A multi-layered plan to ensure a safe environment for everyone
MWC21 takes place 28 June - 1 July 2021 in Barcelona
8 March 2021, London: The GSMA has shared details of its health and safety plan for MWC21 Barcelona. The plan was developed in coordination with and approved by the Catalan health authorities responsible for the regulations governing MWC21, including the Department of Business and Knowledge of the Generalitat de Catalunya and the Technical Committee of the Procicat. According to the Sectorial Plan of Fairs and Congresses, the plan satisfies the directives and recommendations for event organisers.
The health and safety plan, Committed Community, will impact everyone involved with the event. The plan takes a layered approach designed to create a safe environment for staff, workers, exhibitors, visitors, suppliers, partners, and the local community. Layers include frequent testing, contact tracing, touchless environments, re-vamped catering, occupancy monitoring, upgrades to facility infrastructure, increased medical staff and personal commitments like adhering to social distancing. The plan builds on the Protocol on Safety and Prevention against COVID-19 currently being implemented by Fira de Barcelona.
Recently, Fira de Barcelona was awarded the World Travel Tourism Council Safe Travels stamp for its Covid-19 safety measures. These measures were designed in collaboration with the specialist risk management consultancy Aon and with the advice of the Hospital Cl nic in Barcelona, a benchmark epidemiological centre.
We've worked with partners, health authorities and medical professionals to create a plan that builds confidence in our return to in-person events. The GSMA has safely and successfully organised premier mobile events for many years. Since 2006, we have worked closely with the Host City Parties and Fira Barcelona to keep everyone safe and secure at MWC events. No doubt, Covid-19 is our biggest challenge to date. But our experience gives us a rock-solid foundation from which we have built our plan. This foundation means MWC21 Barcelona can go ahead safely, in person, with a digital online component for those unable to attend. It will remain the unique, unmissable experience that has made it the world's most important mobile event, said John Hoffman, Chief Executive Officer GSMA Ltd.
Committed Community
Check In To Get In is the first step in the multi-layered plan. Participants will download My MWC, a bespoke app designed for MWC21 Barcelona. It is a digital badge that will activate and allow for entrance to the event once registration, self-declaration and testing is completed. Registration for MWC21 will open in the coming weeks.
Testing
Before leaving home, travellers from some destinations will be required to show a negative Covid-19 test before being allowed to board planes and travel to Catalonia. The Spanish Authorities will dictate this requirement
Participants arriving by train or car will be directed to MWC relevant testing centres to validate their health status
All participants will be required to produce a valid negative rapid test to access the Venue. The test must be repeated every 72 hours, with participants notified through the My MWC app of upcoming expiration
Multiple testing centres will be available to support rapid testing
All tests will be performed by qualified personnel working alongside the Catalan Health Authorities
Whilst in the Venue, temperature checks will also be conducted at all access points
The Venue
Entrances and exits have doubled to ensure social distancing and support one-way traffic flow through the Venue
A touchless' environment, with badgeless' entry and other formerly manual interactions digitised
Fira Gran Via restaurants have been re-designed to ensure social distancing, food preparation, and offering adheres to enhanced standards, including contactless payment
Fira Gran Via has increased sanitisation protocols throughout the Venue
Features a new fresh-air injection and external ventilation system to improve airflow, exceeding the highest standard of AD1
Upgraded infrastructure including new monitoring systems will support our active capacity and density management, ensuring social distancing guidelines are adhered to along with one-way flows
Medical protocols
The onsite medical facilities have been adapted to incorporate Covid-19 protocols, including the addition of isolation rooms to facilitate assessments
Increased medical personnel onsite to conduct assessments, administer PCR or rapid tests and to coordinate where necessary with Catalan health authorities
The relevant contact tracing data will be shared with health authorities if needed to mitigate potential exposure further
Your commitment
Comply with testing protocols
Complete a daily health questionnaire in the My MWC app
Make regular use of the 1,300 disinfectant dispensers placed around the venue, wear a FFP2 (Filtering Facepiece Respirators) mask and adhere to social distancing requirements
As we look at the roll-out of vaccinations across different countries, we can expect that the risk of contracting Covid-19 will gradually decrease. Vaccines are game-changers. However, as we don't know the extent to which all vaccines may prevent transmission, I believe that the adoption of ever improving technology for screening and diagnosis may be as powerful as the rollouts of the vaccine itself. said Dr. Rodriguez-Fernandez, International SOS.
The GSMA will continue to adapt its health and safety plan as new information is available or as directed by local authorities. Onsite marshals will support efforts to adhere, and training will be provided to key staff and participants to ensure all elements are strictly followed. Up-to-date information on our Committed Community can be found via the MWC Barcelona website, be
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
In its sixth year, the broadcaster's coverage has become a global brand and ...
