CVC at MWC 2026

The Computer Vision Center took part in the twentieth edition of Mobile World Congress Barcelona, one of the most relevant technology events worldwide, held at Fira de Barcelona from March 2 to 5, 2026. This year’s edition brought together around 105,000 attendees from 207 countries and territories. The center participated in different spaces and initiatives, showcasing its research and most innovative projects.

The CVC booth, the gateway to computer vision

CVC’s main activity at MWC focused on its own stand at the Catalonia Pavilion, the pavilion of the Government of Catalonia that brings together 44 companies and research and technology centers from the Catalan digital ecosystem. From this stand, attendees were able to approach and learn first-hand about the center’s activities and the projects developed at CVC.

To offer a first contact with computer vision, an interactive demonstration was presented that allows users to generate a personalized 3D avatar (Civi) from a photograph and place it within a virtual reconstruction of the stand.

This playful and interactive experience helps explain, in an accessible way, part of the research carried out at CVC, such as multimodal vision and language models, image generation models, or computer vision techniques for the three-dimensional reconstruction of scenes, such as Gaussian Splatting. It also showed how CVC applies these technologies across various fields, including precision agriculture, healthcare, culture, industry, and recycling, among others.

Over the four days, the CVC stand welcomed hundreds of visitors from very diverse backgrounds: company representatives, international delegations, students, and industry professionals, all interested in discovering the projects and innovations developed at the center. Among the visitors were the Minister for Equality and Feminism of the Government of Catalonia, Eva Menor, and the rector of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Javier Lafuente.

CVC’s presence at the Catalonia AI Strategy 2030 booth

CVC also had the opportunity to participate at the Catalonia AI Strategy 2030 Catalonia AI Strategy 2030 booth of the Government of Catalonia, also located in the Catalonia Pavilion. This space, coordinated by the Secretariat for Digital Policies, was designed as an informational and networking hub for the strategy and the different initiatives and actions that are part of it.

CVC, as the coordinating entity of key initiatives within the strategy such as the XARXA RDI-IA, the Ramon Llull–AIRA Postdoctoral Programme, and the ELLIS Barcelona Unit, was present at the booth to showcase these initiatives and connect with key actors from the Catalan innovation and artificial intelligence ecosystem.

Xarxa RDI-IA launches its booth at 4YFN

The Xarxa RDI-IA, coordinated by CVC, had its own booth for the first time at 4YFN, an event held within the Mobile World Congress that focuses on emerging companies in the technology sector. From this space, shared with the Accescat Network, attendees were able to learn more about the project and the nine technologies that are part of it: JEPMEN, BitSpace, CycleZen – Urbanity19, Effecta CPS, Readiseasy (Explain Up), LiverColor, QualiRate, SimOSpine, SynCraft.  

The participation of the Xarxa RDI-IA went beyond 4YFN. A talk was also held at the Talent Arena, one of the leading European events dedicated to digital talent. Víctor Rotellar, coordinator of the Network, and Gemma Galver, innovation analyst for the project, presented the initiative to the audience, accompanied by members of the teams behind Brainmapp, CycleZen – Urbanity19, Noctua, and Readiseasy, who explained how their technologies work.

Finally, the projects developed by CVC BrainMapp and T-One have had their own stand at 4YFN with the aim of showcasing their projects to attendees and creating connections that will allow them to accelerate the growth of these technologies.

4YFN hosts the Investors Day of the AI Accelerator

Within the framework of 4YFN, the Investors Day of the AI Accelerator was also held, the final session of the program in which participating teams spent months transforming artificial intelligence–based ideas into solutions with real market potential.

This edition featured more than 35 participants, 8 accelerated projects (AgroVibe, BitSpace, Effecta CPS, CycleZen – Urbanity19, QualiRate, Readiseasy, SimOSpine, TECOUS), the creation of a new company, and several projects in the commercial validation phase. The projects SimOSpine and TECOUS were recognized as the projects with the greatest social impact and highest market potential, respectively.

In addition, two projects from the AI4ALL program, MonQai and LeapStudio, were presented. AI4ALL is a specialized training program aimed at fostering the development of technologies and entrepreneurial projects in AI, promoted by the UAB Research Park, the UAB School of Engineering, the CVC, and IIIA-CSIC. These two projects participated in the final phases of the AI Accelerator.

The UAB-Cruïlla Chair participates in the Talent Arena

In parallel with MWC, the Talent Arena, an event organized by Mobile World Capital Barcelona focused on digital talent, was held. The UAB-Cruïlla Chair of AI in Music and Arts, led by CVC Associate Director Fernando Vilariño, presented several projects exploring the relationship between artificial intelligence, creativity, and social impact, with the support of the CVC.

One of the central spaces featured a demonstration of AI-generated avatars, a prototype developed by students of the Artificial Intelligence degree at UAB. The Chair also had an exhibit on robotics and gaming, showcasing two projects developed in the university’s academic environment: Robocat and Lopako.

Additionally, the plug-in talk “Candela: La Magia de Crear” was held. In this session, creator Maria Badji presented a system that combines technology, performance, and narrative to transform light, sound, and image in real time through body movement and an interactive wand.