Barcelona fights to keep tech meet

This year's Mobile World Congress wrapped up last week in Barcelona with much uncertainty over whether the Catalan capital will continue to play host to the annual telecommunications high-tech convention in the coming years.

Next year may be the last time Barcelona hosts the MWC because Paris, Munich and Milan also have launched bids for the event in 2013-2017. The issue will be decided in June.

Last week, Industry Minister Miguel Sebastián pledged that the Spanish government would do what it could to ensure that Barcelona will continue to host the annual event, and asked Spanish telecoms operators to show their support to keep the congress in Catalonia.

The MWC attracted about 55,000 people from the mobile telecommunication industry this year. While there were hundreds of exhibits and companies representing their products and unveiling new ones, only about six percent were Spanish.

Paris, Munich and Milan are bidding to host the MWC in the coming years

"This year we have had something of a better reception. Either we are coming out of the crisis or people are becoming increasingly aware that we have to invest in new technologies so that we can emerge from it," said Oriol Herrera, director of Visual Engineering, one of the estimated 70 Spanish firms at the congress.

Herrera's firm has developed an application that creates three-dimensional images from a flat image taken with a digital camera. "This application is designed to be used with smart phones so that people can create their own avatars in 3D by taking two or three images with their phone cameras," he explained, adding that his firm hopes to open an office in the United States.

Another Spanish company represented was InQBarna, which was a finalist in the Mobile Premier Awards, the annual prizes given out at the congress. InQBarna has been lauded for its Deej application that can be used on iPhones and iPads and turn anyone into an instant disc jockey. The Deej applications can be downloaded for just 4 euros.

"Being an award finalist has brought us great visibility," said Sergi Hernanz, co-founder of InQBarna.

Also at the MWC was Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who spoke at what was to be his final congress as head of the internet giant. He will be replaced in April by co-founder Larry Page.

In an EL PAÍS interview, Schmidt gave his views on an array of issues, including how a Google employee, the blogger Wael Ghomin, had become the leader of the Egyptian revolution. Schmidt believes that if Europe wants to compete with the powerful US technology market, it shouldn't be afraid of failing. "If you do not fail, you do not learn," he said.

He also defended Google's decision to transfer its Asia management from China to Hong Kong, "We didn't want to be subjected to any more censorship," Schmidt said. "It was the best decision we ever made."