Why you'll want to attend the 4YFN event in Barcelona next month: director Aleix Valls

Last week, I was invited to Barcelona to attend the press conference announcing the plans and speakers for the upcoming 4YFN event.

In case you're not up to speed: 4YFN (short for 4 Years From Now) is an international mobile startup event that is part of and promoted by the GSMA Mobile World Congress and Mobile World Capital. Over the course of four days, from 2 to 5 March 2015, the second edition of 4YFN will be held in Barcelona, and it promises to be a great event with more than 120 speakers, including the likes of VICE Media president Andrew Creighton, Twitter's Mobile Sales and Operations Mike Ng, Airbnb Engineering VP Mike Curtis, Ozon CEO Maelle Gavet, The Weather Company CEO David Kenny, Marvell co-founder Weili Dai and many more.

I also had the chance to sit down with Aleix Valls, who is the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Director at Mobile World Capital Barcelona and as such is directly responsible for the 4YFN conference. In a brief interview, Aleix explained what sets 4YFN apart from all the other European tech events, and how this year's edition will be different from the (inaugural) event from last year.

Note: tech.eu is a media partner of 4YFN 2015 and will be present throughout the four days of conference. You can - and should - grab a ticket for the event here. Startups can apply here.

The event will feature over 120 speakers and 175 startups from 14 different countries and double the available space for exhibitors, sponsors and stages to increase capacity. More than 5,000 attendees are expected, with over half from outside of Spain, according to the organisation.

There will be a lot of focus on meetings between startups, investors and directors of innovation at major corporations with a dedicated 'Founders & Investors' networking activity. Participating this year are Accel Partners, BDMI Fund, Kennet Partners, Northzone, Open Ocean Capital and Relay Ventures.

Also on the menu: an 'Innovation Market' exhibition area where startups will present their wares, the Startupbootcamp IoT & Data Demo Day, Imagine Express and the Global Mobile Challenge 2015.

We're also partnering with another event in Barcelona that week, called IoT Stars.

All photos above belong to tech.eu and were shot by Dan Taylor from Heisenberg Media