The Portuguese have become accustomed to hosting the Web Summit in Lisbon at this time of year for the past seven years, after the technology summit started in Dublin in 2010. What’s new this time? New leadership from the start, now in the women’s category.
For the first time, founder Paddy Cosgrave will be absent after resigning as CEO following his comments on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which sparked a boycott from some. great technology (Apple, IBM, Alphabet, Meta or Siemens). Within three weeks, Katherine Maher was asked to take over the chairmanship of the summit and, in statements to Dinheiro Vivo, assumed that this is a moment of “transition”, taking into account Cosgrave’s achievements in the growth of the organization.
But Katherine Maher praised the team, saying it was “outstanding”, with the ability to organize “incredible events” and to create “the space and stability to build and rebuild trust and plan a great future”. Today at 4 p.m., Katherine Maher, Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, and Vasco Pedro, co-founder and CEO of Unbabel, should take the stage, as well as the Minister of Economy, António Costa Silva, and the Mayor of Lisbon, Carlos Moedas .
About 70,000 participants are expected for this year’s edition, with a record number of 2,600 registrations startups from 85 countries, including Trinidad and Tobago, Liechtenstein, Peru and Ghana. “I’m particularly excited to see that almost a third of these companies are founded by women,” says Katherine Maher, still at DV.
These startups are joined by 900 investors, 300 partner entities and two thousand registered media outlets from 160 countries. The organization also has data that 32 countries from five continents will send official delegations to the Web Summit seeking foreign investment. The impact on the city will be felt in local traffic and in the catering industry. Since it will take place in the Altice Arena pavilion and in the FIL spaces, in Parque das Nações, several surrounding avenues will be closed, with security in charge of the PSP.
Source: DN
