Cluj software was represented at MWC24 by Codespring │ Softech team, member of Transilvania IT, ARIES Romania, ANIS Romania and part of the North-Western Development Agency’s innovation ecosystem. We have been among the lucky ones to get in contact with the latest AI based services and technologies showcased at MWC Barcelona between 24 to 29 February 2024. It was a week full of connections, inspiration and future first projects. Our Cluj software development team managed to showcase the opportunities of collaborating with Romanian, namely Transylvanian specialists and to bring light upon the current IT business conditions in the region.

MWC Barcelona 2024 In A Wrap

In the eyes of the Cluj software community, MWC Barcelona has undoubtedly gained recognition as the world’s largest and most influential connectivity event, thanks to its unique combination of exhibition, conference and the largest gathering of decision-makers who enable the digital economy.

• Over 101000 attendees form 205 countries were reported to have joined, in-person, MWC Barcelona 2024 events and exhibition grounds.
• A total of 2700 exhibitors, sponsors and partners have put the effort to bring to the public their best technologies, solutions, apps and services in order to infuse in the economic arena the upcoming innovations and to build readiness for the next stage of computing, connectivity, communications and mobility.
• The mavericks arena, 4YFN, proudly celebrated its 10th anniversary and welcomed 930 fantastic exhibitors, 450 speakers and over 1,000 investors with collective funds totaling €50 billion!
• Another interesting fact was that, reportedly, around 59% of those who attended represented industries related to the core mobile ecosystem. This captures the shift towards an ever increasing mobile-first approach among industries.
• The 2024 edition gracefully welcomed women attendees, that cumulated a total of 29% of the total attendees.
• From a public policy perspective, we congratulate the organizers for having delivered an impressive GSMA Ministerial Programme with over 180 delegations from 140 countries, including 2 heads of state, 70 ministers, around 120 heads of regulatory authorities and over 40 intergovernmental organizations.

The Forefront of Innovation Marked at MWC Barcelona

The major aspect of MWC Barcelona 2024 and the most relevant for Cluj software development teams, like ours, is to validate those solutions and innovations that are ready to be put at work across our global projects. Even if the density of projects, devices, solutions, technologies and ideas is quite high, the Global Mobile Awards pin the most prominent  ones of the mobile ecosystem and adjacent industries.

We would like to point out Athinet’s  first Quantum-Secure 5G, Huawei’s ‘0 Bit 0 Watt’ solution and its RAN Digital Twin System that Enables RAN Intelligence, Cirrus360’s RAN Domain Specific Language Driven Intelligent Automation: Gabriel™ and Qualcomm AI Engine.

The breakthrough device Innovation distinction was awarded to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 while the best in show title went to Honor – Porsche Design Magic V2.

The notable mobile innovation supporting emergency or humanitarian situations was  the Network Resilience Project of Kyivstar.

The most notable mobile Innovation for climate action was pinned to be Fairphone 5.

We also were impressed by the outstanding mobile contribution to the UN Sustainable Development Goals made by Huawei & BJFF within the Intelligent AI-based Fish Filtering System to prevent the Extinction of Atlantic Salmon and by the innovation for enhancing the lives of children and young people: Zoë-Life Innovative Solutions for KidzAlive Talk Tool App.

Each year, outstanding achievements in the mobile industry are publicly honored and congratulated. In 2024, the outstanding contribution to the mobile industry and Chairman’s Award was awarded to Rima Quereshi, CSO of Verizon, Tim Höttges, CEO of Deutsche Telekom and Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya, Group Executive Director and CEO of Telecommunications Business, Axiata

Special congratulations for the Romanian and Cluj Software & IT community goes to Madalina Suceveanu, Managing Director, Mobile & Cloud Technology, Liberty Global who was awarded the 2024 Diversity in Tech Award.

The Scene Stealers at MWC Barcelona 2024

As always, for the simple visitors there are so many amazing things going at such an enormous exhibition that it is rather difficult to navigate through the entire collection of devices, equipment, solutions and concepts. That is why, each year, there are some show stage stealers – the places where people are flocking to and love to interact.

Some of these scene stealers were the following:

• Ameca the Humanoid Robot with GPT-4 Intelligence developed by UK Engineering Arts wowed the audience with its natural speaking and dancing skills.
• Alef flying car prototype showcased their vision of the vehicle of the future and aim to start production by the end of 2025 – just as long as air traffic regulations are adapted to allow them in the air.
• Humane AI Pin, an AI powered assistant capable to help you in various real situations. Looking like a Star Trek inspired wearable piece of tech, it went really well when we tried it. Over more, it is rather affordable and already on the US market!
• Lenovo’s Project Crystal with its transparent micro LED display and keyboard was a total show-stopper. The see-through technology simply amazed the visitors.
• Samsung Galaxy Ring is THE wearable tracking device capable of working within the Samsung ecosystem and most probably will work fantastically witn the Samsung Galaxy watch.
• Xiaomi 14 Ultra with an incredible lens system from Leica is a bliss for any content creator, blogger, vlogger and photo lovers.
• Ulefone Armor 26 Ultra was called a tank smartphone! All geared up for the outdoors, it has a gigantic battery, it can be used as a walkie-talkie and has a a 200MP camera from Samsung,

This list could continue, but we have to resume it here, for we have discovered so many more mazing piece of tech at MWC Barcelona 2024!

Cluj software, represented at MWC24 by Codespring team, also tried to check what actual applications and future software solutions could be developed together with some of these innovative companies and solutions that raise so much interest. As in previous cases, this remains to be discussed and analyzed over the year.

Cluj Software Represented at MWC24 by Codespring Team

Truth to be told, in such an immense exhibition and networking ground, our team sensed again the pressure of being a minuscule part of a gigantic world. Especially since we only benefited of the MWC networking platform’s capabilities to organize our daily schedule.

The beauty of diving into these large scale tech shows lies in the serendipity of meeting new potential partners and of discovering tech about which we have only read in the science papers.

Thanks to the presence of many country pavilions we have also got to grasp some more information about the IT ecosystems in specific countries such as Canada, Netherlands, Brazil, Greece, Turkey, Austria, Finland, Spain, China, Israel, Morocco, Japan and many others.

We proudly saluted the presence of the Northwest Regional Development Agency (ADR) at 4YFN via the Mind4Machines project and INNO-Rethinking The Business Network! The project team was formed of 20 international start-ups and NRDA was there to present the innovative ecosystem in Northwestern Romania.