Mobile World Congress, the world’s biggest can’t miss event about everything mobile, seems to move in more of an entrepreneurial direction each year. Over the last few years, an increasing number of startups have been joining the Congress with stands, side events, start-up competions, etc. This year Mobile World Capital Barcelona, orangizers of the Congress, will hold a concurrent conference to the Congress called ‘Four Years From Now’ (4YFN) which will be dedicated to mobile entrepreneurship.
The goal of the organizers is to create a ‘an environment adapated and suited to favor creation, communications, and interactions between startups, entrepreneurs and investors’. As such, the three-day event will showcase leaders of many of the top mobile startups, connect startups with VCs and other investors, offer pratical one-on-one advising sessions for startups in areas like marketing, communcations and IP, and, of course, host an international mobile startup competition.
The programme this year features several top leaders in the global mobile ecosystem, particularly the startup realm including CEO & Cofounder of Whats App Jan Koum, Vice President of Waze Di-Ann Eisnor, CEO & Cofounder of Doodle Myke Naef, and Nathan Blecharczyk Cofounder & CTO of Airbnb. Workshops will also be a big highlight with 30 lined-up tackling such subjects as big data, augmented reality, the internet of things and mobile marketing.
Finally, as startups will be at the heart of the conference, 10 finalists will have the opportunity to pitch in-front of the 1000 4YFN attendees. From a total 192 companies that applied representing 50 countries, 10 finalists have been selected. France is well represented in the top 10 with two French startups having been selected – Recommend, who were also a finalist at the Le Web startup competition in 2012, and Alima who enable you to manage your indoor airquality via your mobile.
One great aspect of 4YFN is that it makes Mobile World Congress more accessible for entrepreneurs. Anyone who’s attended the Congress in the pass knows that passes can be quite pricey, so 4YFN’s 299 eur ticket price is quite reasonable for startupers. And as an added bonus, buying a pass to 4YFN also gives attendees free access to Mobile World Congress on the 27th. If you’re interested in attending, you can get your tickets here.