Mobile World Congress surpasses €500m in economic impact in Barcelona for first time

The 2024 edition of the world’s largest mobile technology fair, the Mobile World Congress, had an economic impact of €502 million in Barcelona, surpassing the half billion mark for the first time, according to a report by the GSMA association, promoters of the event, published on Friday.

Organizers state that the trade show created 9,200 temporary jobs during the days of the fair, which took place from February 26 to 29.

GSMA CEO John Hoffman said they are "proud of these results and thankful that we have this public-private partnership working so well to the benefit, not only of our ecosystem but the local, regional, and Spanish economy," during an event in the city council on Friday.

€6.3 billion since 2006

The same report states that the economic contribution from the MWC has been €6.3 billion since 2006, after the increase from last year's €461 million to €502 million.

There have also been 100 more temporary jobs created compared to the previous edition.

According to organizers, the fair welcomed over 101,000 attendees, 51% of whom held a managerial position, and 205 nationalities were represented.

Overall, there were 2,700 exhibitors, sponsors, and partners.

"We exceeded our expectations. It was a very good event," Hoffman said.

"Many people were not sure during the pandemic whether these large mass gatherings would come back after, and we have proven that if you get the right people with the right interests together, they will come back," he added.

The MWC is a "mix of unique expositions, talks, and policy makings, as many meetings take place to discuss the future of the sector," Hoffman said during the press conference.

In fact, he highlighted that the event is "not only focused on mobile technology" but on "the digital transformation," which has "an impact on everyone across the globe, from small to large, and from north to south and east to west, and for those developed or under development countries," he concluded.

Filling the Sink podcast

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.

Press play to listen our special episode on MWC24 or subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or Spotify.

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.