Mobile World Congress always puts on a good show, offering the latest devices, gadgets and tech from the biggest names in tech.
But it’s not all just smartphones and drones – as well as consumers, tech experts also decencd on the annual show to speak and debate trends and emerging technologies.
With this year’s show running from 27 February to 2 March, CBR runs down the must-attend keynotes and sessions at Mobile World Congress 2017.
Mobile World Congress Day 1
Mobile. The Next Element
Monday, 27 Feb 2017 09:00 – 10:30
VIP Speaker: José María Álvarez-Pallete López, Telefonica Chairman & CEO
The opening keynote of the 2017 Mobile World Congress will see a host of leading CEOs from some of the biggest operators take to the stage to talk short and long term challenges and opportunities facing the mobile industry. In addition to the Telefonica CEO, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son and GSMA Director General Mats Granryd will share insights on key topics such as video consumption and the move to 4k and virtual reality, big data and artificial intelligence, industrial and consumer IoT, the road to 5G and the wider impact of mobility on society.
Connected Vehicles
Monday, 27 Feb 2017 15:00 – 16:00
VIP Speaker: Eugene Kaspersky, Chairman and CEO at Kaspersky Lab
Moderated by GSMA CMO Michael O’Hara, this keynote will look at the shift from manually driven cars to autonomous, looking at the huge challenges posed by technological, regulatory and societal obstacles. The keynote will look at what lies at the heart of the autonomous vehicle – the mobile network – and how key requirements like low latency, always-on, fail-proof and security will be delivered.
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Mobile World Congress Day 2
Building the 5G Economy
Tuesday, 28 Feb 2017 11:00 – 12:00
VIP Speaker: Stéphane Richard, Chairman and CEO at Orange Group
As well as the Orange Group CEO, this keynote also sees FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Liberty Global President & CEO Mike Fries take to the stage to talk 5G. With 5G technology fast approaching, the mobile industry and policy markets are increasingly focused on the potential for new services and applications that can transform the way people live, work, play and communicate. This session will explore these principles and more as we look to shape policy frameworks for a future 5G economy.
The Future of Messaging: Engagement, eCommerce and Bots
Tuesday, 28 Feb 2017 12:15 – 13:15
VIP Speaker: Harper Reed, Entrepreneur in residence, Next Generation Commerce
Experts from Google, Adobe and Sprint will look at the growth and evolution of messaging – a huge market with over 4 billion monthly active users on messaging apps. The crowded market, which includes the likes of Telegram, Whatsapp, Messenger, Line, Kik, and Google, is in the midst of a messaging platform war with the main players rushing to add bots, browsers and payments to their apps. This session will look at the evolution, challenges and opportunities of this growing market.
Cars as a Service
Tuesday, 28 Feb 2017 14:00 – 15:00
VIP Speaker: Klaus Entenmann, Daimler Financial Services AG CEO
With Uber, Hertz, BMW and Nokia execs also hitting the stage, this session will look tat how the implementation of technology is allowing users to customise their shared car experience through music, car layout and even where they are located. The surge in self driving technology and the connected user will allow cars to provide a service entirely customised to the person riding it, their mood, time of day or even their destination. This keynote will look to argue that future connected vehicles will not only be driverless, but ownerless, especially in crowded urban areas, where cars remain unused 95% of the time and rapidly depreciating.
Mobile World Congress Day 3
The Fourth Industrial Revolution
Wednesday, 01 Mar 2017 09:00 – 10:30
VIP Speaker: Rajeev Suri, Nokia President & CEO
Among the execs joining Nokia CEO Rajeev Suri is Bob Moritz, PwC Global Chairman, who along with others will discuss the diverse ecosystem from enablers to users of the technology required to drive The Fourth Industrial Revolution. The keynote will highlight how the transformation set to be delivered from the Fourth Industrial Revolution will be unprecedented, with a particular focus on how mobile has kickstarted the revolution by connecting nearly 5 billion people with unprecedented processing power, storage capacity, and access to knowledge. However, more is to come, with the addition of usable big data, artificial intelligence, robotics, the Internet of Things, autonomous vehicles, and quantum computing set to enable a more intelligent and efficient world.
Connecting The Main Event
Wednesday, 01 Mar 2017 12:30 – 13:30
VIP Speaker: Patrick Gelsinger, VMware CEO
Mobile technology plays a pivotal role in the modern event experience, from broadcast news, to sports fan engagement, crowd management, ticketing and security. This keynote will feature the highest profile sporting event in the world: the Olympics. The Olympic technology provider will showcase opportunities for Tokyo 2020 and how 5G will drive a new generation of event engagement and management strategies.
Conversational Commerce
Wednesday, 01 Mar 2017 16:00 – 17:00
VIP Speaker: Jeff Lawson, Founder, CEO & Chairman at Twilio
This session will serve to highlight how messaging apps are becoming key commerce platforms for brands and services to engage and deliver to their consumers. Top execs like KIK CEO Ted Livingstone will look at how applications and brands are integrating conversational commerce features into their digital real estate, to provide a better, more personalised and real time customer engagement experience.
