SOFTECH’s Experience at MWC Barcelona 2023

Last week, between the 27^th of February and 2^nd of March, our SOFTECH delegation attended the leading technology event MWC Barcelona 2023 as an exhibitor at the national pavilion of Romania organized by ARIES Timișoara and supported by the Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Tourism, in Hall6, stand 5A19! Softech’s experience at MWC Barcelona 2023 may be resumed in three words: inspiring, connected and swift.

Finding Inspiration at MWC Barcelona 2023

Our SOFTECH delegation was glad to witness the major come back of MWC Barcelona community – exhibitors, attendees, speakers and high-level government representatives. After the pandemic experience, we could really feel the joy of reconnecting and showcasing technology break-through, advances and new use-cases.

Under the lead theme of the edition – “Velocity” – we have discovered interesting perspectives upon the 5G network, the AI momentum, and the novelties in IoT networks, the fair share debate and specific public policies, as well as cross-sectorial collaborations, such as the GSMA’s Open Gateway initiative.

The traditional launches of new mobile devices from major brands such as Samsung, Honor, Xiaomi, of ever more accurate mobile accessories (cameras, sensors, AR/VR glasses, etc) were a total hit. A little bit less spectacular than before 2020, there were enough tech entertainment exhibits to catch the eyes of the curious visitors, including students and various non-tech industries representatives. The practical demos of new age surgery, next gen smart cities, innovative materials, hypermobility concepts, new space exploration approaches and environmental friendly vehicles were also impressive. We also found an excellent demo of the smart home concept, an indicator that the IoT development has progressed up to the point where many SF inspired residential concepts are actually feasible.

The 4YFN stages and exhibitors brought once again that authentic spirit of innovative start-ups. Hundreds of companies from all across the world displayed their tech products, solutions and apps.

The GloMo Awards, which stand for the Oscars of the mobile industry, were also a major event of the MWC Barcelona. Personally, we were thrilled to see Martin Cooper – the American engineer who led the team that in 1972–73 built the first mobile cell phone and made the first cell phone call, also known as the father of the cellular phone – receive the GloMo Lifetime Achievement Award!

Making Connections during MWC Barcelona 2023

Hitting a peak of more than 88,500 attendees from 202 countries and territories, MWC Barcelona 2023, the world is largest and most influential connectivity event organised by the GSMA was the best opportunity to reconnect with the international tech community and to meet new potential partners and collaborators!

This year, SOFTECH software development team from Cluj-Napoca, Romania was glad to discover that the Romania IT Pavilion was in the same hall as the Netherlands National Pavilion, The French Tech Pavilion, the Washington State Department of Commerce Pavilion, the Confederation of Danish Industry and the Switzerland Global Enterprise Pavilion.

We were also happy to meet and connect with the representatives of the Canadian Pavilion, the Great Britain and Norther Ireland Pavilion, the Spanish and Catalonian Pavilions and the Brazilian Pavilion.

As each year, we have also joined the Hungarian and the Romanian delegates for the organised networking dinners, where we use to exchange opinions about the last year, year ahead and major tech and economic events in each of the two neighbouring countries.

Our stand welcomed visitors interested in industrial software development, in IoT and cloud development, in AI app development and mobile applications development. Hopefully some of these networking occasions will turn into effective collaborations in the upcoming future.

We had also the chance to be represented at the Women in Tech Event, organised by the Embassy of Canada in Spain, led by Ambassador Wendy Drukier at the impressive building of Fomento de Trabajo Nacional in Barcelona.

Flowing Swiftly Into Innovative Technologies

At MWC Barcelona, everything happens at a fantastic speed! For those who arrive for the first time at this event, it often proves to be overwhelming: a huge surface to walk through, an impressive number of exhibitors, each with its own solutions and products, entertaining gadgets at each corner, crowded networking gardens and food corners, a continuous flow of information and non-stop conferences, pitches and presentations.

During the 4 days of the MWC Barcelona 2023 we had to methodically look for the technologies on display and try to summarize what is relevant for our software development team and customers, in order to question and further put to analysis.

The good thing about the exposure to this wealth of solutions and approaches is that you get to have a fast-paced guided walk-through and you can actually have a discussion with engineers and developers who are actually working on those projects.

Further Steps after MWC Barcelona 2023

For the companies that were part of the Romania IT Pavilion at MWC Barcelona 2023, there is definitely a busy week ahead, back at home! At SOFTECH from Cluj-Napoca, Transylvania we use to follow-up on the meetings, visits and leads that we had and plan potential meetings with business representatives that are curious about our city and region.

Another important step is to look back at the most interesting tech products and solutions that we have seen at the international event and learn more about them.

Last, but not least we use to share our own experience with our colleagues and mentees, in order to generate more ideas and debates around specific tech topics.

As a closing note, we invite anyone who is willing to develop a software application and is open to learn more about our company, about our offices in Transylvania and about Romania, to contact us directly via contact@softech.ro and see if and how we can collaborate.