(Editor’s note: This post on Web Summit 2024 in Lisbon is part of our Tech Tuesday series. Dispatches covers tech because so many of our highly skilled internationals are founders and investors.)
Between Monday, 11 November and Thursday, 14 November, Lisbon will be welcoming more than 70,000 people from the world of digital technology for its ninth annual Web Summit event.
When it comes to tech startups, there’s nothing else anywhere in the world with quite the same scale and investment opportunities.
Although Web Summit organisers have added other events to their calendar in Toronto, Hong Kong, Bangalore, Rio de Janeiro and – most recently – Doha, their flagship event in Portugal’s capital remains by far their largest and most exciting. Some of the globe’s most celebrated and important tech leaders and politicians will descend on the city’s MEO Arena, which more commonly plays host to music festivals and stand-up comedy, to point the way forward for thousands of the industry’s aspiring entrepreneurs.
All eyes will be on keynote speakers such as music mogul and fashion designer Pharrell Williams and World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee. But more significantly for the startup ecosystem, there’ll be 1,000-plus investors in attendance, ready to put their hands in their pockets for the industry’s next big thing.
The event typically encompasses several overarching themes set to shape the year of digital development ahead, and 2024 is no different. This year, it will focus on the urgent need to accelerate the advance of green technology, the growing prevalence of AI in our lives, and the role that emotions play in various aspects of our society, including the workplace.
So, what exactly is Web Summit?
In short, Web Summit is one of the world’s biggest networking events, and one that really counts for those on either side of tech investment, particularly in the European market. It was founded in Ireland back in 2009 by current CEO Paddy Cosgrave alongside David Kelly and Daire Hickey, and moved to Lisbon in 2016.
Many of the industry’s most exciting prospective ventures are counting on the event helping them secure the funding they need. And major investors have poured billions into startups they’ve discovered there down the years. Prominent funding recipients include previous winners of Web Summit’s PITCH competition for startups, which begins this year on Tuesday, 12 November, with 105 new businesses competing for the top prize.
Alex Kendall’s self-driving car company Wayve won the competition in 2018, and more than $1 billion in funding soon followed. Meanwhile, 2014 winner Codacy, a Portuguese coding provider, arguably laid down an early marker for Portugal tech boom in subsequent years. And now, AI-focused startups Tromero, VidLab7, Advai, Honeysales, Mindset AI and Inspeq AI are earmarked for success later this month.
Web Summit isn’t exclusively about startups, though, and its 2024 edition claims to offer “15 tracks” across four days including SaaS (software as a service), fintech, AI and e-commerce. The whole idea of the event is that there’s something for everybody involved in tech. By drawing together thousands of passionate voices and creative minds from across the full breadth of the business, it aims to act as a catalyst propelling the European tech industry forward. As its website says, “We gather policymakers, heads of state, and the founders and CEOs of technology companies and fast-growing startups, to ask a simple question: Where to next?”
But why Lisbon?
Since the middle of the last decade, Portugal has been among Europe’s foremost and fastest-growing tech hubs, boasting the likes of healthcare company Sword Health and cryptocurrency payment channel xMoney among its tech startups. Even Google and Meta have taken note, setting up shop there in recent years.
The decision to move Web Summit’s main event from Dublin to Lisbon in 2016 was a reflection of Portugal’s growing stature in the tech world. And in 2018 the Portuguese government agreed to pay the event’s organisers 11 million euros a year to expand its scope, as the basis for a further boost to the country’s tech sector. The deal ensured that Lisbon will continue to host Web Summit until at least 2028.
It isn’t cheap, however, with attendees ultimately footing most of the bill. A standard ticket for this year’s event will set you back 1,295 euros, while VIP entry including access to all lounges, meeting spaces, food and drink costs 1,950 euros. Still, for at least some of the 3,000 startups looking to get their foot in the door of our digital future, it could well be worth every cent.
And who’ll be there this year?
Aside from Pharrell and Tim BL, an array of star speakers will be following in the footsteps of Barack Obama and Stephen Hawking when they appear at Web Summit this year. They include Bumble CEO Lidiane Jones, Microsoft Vice Chair Brad Smith, Time CEO Jessica Sibley, Alibaba president Kuo Zhang, German Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck and NBA legend Carmelo Anthony.
In addition, the event is covered by every major media outlet in the sphere of business. Some of them as its official partners, like Forbes, Fortune, The Washington Post and Al Jazeera.
Keynote talks such as “Transforming CO2 into jet fuel” and “The great AI debate: Who decides our future?” on opening night are must-see highlights for general visitors. As are AI-related discussions later in the week such as “Will Gen AI generate value for the corporate landscape?” and “Emotion AI: Understanding Customer Experience Beyond Digital.” Yet it’s likely that the European Investment Bank press conference on Tuesday, 12 November, will garner the most attention.
Whichever talks, sessions or competition are your reason for going, tech movers and shakers get ready. 2024’s greatest gathering of industry minds is almost here!
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Alex Beaton
Alex Beaton is a writer from London, UK. His published works include a guide to starting a business in Warsaw, a fictionalised account of his time living in Egypt, and a 2013 report of the political situation in Bulgaria. He has also written extensively about his travels in France, Portugal, Italy and Malta.
