MWC17 is over. More than 2,200 participating companies are heading back home. And the winner is…
This year’s theme has been “The next element”. You may start thinking about new smartphones, wearables, tables, some human-like robots…I don’t think any of the “elements” shown at MWC17 could be considered the “next” element. There were presented better smartphones (LG6 is my favorite), but nothing that breaks the rules. Perhaps an small start-up presenting a top line smartphone built of carbon-fibre, kevlar and titanium could be a thing. There were also some interesting electric cars claiming to be connected. Question raised could be: connected to what? Another interesting was the so called 4YFN program (4 Years From Now) which is a satellite area of the MWC showing innovations from over 600 new startups. The more the better. They represent the potential future. As the acronym was saying, we will see who is still there 4 years from now.
We tried to find the winner among the products awards granted by MWC17 in mobile innovation for health, education, automotive, payments, etc. The best handset price was granted to Sony Xperia XZ Premium (I personally prefer the LG 6, did I say it?). There were plenty of stands and a good walk to navigate through all of them. Gadgets here and there. Virtual reality 2.0 creating the typical situation of a bunch of people in an old 3D movie session but with VR glasses. I didn’t find the “next element” among them.
MWC is not a typical tech congress. Could not be. Just take a look to the figures. WMC17 got more than 108,000 attendees, from 208 countries, together with around 3,500 press members. The cheapest ticket was about 600 euros, but gold and platinum tickets were over two thousand euros and four thousand euros respectively. Some people say that one of the biggest reason for professionals to spent that much is that, if you consider WMC as a meeting point, it is cheaper than having to travel and visit your potential client, partner or investor. In a global sector like this one, you may have your headquarters in USA, funding investors in Europe and manufacturing facilities in China. Nevertheless, you expect something more from such a Congress than being one of the biggest tech meeting points in the world. You do expect for WMC to set the path. Mobile sector is expecting in the last years to know where to go. I guess in the last couple of years different paths were explored but none really settled.
This WMC17 was looking for the “next element”. Perhaps the answer is not the next product, but the next ecosystem. The answer could be the “Fourth Industrial Revolution”. As Professor Klaus Schwab says, “the First Industrial Revolution used steam power to mechanize productions. The Second used electric power to create mass production. The Third used electronics and information technology to automate production. Now a Fourth Industrial Revolution is building on the Third. It is characterized by a fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital, an biological spheres.” The concept in itself seems not to be new. Then, why calling it a Fourth Industrial Revolution? The answer is velocity, scope and systems impact. There is no historical precedent of such speed of current developments. The evolution is becoming exponential rather than linear. This is where MWC17 sets the path: the 5G.
5G is not only a couple of letters. The possibilities of billions of people connected by mobile devices, with unprecedented processing power, storage capacity, and access to knowledge, are unlimited. It is a revolution in itself. Think about the following. If you want to download (legally) a movie, the typical size could be 1 or 2 Gb. At 5G speed you can have it completely downloaded in your mobile smartphone in 1 or 2 seconds. This is just a mere example to picture the velocity. Think now about the other elements of this revolution. Think about artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), real connected vehicles, 3-D printing, etc.. Think about science linked to this, like nanotechnology, biotechnology, special materials, energy storage (new batteries from solid electrolytes, or grafeno), even quantum computing. 5G is the glue of most of the above. The spark that ignite and catalyze the rest of the ecosystem elements. This is the Next Element, and MWC17 has presented the path. The standard. The goal, toward which, the sector could develop and implement the different pieces of the puzzle.
Disruption will be everywhere and in every sector. We will see this at a pace never seen before. Impact of this tremendous evolution will be seen at all levels, including how society interacts not only among human beings but also with more and more evolved “intelligent” machines (robots). It will change the way we do things (hopefully for the better), and also the importance of our data and its protection (cyber-security). Somehow, we can say that MWC17 would be remembered as the initial and official starting point of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
MWC17 is over. Dust has settled down and people is heading to the airports back home. Hotels around Barcelona are counting piles of money thanks to the, almost “robbery style”, crazy room prices. Barcelona has received around 500 million euros or additional income thanks to MWC17. This year no strikes were suffered in public transportation (good, for a change).
Let’s see how fast the Fourth Industrial Revolution is implemented along 2017 and see each other again at MWC18 in Barcelona to comment it.
Francisco Canos
Article published in Spanish last March, 6th of 2017 in: 
