02 March 2015, Mobile World Congress, Barcelona

The GTWN’s Welcome Reception at the 2015 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona brought together more than 200, corporate, telecoms and tech executives, top Government officials and industry analysts to the new Mobile World Centre on the Plaza Catalunya in the centre of Barcelona.

The Mobile World Centre, housed in a totally renovated Telefonica building dating from 1928, is a public-private partnership established in late 2014 by Telefonica and the Mobile World Capital Foundation. The setting was an ideal location for the GTWN Reception, bringing together as it does the latest in digital technology, Guests were treated to a multitude of displays of various leading edge applications, demonstrating how digital mobile technology is changing every aspect of the world and our lives.

GTWN Members arrive at the Mobile World Centre for the Welcome Reception. From left: Laureen Cook (TMT Lead, IFC, World Bank), Stephanie Liston (Board Member, BT Equality of Access Board) and Susan Major (Co- founder of Davenport Major Executive Search)

Our members and guests entered the ground floor digital exhibition area, and climbed the colourful, digitally-lit staircase to the first floor exhibition area, which is populated with displays of various leading edge applications, demonstrating how digital mobile technology is changing every aspect of our world.

After the initial networking session, our members and guests were directed by our hosts up to the second floor auditorium, where the discussion forum was chaired by GTWN Global President, Bridget Cosgrave, Founder of Every European Digital. In her opening remarks, Bridget paid tribute to the sponsors for this year’s event, Telefonica, as well as to iTalent Corporation, the sponsors of the third edition of our webzine, “The Mobile Century: Life and Work in the Digital Era”. The magazine was distributed in hard copy form to those in attendance, thanks to the support of. Renee Lalonde, CEO of iTalent. The magazine is now also available online as a webzine at http://www.themobilecentury.com/. Bridget paid tribute to the GTWN Steering Committee, many of whom were present at the Reception, and whose variety of roles and nationalities demonstrate the truly global and cross-industry nature of the GTWN.

GTWN International Board members, from left: Michele Merrell, Victoria Hernandez, Vicki MacLeod, Laureen Cook, Ingrid Silver, Susan Major, Kate McKenzie, Gema Esteban Garrido, Candace Johnson and Mosiri Cabezas Geballos .

A member of the exhibition staff at the Mobile World Centre explains one of the many displays to GTWN members and guests, including Mitchell Baker, Executive Chair of Mozilla Foundation (centre).

GTWN International Board Members present from around the world kicked off the Forum Discussion, moderated by Bridget Cosgrave, GTWN Global President.

GTWN Global President and SES Board Member Bridget Cosgrave introductory remarks were given by GTWN partners, Stephanie Liston of Women in Tech and Telecoms (WiTT) and the GSMA’s Chief Strategy Officer Hyunmi Yang and Claire Sibthorpe. Hyunmi welcomed everyone to the Mobile World Congress on behalf of Anne Bouverot, Board Member and CEO of the GSMA and thanked the GTWN for their rolein helping incubate two GSMA initiatives, “mWomen” and “Connected Women” which are now coming together under the banner of “Connected Women”. Claire Sibthorpe, Senior Director of Connected Women invited everyone to join her and the team at the Connected Women Summit on Wednesday morning, 4 March, where two reports, an update on progress with the mobile take up and use by women in developing economies, and a snapshot by A T Kearney of gender diversity in the telecommunications sector, would be discussed in detail.

Hyunmi Yang, GSMA Chief Strategy Offic

The first keynote presentation was given by Meg Whitman, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer CEO of Hewlett Packard. Meg participated with Bridget in an interactive ”fireside chat” about a range of issues of importance to the tech sector, including the need to balance privacy and big data, cyber-security and the threat to personal information, as well as how she has managed to balance the two demanding roles of mother and CEO of a major corporation. According to Meg, an essential element of the use of personal information is transparency and customer understanding of the technology, which can lead to enhanced services and benefits for consumers. In terms of cyber-security, Meg said that this was an issue which would always need a lot of attention from the industry, as those who were trying to gain access to data would become ever more sophisticated in their approach. Just as the industry managed to address one threat, a new one would emerge. This is the reason that data analytical skills and the ability to understand the underlying code are extremely important skills in today’s digital mobile industry-skills which women need to develop if they are to succeed in the digital workplace.

The audience participated in an interactive chat with HP CEO, Meg Whitman

FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel (2nd from r.) with colleagues from the USA and around the world.

Telefonica Senior Women Executives join their COO Jose-Maria Alvarez-Pallete for a group picture.

The second keynote speech was delivered by Jose-Maria Alvarez-Pallete, Chief Operating Officer of Telefonica. Jose-Maria shared the challenges of the very major transformation Telefonica is now undergoing to be a complete digital media company, and the need to have greater diversity of skills and experience of its workforce.

Following the end of the discussion Personal guided tours of the Internet of Things exhibition continued amidst networking and lively discussions.

Thank you again to our great keynote speakers – HP CEO, Meg Whitman and Telefonica COO Jose-Maria Alvarez-Palette who insured a thought-provoking and fruitful forum discussion as well as to our wonderful sponsor, Telefonica, GTWN International Board Members Gema Esteban Garrido, and Mosiri Cabezas andiTalent Corporation, the sponsors of the third edition of the GTWN webzine, “The Mobile Century: Life and Work in the Digital Era”. http://www.themobilecentury.com/.

For further information, please contact info@gtwn.org.

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The Mobile Century Webzine (pdf version)

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The Programme
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