Mobile World Congress: One of the most notable events in the city of Barcelona
Welcome! We’re on the four week countdown to one of the most notable events in the city, the Mobile World Congress, and Barcelona stands ready to welcome the world.
MWC 2023 as it is known, bills itself as the ‘largest and most influential connectivity event in the world’, an event when tens of thousands of global tech leaders and senior industry experts meet under one roof and another reason why Barcelona can claim to be a leading European congress and conference destination.
At Antares, preparations are well underway to play our part in this annual event. Our shorefront location in Diagonal Mar places Antares at the heart of Barcelona’s burgeoning contemporary technological scene. Below, we outline the location in more detail, give more information on MWC 2023 and turn the spotlight on Romain Fornell, the Michelin-starred chef at Le Grand Café Rouge, Antares’ welcoming French brasserie.
Hotels and restaurants are in high demand during MWC 2023, so if you plan to be here then, now is the time to book ahead. We hope that will include a visit to Le Grand Café Rouge to experience Romain’s superb gastronomy. As the youngest chef to win a Michelin star in Europe, he has established himself as a notable Barcelona icon, a description which applies equally to our magnificent landmark building.
Best wishes
The Antares team
MWC 2023
27th February to 3rd March
The figures from last year’s MWC tell the tale of this extraordinary annual conference. Over 61,000 attendees came from 183 countries with €24 billion of funds represented through the Investors Programme. There were close to 2,000 exhibitors, 46 country pavilions and around 1,100 start-up founders. The conference has been a fixture since 1987 and in 2019, pre-Covid, over 100,000 delegates came through the door.
Previous attendees include Mark Zuckerberg and it’s an event that anyone in the modern communications industry will have on their radar, showcasing expert thought leadership and cutting-edge technology. As recognition of the success Barcelona has made of hosting the conference, the city has been awarded the event until at least 2030.
High-tech Barcelona
Diagonal Mar and Poblenou, the location where you’ll find Antares, has a notably fast-developing infrastructure. Álex Sàlmon, Editor of newspaper El Mundo, Barcelona, describes it as “without a doubt the most genuine and innovative neighbourhood in Barcelona, the most international and the perfect place for a residential building like Antares.”
In 2020, Barcelona was Europe’s third largest start-up hub and since then, it has become increasingly attractive to wealthy individuals with figures from Knight Frank showing that the number of ultra-high-net-worth-individuals in the city is forecast to grow by over 60 % by 2026. Diagonal Mar, says Señor Sàlmon, is quite simply, “Barcelona’s neighbourhood of the future.”
At Antares, we agree.
Spotlight Antares
Chef Romain Fornell on the Barcelona Culinary Scene
At 24 years old, Chef Romain Fornell was the youngest person to receive a Michelin star and in the 20 years since, he has played a pivotal role in shaping Barcelona’s culinary scene. At Le Grand Café Rouge, which is located at the base of Antares, Chef Fornell showcases his culinary skills and love for Barcelona. He has created a contemporary brasserie with a menu rooted in French, Mediterranean and Spanish cuisine.
While also drawing inspiration from other Barcelona-based chefs, many of whom have shifted typical paradigms to develop more contemporary cuisine. The Chef’s creativity also extends to the restaurant itself. The atmosphere is, as he describes it, “always-on” and the design of the space, done in collaboration with Antares’ architect and interior designer Odile Decq, features numerous spaces filled with “its own identity and soul.”
