As part of the Mobile World Congress, the Mobile World Capital Barcelona Foundation promoted the first edition of the Talent Arena on March 3, 4 and 5 at the Fira de Barcelona (Montjuïc). The event was created with the aim of playing a key role in promoting the next generation of European technological talent and included presentations, talks, conferences and success stories, workshops and seminars, hackathons, exhibitions and technological tastings. The Mobile World Capital Barcelona Foundation worked with the aim of positioning the Talent Arena as the main European event dedicated to digital talent, since, for the first time, professionals from the digital sector, technology companies and educational institutions came together to create a hub for learning, networking and professional growth. More than 20,000 people and more than 1,500 companies, entities, institutions and organizations took part in the first edition of the Talent Arena.
"Our university encouraged us to come and discover the world that awaits us. I found the Talent Arena very interesting to see where the world is going and what our work will be like," said Gisela Ruiz, a systems engineering student at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. "I liked the presentations. Most of them are from people who have succeeded in the technological and digital sector. I'm interested in hearing from people who are where I want to be in the future. I also like the style of the event, the lighting and the aesthetics," added Ignacio Silva, an entrepreneur. "The hackathon allowed me to apply the knowledge I learned throughout my degree. For two days, we developed a code to solve a problem present in our society. In our case, it was linked to messaging and we developed an application that allows much more effective control of this process. "I think the Talent Arena is a very good activity to promote networking between people who have the same interests and motivate young people to follow this path of science and technology," commented Alba Quiñones, a physics student at the University of Barcelona.