Attendees at the Mobile World Congress pass through the 4YFN entrepreneurship salon, this Tuesday.massimiliano minocri
The one who was the little brother has gotten older, and getting older.
The 4YFN entrepreneurship show was born as a parallel meeting to the smaller Mobile World Congress (MWC), and in fact was held in another location.
Ten years later, it occupies both floors of pavilion 8 of the Fira de Barcelona facilities on Gran Via in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, one more floor than last year.
It has become a meeting point for 900 emerging companies, concentrates much of the dynamism of the congress and is located right next to the Beat Barcelona music and leisure space.
This year, the fever for entrepreneurship mixes with the fever for artificial intelligence: startups that incorporate this technology are proliferating, and companies dedicated to health innovation are especially relevant.
“Four or five potential investors have already approached us, it is very worth being here,” says Marcos Valera, in the position that the startup where he works, Physia, has in the room.
This company is months old, although the partners began a year ago to develop the technology they use, an artificial intelligence that is capable of having the first contacts with a patient (even doing the first interview and giving advice) to reduce workload to the doctors.
Now, with eight people on the team, they plan to seek more financing in a few months than they found at the beginning from family and friends.
“It's worth being here because you make contacts and start collaborating with other people,” he explains about the possibilities that the room offers.
The 4YFN was born ten years ago as a separate meeting, which aimed to take advantage of the flow of people that gathered at the MWC in Barcelona, so that an incipient ecosystem of Barcelona entrepreneurs could try to get a head start among the investors who passed through the city.
The GSMA, the association that organizes the mobile congress, noticed this little brother, and bought the brand before the pandemic.
The health crisis, which emptied the MWC of congressmen, accelerated the integration of the two halls: in the editions that followed the pandemic, the meeting of entrepreneurs supported the congress, and was the one that showed the most dynamism.
“The two audiences, the one in the living room and the congress, work very well.
We advise companies on product marketing, obtaining financing and accessing knowledge, something they can do very well by being within the MWC,” says Pere Duran, director of the show.
The acronym of the show corresponds to the English phrase
four years from now
(“within four years”) in reference to the period of time that emerging companies or
startups
set when they start to achieve their first objectives.
Where do you see yourself in four years?
The company Robsurgical has been around for 12 years, but it is still considered a startup.
Jaume Amat-Riera, the CEO, explains that from the world of entrepreneurship they have the motivation of the team and the fact that they efficiently dedicate all the money to their project.
This project is a surgical robot that represents an evolution compared to those on the market: until now, the robots are installed in an operating room, and they take care of the entire operation.
Either you use the robot for everything or you don't use it.
With the Robsurgical machine, the robot can go in and out of the operation, being used only for what is really necessary, and can also be moved to another room or hospital depending on the needs of the surgeries that have been planned.
“It will allow all patients to access this technology, since until now it is only in large hospitals and only for specific surgeries,” explains the CEO.
Robsurgical is finishing the clinical trial at the Clinical Hospital, and plans to have the machine fully registered by the end of the year.
Its use will be as a service: the hospital that needs the machine will pay for it according to its use, and it can be moved.
Its innovation is part of the space dedicated to emerging health companies in the 4YFN, which the Minister of Health, Manel Balcells, visited, realizing the importance that this sector is acquiring.
Another startup, much younger and smaller, dedicated to health is IMAZ, born in 2020 and which has launched its brand Maxsens, a platform for physiotherapy rehabilitation.
“It monitors, using devices, whether you are doing the rehabilitation well, and sends the data to the doctor.
The data is collected by artificial intelligence that is capable of calculating how your body works only with what it collects,” says Sobhan Fooladi, who took a few seconds to mention that the technology incorporates artificial intelligence, one of the essentials of this MWC.
Attendees at 4YFN.massimiliano minocri
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