Esade to take center stage at 4YFN one more year to lead the debate on technology and the EdTech revolution

02.02.2022

Under the slogan 'At the Forefront of the EdTech Revolution', Esade is set to lead the EdTech program at 4YFN, strengthening its position as a pioneering school for new learning formats accelerated through technological innovation.

Wednesday, 2nd February 2022. For the sixth consecutive year, Esade will serve as the official academic partner at 4 Years From Now (4YFN), the worldwide meeting of reference for entrepreneurship and innovation within the framework of the Mobile World Congress (MWC). With its slogan, ‘At the Forefront of the EdTech revolution’, Esade will take center stage in this edition of 4YFN's EdTech program, serving to help strengthen the school’s positioning in both technology and entrepreneurship. This edition of 4YFN will take place from February 28th to March 3rd, 2022, bringing together entrepreneurs, startups and professionals linked to this ecosystem in Barcelona.

“Our role as a school is key to defining new entrepreneurial and innovative leadership. In an environment with fewer certainties upon which to base decisions, at Esade, we are working on providing knowledge, tools and solutions to future leaders so that they know how to successfully navigate in contexts increasingly dominated by AI and other disruptive technologies. In line with our wager on talent and technological innovation as a source of progress and sustainable development, Esade will support 4YFN for the sixth year in a row, a meeting point for entrepreneurial and technological talent,” declared Koldo Echebarria, Esade Director General.

The debate on the future of talent in the digital era

Esade will organize various sessions during 4YFN and participate in numerous debates on disruptive areas, such as ‘AI’s impact on education.’ Esteve Almirall, Professor in the Esade Department of Operations, Innovation and Data Sciences, will lead this session and explore the impact that cyberspace and the metaverse-related future will have on leaders, entrepreneurs, businesses and society. In addition, this year’s edition of 4YFN EdTech will focus on issues such as AI, cloud technology and asynchronous learning, and Esade will organize a roundtable discussion on ‘The future of talent in the digital era’ to examine what skills students have to learn to prosper in today’s business setting with its constant changes and unprecedented interruptions. Esade will also organize a panel of experts to debate on ‘The role of women in technology,’ featuring noteworthy guests who will underscore the importance of female profiles in the STEM area. In addition, it will hold another roundtable entitled ‘The innovation model: Startups or leading-edge industry?’ in which participants will highlight a wide variety of initiatives and projects whose technology takes advantage of Big Data, AI, blockchain and deep learning to ensure greater reach within companies and society.

Technology as the focus of Esade’s educational offering

Esade’s collaboration within MWC’s EdTech vertical is due to the school’s wager on supporting entrepreneurs and executives to transform the future of business connectivity, including technology as a fundamental pillar of knowledge and progress. In this respect, Esade has expanded its academic portfolio to include new degrees and pedagogical innovations based on digitalization and technology. Its objectives are to develop multidisciplinary profiles that successfully combine a business vision with each individual’s technical, analytical and innate skills and to educate new generations that can respond to the job market’s challenges.

Esade has just launched a new double degree precisely in this area: its new ‘BBA & Bachelor in Artificial Intelligence for Business’. It created this double degree in order to respond to the growing demand for talented technology experts who also have a strong background in management. The double degree will be taught for the first time during the 2022-2023 academic year and will be offered entirely in English, combining the official BBA program with Esade-URL’s own specific program in AI for business. In addition, Esade Executive Education has also created a new portfolio of hyper-customized, flexible and specialized programs, enabling participants to choose between various learning formats (in-person, hybrid or online), with the latest immersive technologies and suited to meet the specific needs of both participants and their companies.