01/06/2026
Designed to solve a common problem in broadcasting, the automated workflow detects, identifies, removes, and documents copyrighted music
AudioShake has introdu...
01/06/2026
The sports-analytics company combines its data with proprietary AI to help leagu...
01/06/2026
Category line-up & sponsors announced
Photo: Paul Clarke
The Production Music Awards (PMA) have announced that submissions are now officially open ahead of...
01/06/2026
New hybrid sample/synthesis instrument revealed
Excite Audio have just released the latest instalment in their Evolve series, which has been developed in co...
01/06/2026
Latest TONEX expansion captures three rare vintage amps
The newest addition to IK Multimedia's ever-growing TONEX line-up introduces a set of three incr...
01/06/2026
Musically intelligent soft synth gets upgraded
Scaler Music will be probably be best known to many for their music theory tools, but their product range al...
01/06/2026
SBS confirms its broadcast sponsors for FIFA World Cup 2026
1 June, 2026
Media releases
SBS has secured Hyundai, Hisense, Macca's, Rexona, bet365, Com...
01/06/2026
Rohde & Schwarz Satellite Industry Days 2026 guided by the motto From Earth to ...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Marshall Electronics is showcasing a comprehensive lineup of next-generation POV cameras, purpose-built to power today's connected AV environments, at InfoC...
01/06/2026
Adobe Announces Concept to Vector
Deepa Subramaniam June 1, 2026
0 Comments
One of the biggest frustrations we hear from designers is how difficult it...
01/06/2026
Vampire Feature Night Patrol Graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton June 1, 2026
0 Comments
Colorist shapes dark, gritty tone for horror thri...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Mardi 2 juin 14h00
FilmLight (ARRI), 10 rue Ren Boulanger, 75010 Paris
Rejoignez-nous pour d couvrir comment FLAPI (l'API FilmLight) peut transformer e...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
31/05/2026
Olivia P rez-Collellmir to Premiere Original Work at Gaud Centennial in Barcelona The Berklee graduate and faculty member will debut her choral symphony with...
31/05/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Wins 15 Awards at the Canadian Screen Awards - See Pho...
31/05/2026
Taiwan is home to more than 500 NVIDIA ecosystem partners. More than 1 million N...
31/05/2026
As factories move from isolated automation to plant-wide intelligence, manufacturers need AI systems that can connect live machine signals, quality systems, wor...
31/05/2026
The NVIDIA AI Cloud ecosystem is accelerating the global buildout of AI factory infrastructure. Partners are expanding capacity to meet growing demand from ente...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Zero in on one that says yes (and no)
Andy Marken May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Hero image courtesy of Deposit Photos
For content creators the most difficu...
29/05/2026
With InfoComm 2026 just weeks away, NDI is giving attendees plenty of reasons to...
29/05/2026
Reaffirming a partnership that has defined Canadian sports broadcasting since 19...
29/05/2026
Mobile/tablet is No. 2 device for watching TV, suggesting that the sports-production industry needs to take another look at the format
Ring Digital's Sprin...
29/05/2026
Berliner Ensemble, one of Berlin's five major theater companies, has expande...
29/05/2026
Solid State Logic will showcase its new compact, fly-away TCA Tour audio product...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, passed away last month on April 12 ...
29/05/2026
Paramount+ will be the English-language U.S. home for Barclays Women's Super...
29/05/2026
Further strengthening its virtualisation strategy to fully support broadcasters ...
29/05/2026
Swiss broadcaster Canal Alpha has deployed Harmonic's award-winning, software-based XOS Advanced Media Processor to modernize playout operations across cant...
29/05/2026
PTZOptics will showcase a new generation of intelligent video workflows at InfoComm 2026, June 17-19, Las Vegas. Visitors to booth N8227 will see how PTZOptics ...
29/05/2026
Arizona's Family has launched the Arizona's Family Sports (AZFS) streaming app, a new direct-to-consumer destination for live, local sports. The app is ...
29/05/2026
Starting in 2027, DAZN will be the exclusive home of The Canadian Football Leagu...
29/05/2026
Comcast Business has detailed the advanced network infrastructure it has deploye...
29/05/2026
In two-day event, leaders from academia and industry explored solutions to chall...
29/05/2026
The Basketball Tournament (TBT), now entering their 13th year of competition, ha...
29/05/2026
Roku has launched FOX One as a Premium Subscription on The Roku Channel in the U.S. Roku customers can now subscribe to FOX One using their Roku account for liv...
A multi-layered plan to ensure a safe environment for everyone 
