New Leadership, New Direction for MWCapital

Laia Corbella, formerly director of communication at Mobile World Capital Barcelona, has been appointed chief executive officer of the foundation, effective 19th October 2026. She succeeds Francesc Fajula, who left to lead an AI gigafactory consortium in Móra la Nova. Corbella is the first woman to lead the organisation in its 15-year history.

Her appointment follows a selection process conducted with an external firm and was confirmed by unanimous consensus among the trustees: Barcelona City Council, the Generalitat de Catalunya, the Government of Spain, GSMA, Fira de Barcelona, and supporting companies including Telefónica, Vodafone, Orange, Caixabank, and Damm.

Expanding into Health and AI

Under Corbella’s leadership, Mobile World Capital will launch Connect Health, a new initiative integrating healthcare and technology, set to debut at the Mobile World Congress 2027 (MWC27). The programme, led by GSMA and MWCapital with support from the Government of Catalonia and Barcelona City Council, will connect clinical needs with emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, data systems, and connectivity.

Collaborating partners include Asociación Salud Digital (ASD), AseBio, Biocat, Farmaindustria, Fenin, and TIC Salut i Social. The initiative was formally presented at a working meeting hosted at Barcelona City Council, attended by Mayor Jaume Collboni and Catalonia’s Minister for Economy and Finance, Alícia Romero.

We want companies considering where to test AI technologies or models to think of Barcelona.

Corbella reaffirmed MWCapital’s ambition to re-establish Barcelona as a living lab for secure and trustworthy AI, building on a pilot conducted in Collserola this summer that used AI to detect and classify smoke columns in under three seconds.

Commitment to Digital Sovereignty and Talent

The foundation manages an annual budget of approximately €30 million, with around €24 million from public institutions and €6 million from private partners. Around 60 staff are employed, a figure expected to remain stable.

MWCapital’s Collider programme supports four to five deep tech spin-offs annually, each receiving €50,000 in investment, with plans to expand the initiative across Spain. The Talent Arena, a key event attracting digital professionals, will continue to grow, with a focus on senior roles and community building at its third edition during MWC27.

Corbella acknowledged the gender imbalance in the tech sector, noting that while 31% of digital professionals in Barcelona are women, they are underrepresented in leadership and investment roles. As the first female CEO of MWCapital, she said she feels a responsibility to create visibility and opportunities for women in the field.

Primary sources: serveisperemprendre.gencat.cat, accio.gencat.cat, ajuntament.barcelona.cat, lamoncloa.gob.es, MINISTERIO PARA LA TRANSFORMACIÓN DIGITAL Y DE LA FUNCIÓN PÚBLICA. Reported by lavanguardia.com, mobileworldcapital.com, w123.bcn.cat, DANIEL FUENTES BELLVER, La Vanguardia Barcelona.