ESADE has consolidated its position as an official academic collaborator of 4 Years From Now (4YFN), the world’s largest entrepreneurship and digital innovation conference. This year, 4YFN will bring entrepreneurs, startups and professionals together in Barcelona on 25th-27th February as part of the Mobile World Congress (MWC). For three days, ESADE will move its classrooms to the fair, giving students a chance to attend classes on-site. The general public will also be able to attend various open lectures on topics such as the future of education, entrepreneurship, financing and innovation.

At this year’s 4YFN, ESADE will be upgrading to a 170 m² space that will accommodate more than 400 students from several ESADE programmes and allow the participation of companies and institutions in various talks and meetings on topics such as Industry 4.0, education and entrepreneurship. 

Pere Duran, Director of 4YFN, commented: “ESADE, an internationally renowned academic institution considered by the Financial Times to be one of the world’s top business schools, trains future leaders and is committed to attracting top talent, disseminating best practices and developing impactful ideas. We are very proud to announce that ESADE will be collaborating with 4YFN for the third year in a row.”

Koldo Echebarria, Director General of ESADE, commented on the collaboration: “ESADE is transforming itself at the same pace at which society and the world are advancing. We are a global, flexible academic institution that is oriented towards promoting and developing professional careers, always with a social commitment and an innovative, entrepreneurial spirit. But one thing about ESADE will never change: learning in our classrooms will always be a transformative experience for all of our students.” 

To strengthen the commitment to collaboration between ESADE and 4YFN, this week the academic institution launched a new web page, #ESADEat4YFN, where visitors can consult programmes from previous editions of the event, watch videos of past panel discussions and share the experience of the students who have taken part in this pioneering initiative. 

Future of education and entrepreneurship 

Artificial Intelligence, International Economics, Visualisation of Business Information, Innovation and Marketing are just a few of the subjects that ESADE will teach in its 4YFN space as one of the fair’s official academic collaborators. The participating students will represent a wide range of ESADE programmes, including the Master in Business Analytics (MIBA), the Master in Innovation and Entrepreneurship (MIE), the Full-Time MBA and the Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA). Students from ESADE Law School will also be in attendance.

ESADE has also planned a series of talks and meetings that will be open to the public. At these sessions, ESADE faculty and high-profile guest speakers will share their knowledge on topics such as Industry 4.0 and data-driven innovation in the music industry. In parallel, ESADE will present projects and initiatives developed by some of the school’s most entrepreneurial alumni, who will discuss the experiences of their startups. 

One of the main debate sessions organised by ESADE during the 4YFN digital entrepreneurship fair will focus on the topic of artificial language. The debate will be moderated by Luis Vives, Associate Dean of the ESADE MBA and Associate Professor in the Department of Strategy and General Management.