and school radio." This category examined experiences presented through the mSchools Toolbox platform, a directory of applications selected after being used and evaluated by Catalonian teachers and education professionals.

Meanwhile, in the category of "Most Innovative School in mEducation," MSchools honoured the best initiatives undertaken at public or private schools in Catalonia. The winner was the Institut Vallverdú (Les Borges Blanques), for its "360º immersion learning" project.

Coinciding with the MLA, mSchools organised the second edition of Changing Education Together, a seminar to reflect on the role of mobile technology in education and to share best practices. The programming included a talk by Francesc Pedró, section chief for consulting on sector policies and ICTs in education at the UNESCO, which has explored in depth how to advance the digital transformation of classrooms, beyond just infrastructure, examining how digital solutions should be integrated.

The event was also attended by Neus Munté, Regional Government of Catalonia Minister of the Presidency; Meritxell Ruiz, Regional Government of Catalonia Minister of Education; and John Hoffman, CEO of GSMA Ltd.

Digital Innovation

The third edition of 4YFN, promoted by MWCapital and GSMA, drew more than 12,500 attendees, 50% more than the previous year. From 22 to 24 February entrepreneurs, startups, investors, accelerators, innovation directors and renowned speakers converged at the Fira de Barcelona-Montjuïc convention facilities. Today, the last day of the Congress, 4YFN's participants attended the closing day of the MWCongress.

4YFN boasted 500 startups, corporations and accelerators at its Innovation Market, the event's exhibition area. Over the course of three days a total of 5,200 meetings were put together between investors and entrepreneurs (Founders & Investors sessions), and 160 hours of talks were given by more than 230 speakers.

Health, technology and monitoring patients

More than 400 experts from 20 countries in the Mobile Health sector came together to discuss the challenges involved in implementing mHealth at the "Health & Wellness" sessions, which attracted professionals from the healthcare divisions of IBM, Roche, Dell, Telefónica, Nokia and Samsung, and institutional representatives, including Estonia's Secretary General of Digital Services, under the country's Ministry of Social Affairs.

mHealth also sponsored the seminar "Motivating behavioural change through mobile technologies" to promote changes in the public's habits and healthy lifestyles.

Universal mobile authentication

MWCB presented the results of the pilot programme for the Mobile Connect service, supported by the Regional Government of Catalonia, GSMA, Vodafone, Telefónica and Orange. This initiative, subject to Europe's eIDAS regulation governing mobile identity authentication and trustworthy services for electronic transactions, featured cooperation by the governments of Finland and Catalonia.

Mobile Connect is a secure, interoperable and standard citizen authentication service providing access to all kinds of digital services, both public and private. In this way it allows for the gradual phasing out of different usernames and passwords and adds an additional layer of security to data and processes carried out online. MWCB, the Regional Government of Catalonia and GSMA demonstrated their commitment to continuing to implement Mobile Connect at Catalonian government entities next year.

Public impact

The fourth edition of Mobile Ready, an initiative designed to provide Barcelona citizens and visitorswith "smart experiences," presented ground-breaking digital initiatives involving how mobile technologies can improve shopping experiences and driving in a smart city.

In order to experiment with new digital trends affecting the daily tasks of Barcelona's citizens of tomorrow, Mobile Ready was present at city supermarkets (Veritas), stores (Benito Sports and Casa Viva) and car parks (SABA - SEAT) with mobilesolutions in the fields of commerce and connected cars.

For yet another year the Mobile World Centre also hosted an exhibition of devices presented at the MWCongress in order to share with citizens the latest devices and solutions presented at the Congress. 14 manufacturers (Samsung, Huawei, Microsoft, HTC, etc.) will be displaying their devices until March 5.

Mobile World Capital Barcelona

Mobile World Capital Barcelona is an initiative driving the mobile and digital transformation of society while helping improve people’s lives globally.

With support of the public and private sector throughout Barcelona, Catalonia and Spain, MWCapital focuses on three areas: the digital empowerment of new generations, professionals and citizens; the digital transformation of industries; and the acceleration of digitalinnovation through entrepreneurship.

Collectively, our mSchools, mHealth, mLiving, mVenturesBcn programmes are positively transforming the health and education system, the industry, and the economy.

MWCapital hosts the Mobile World Congress and delivers 4 Years From Now [4YFN], a business platform for the startup community.