Mobile World Congress 2014 in Barcelona

Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2014 in Barcelona: Developing and being seen

In late February, it was that time again: The MWC, the leading trade fair for the mobile sector, opened its doors, attracting over 85,000 visitors from more than 160 countries. And we were right at the heart of the action. The main reason was to talk to companies that could be interested in setting up a presence in Bavaria. On the way to meeting these companies, we also found a little time to take a look around the trade fair ourselves.

The real highlights were the keynote speeches from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and WhatsApp founder Jan Koum - especially with the recent takeover of the WhatsApp for a record price of USD 19 billion. According to media reports, there has been a lack of major innovations this year. Instead, the focus was on the presentation of new gadgets, such as the much-advertised showcasing of the Samsung S5.

At the heart of the action: Bavarian companies at the MWC

Bavarian companies were also among those presenting their new product developments. Metaio, a Munich-based world leader in the augmented reality segment, showed off its latest technologies for smart glasses and corporate solutions. Roughly speaking, the way these work is that a worker wearing the smart glasses would see a 3D depiction of the repair process to be conducted on a device, such as a ventilator.

Plug & play: Bayern International's trade fair participation programme

Since 2013, there has also been a Bavarian booth at the MWC, organised by Bayern International. After six Bavarian companies took part in the first year, the number of exhibitors doubled in 2014 – and similar growth is expected for 2015.

Is your company based in Bavaria? Would you like to be represented at the Bavarian booth in Barcelona next year? You can pre-register here.

Participation is subsidized by the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs and organised by the team from Bayern International. The professional support of the booth gives you the chance to concentrate on your core business/your corporate goals: tapping into new markets and gaining new cooperation partners and customers.

Small and medium-sized companies based in Bavaria can benefit from the trade fair participation programme – at around 50 trade fairs in almost 30 countries every year.

Playtox, a Russian gaming company that Invest in Bavaria recently supported in setting up a branch in Bavaria, also exhibited at the show. It was this site in Bavaria that gave the company the opportunity to exhibit at the Bavarian booth.

"Even after opening our office in Germany Invest in Bavaria provided us with very useful information for example by drawing our attention to the trade fair participation programme. The fact that the stand was run so smoothly allowed us to concentrate fully on the trade fair. We are looking forward to being part of it again next year", stated the Chief Marketing & Sales Officer Bogdan Grishin. Playtox, is one of the leading mobile game developer of free-to-play browser games. The company chose Bavaria as location as it offers international business flair yet keeping the tradition, staying family friendly and offering a vast choice for sports and fun.

Bill Gates once called Bavaria the "high-tech Mecca" of Europe. The MWC was certainly proof that Bavaria really is at the heart of the action in the mobile and digital economy sectors: almost a third of the over 100 German exhibitors at the trade fair came from the Free State.