Talent Arena consolidates its position as Europe’s…

Over three days, Talent Arena brought together more than 200 speakers and hosted over 160 activities, 45 workshops, and 5 hackathons
More than 9.000 highly qualified digital professionals attended the new XPRO Zone, which debuted with an exclusive programme featuring 72 conferences, 15 workshops and 500 meet-ups and networking spaces.
Talent Arena 2027 will take place from 1 to 3 March and will further consolidate its XPRO proposition.

Barcelona, 4 March 2026. – Talent Arena 2026, the event promoted by Mobile World Capital Barcelona and co-located with MWC Barcelona and 4YFN, closed its second edition with 25.000 visitors, a 25% more than last year, of whom 9.000 also attended the XPRO Zone, a cross-cutting space specifically designed for highly qualified professional profiles, offering advanced content, technical workshops and exclusive networking sessions.

With these figures, Talent Arena consolidates its position as Europe’s leading meeting point for digital talent and reinforces Barcelona’s role as an international capital of digital talent.

From 2 to 4 March, Talent Arena became the space where global technology leaders, professionals, developers, students, companies and tech communities connected, learned and explored new opportunities within the European digital ecosystem. The event brought together more than 25.000 visitors from 141countries, with a 27% of international public. Overall, 55% of attendees were senior profiles, and more than 2.400 companies participated in this second edition.

From more than 200 international speakers to 45 exclusive workshops, Talent Arena addressed a clear need: placing digital talent at the centre of the technology conversation. This was reflected in the strong interest generated by this year’s hackathons and competitions, which attracted more than 4,000 registrations from 96 different countries.

Over the three days, Talent Arena delivered a top-tier programme addressing key trends shaping the accelerated digital transformation. Topics such as artificial intelligence, technology ethics, robotics, cybersecurity, quantum computing, NewSpace, semiconductors and technological sovereignty took centre stage in discussions led by companies and experts shaping the present and future of the sector. This year’s edition also placed particular emphasis on a critical issue in today’s context: digital talent management.

Francesc Fajula, CEO of Mobile World Capital Barcelona, stated that “This second edition of Talent Arena consolidates our commitment to digital talent as a driver of competitiveness and reinforces Barcelona’s positioning as an international capital of technological talent.” He added: “The second edition faced the challenge of expanding its content offering for highly qualified professionals, the success of initiatives such as the XPRO zone demonstrates the event’s growth and its ability to respond to the global digital talent challenge.”

XPRO: from inspiration to specialisation

The main innovation of this edition was the XPRO Zone, featuring content aimed at a highly qualified audience. The exclusive programme included more than 72 conferences focused on real-world cases and 15 technically demanding workshops delivered by leading organisations such as NVIDIA, Huawei, the Linux Foundation, Qualcomm, Dynatrace, the Rust Foundation, Bitrise and Edge Impulse, among others.

In addition, exclusive meetups and dedicated networking areas established XPRO as a key meeting point for professionals seeking to deepen their technical expertise and strengthen industry connections.

Another highlight of this edition was the GSMA Open Gateway Devcon, featuring talks, demonstrations, case studies and experiences led by international experts driving the creation and deployment of network API-based services. Companies including Meta, Nokia, Google and Centillion took part.

Hackathons: talent in action

The five hackathons held during the event focused on real-world challenges related to artificial intelligence, APIs, cybersecurity and new digital development models. Over three days, hundreds of developers worked in multidisciplinary teams to build innovative solutions to specific technological challenges.

In total, the hackathons brought together 400 on-site participants, four times more than last year, establishing this format as one of the main drivers of talent development and applied solutions within the congress.

Jordi Arrufí, director of the digital talent programme of MWCapital, highlighted that “Talent Arena demonstrates that digital talent needs spaces not only for inspiration, but also for experimentation, creation and connection with real industry challenges. Here, technology is not only discussed – it is practised and developed. Barcelona thus reinforces its capacity to attract, train and project digital talent globally at a crucial moment for European competitiveness.”

A programme led by the figures shaping the future

Once again, the keynote programme was one of the edition’s main attractions. International figures taking to the stage included Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web; Kate Darling, researcher at the Boston Dynamics AI Institute; Steve Aoki, DJ, producer and entrepreneur; Tim Serewicz, Vice President of Education at The Linux Foundation; Tammy Okwara, Cloud Solutions Architect at Microsoft; and María Jesús Puerta, winner of NASA’s Lunar Recycle Challenge.

The XPRO Zone also featured leading profiles such as Bianca Cefalo, CEO of Space DOTS; Pablo Jarillo-Herrero, MIT professor and pioneer in graphene research; Abdel Sghiouar, Senior Cloud Developer Advocate at Google; Matteo Bianchi, Solutions Engineer at GitHub; and Konrad Young, former Director at TSMC.

The programme featured 40% female industry leaders, reinforcing the event’s commitment to increasing the visibility of women in senior technology roles.

The proposal was complemented by a dedicated gaming and robotics area, two fields gaining increasing prominence within the digital ecosystem. This space combined immersive experiences with more than 30 specialised content sessions focused on the latest trends in video game development, applied artificial intelligence, automation and new interactive interfaces.

Talent Arena 2027

Talent Arena 2027 will take place from 1 to 3 March, once again alongside MWC Barcelona and 4YFN, with the aim of further strengthening Barcelona’s position as a capital of digital talent and an international meeting point for developers, companies and tech communities.

Talent Arena is supported by CaixaBank as Main Partner and Schneider Electric and SEIDOR as Event Sponsors, playing a key role in strengthening the link between the business ecosystem and education, fostering the generation of new technological talent.

About Talent Arena

Talent Arena is Europe’s leading event dedicated to digital talent, organised by Mobile World Capital Barcelona and co-located with MWC26 Barcelona and 4YFN. Digital professionals, world-leading technology companies and educational institutions come together to create a hub for learning, networking and professional growth. Co-organised with GSMA and in collaboration with the Ministry for Digital Transformation and Public Administration, the Government of Catalonia and Barcelona City Council, and supported by CaixaBank as Main Partner and Schneider Electric and SEIDOR as Event Sponsors, Talent Arena plays a key role in fostering Europe’s next generation of technological talent.

About Mobile World Capital Barcelona

Mobile World Capital Barcelona is a public-private foundation that promotes the digital development of society to build a more inclusive, equitable and sustainable future through the humanistic use of technology. MWCapital helps position Barcelona as a global digital reference and strengthens the MWC legacy throughout the year by driving initiatives in technology transfer, digital talent promotion and innovative technological projects with social impact. MWCapital hosts MWC in Barcelona, founded 4YFN, and connects the international developer community through Talent Arena.

For more information:

Mobile World Capital
Víctor Solvas·vsolvas@mobileworldcapital.com ·+34 663 201 406
Emily Henley·ehenley@mobileworldcapital.com ·+34 673 004 102