Looking forward to Mobile World Congress Americas 2017

It is now just over a week until we welcome you to the inaugural Mobile World Congress Americas in San Francisco – it’s set to be the most comprehensive mobile technology event ever in the Americas region has ever seen. I know we’re excited about it and I hope you’re looking forward to it too!

The theme of Mobile World Congress Americas 2017 is “The Tech Element”, highlighting the impact of innovative mobile technology on the lives of billions of people around the world. But this event will also underscore how mobile is converging with the worlds of media, content and entertainment, as well as transforming entire industry sectors, such as automotive, healthcare, utilities and many others. You’ll see this reflected across the show, from the conference to the exhibition to partner events and beyond.

The conference will span a range of subjects, such as consumer IoT, content and media, the Fourth Industrial Revolution, next-generation networks, policy and sustainable development. Attendees will have three days of conference programming to choose from, with sessions such as “Digital Enterprise”, “Video and Entertainment in a 5G World”, “The Future of Artificial Intelligence”, “Autonomous Cars and Vehicles as a Service”, “Smart Cities”, “The Retail Experience”, “The Connected Stadium: Enhancing the Fan Experience”, and many more. And with keynote speakers including Ajit Pai, Chairman of the FCC, Carlos Slim Domit, CEO and Chairman of América Móvil, Dan Schulman, President and CEO of PayPal, Al Guido, President of the San Francisco 49ers, Niccolo De Masi, President and COO of Essential and Rajeev Suri, President and CEO, Nokia, you’ll be sure to hear a wide variety of perspectives on the future of the mobile industry.

Beyond the conference, there are so many other activities taking place, it’ll be an extremely busy few days for everyone. The GSMA will be bringing the Women4Tech programme to Mobile World Congress Americas, focused on strengthening the overall mobile ecosystem through gender equality while the ever-popular 4YFN programme will provide the ideal platform for the start-up community. And of course there’s GSMA Summits and partner events running across all three days of Mobile World Congress Americas.

The Mobile World Congress Americas exhibition will feature the latest technologies, products and services from about 1,000 companies across the ecosystem. A highlight is sure to be the GSMA Innovation City – a purpose-built city in the middle of the event designed to showcase experience how mobile-connected products and services are improving the daily lives of citizens and businesses around the world, in diverse areas such as home, automotive, health, utilities, industrial and more. You won’t want to miss it!

Although it’s being held in San Francisco, Mobile World Congress Americas is truly an “Americas” event. Latin America will be well represented – we’re excited to have Carlos Slim Domit of América Móvil keynoting, and we’ll be hosting the LATAM Investment Summit on Tuesday 12th September, taking a deep dive into start-ups, innovation and investment opportunities in the Latin America mobile ecosystem. The show floor includes exhibitors from throughout Latin America, including pavilions featuring companies from Brazil and Colombia.

And don’t forget – for the runners amongst you (and even those that aren’t runners) there’s the 5km run on the morning of Wednesday 13th September. We’ve scheduled this to take place well before the opening of the show, so you’ll have time to take part, get ready and be onsite for the first keynote of Day 2! You can find out more about this here, so take a look and sign up!

You can always take part in the conversation around the event on social media – the hashtag for the event is #MWCA17 and the GSMA will be providing the latest news and updates on our social media channels.

It’s going to be a great show and the GSMA is very much looking forward to welcoming you to the event! For more information, visit the Mobile World Congress Americas website here and look forward to seeing you next week!