Graphene made impact on Mobile World Congress

Following on from the success of last year’s Graphene Pavilion, the Graphene Flagship again made the most of the 2017 GSMA Mobile World Congress, Barcelona, with an impressive collection of demonstrators and prototypes presented at the Graphene Experience Zone.

The Graphene Experience Zone was organised by the Graphene Flagship and curated by ICFO, with support from the European Commission and the GSMA.

Mobile World Congress 2017 attracted over 108,000 visitors with the desire to experience the best of new mobile technologies. The Graphene Experience Zone was located in the vibrant NEXTech Hall 8.0, dedicated to cutting-edge developments in mobile technologies and disruptive technologies of the future.

The 165 m2 Graphene Experience Zone showcased 20 demonstrators and prototypes from 26 industrial and academic partners of the Graphene Flagship, collected into five application areas. The application areas were targeted to show Mobile World Congress attendees how graphene and related materials can be used in the mobile ecosystem, to enable fast data communication, efficient energy technologies, distributed sensing via the Internet of Things, and wearable biomedical devices for health and wellness.

The centrepiece of the Graphene Experience Zone was the BAC Mono graphene enhanced car, produced in collaboration with Haydale. This eye-catching supercar captured the interest of visitors, who were inspired by hearing how graphene can be used to improve performance in cars, from lightweight bodywork to boost fuel efficiency, to sensor networks to enhance safety.

The Graphene Experience Zone was a stop on 19 tours, including NEXTech and Women4Tech tours organised by the GSMA, as well as tours for government representatives, media and market analysts. Several key attendees were shown hand-picked highlights of graphene technologies, including European Commissioner Andrus Ansip, GSMA Ltd. CEO John Hoffman and several members of the local government.

Alongside the Graphene Experience Zone, the Graphene Flagship also held a Graphene Connect workshop. The aim of this workshop was to provide an opportunity for the mobile community to explore the benefits and potential of graphene and related materials, and discuss opportunities for new technologies and partnership with expert researchers from the Graphene Flagship. This event presented industrial-focused research from the Graphene Flagship in the areas of data communication, flexible electronics, and high-performance sensors, as well as providing an opportunity for the audience to learn about graphene from Konstantin Novoselov, who shared the 2010 Nobel prize in physics for his ground-breaking experiments on graphene.

This year, the GSMA launched the Youth Mobile Festival (YoMo Barcelona), which ran alongside Mobile World Congress to engage children and inspire them to pursue education and careers in science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) disciplines. At YoMo, Graphene Flagship partners ICFO, IIT, Novalia and the University of Cambridge presented Graphopolis, an interactive workshop designed to collectively create an interactive map of a city based on graphene.

Professor Andrea Ferrari, Science and Technology Officer and Chair of the Management Panel of the Graphene Flagship stated "Once again the Flagship participation in Mobile World Congress was a great success. Not only did the devices and demonstrators show the steady progress towards innovation and commercialization, but our participation at the inaugural Barcelona Youth Mobile festival was an excellent means to get younger generations excited about the potential of graphene and related materials."

We would like to thank all the participants in the Graphene Experience Zone for their dedication and enthusiasm throughout Mobile World Congress and the planning phase. This successful event could not have been possible without all of the hard work and support from our sponsors, supporters, exhibitors and organisers, and we hope that our many visitors were inspired by the wonderful prototypes on display.

Find out more

Graphene Flagship Mobile World Congress 2017 Flickr Album
Graphene Connect: From Datacom to IoT