Having started my journalism career over 40 years ago on a national newspaper in Ireland using a typewriter, and a cranky manual one at that, moving to computers and software wasn’t an easy transition.
At the tender age of 69, I’m simply not someone who would be considered in any way IT or tech-savvy.
I’ve learned more, however, about the complex world of technology by attending the annual Web Summit in Lisboa over the last two years, an immensely successful international event founded by fellow Irishman and entrepreneur extraordinaire, Paddy Cosgrave.
The Web Summit would not have been high on my annual event agenda but I was left so angry at what I considered unfair attacks on Cosgrave by Israeli officials and celebrities for his criticism of Western support for Israel’s bombings in Gaza I decided to give him my full support and attend the Summit in 2023.
And what a great decision it was to join more than 70,000 other participants there for the first time two years ago. The Summits are not just immensely informative and educational but highly entertaining and I met many wonderful people from so many different countries working in so many different sectors that it has proved a challenge keeping up with them all on social media ever since. For the convenience of all participants, many of the ‘Meet-ups’ were organised by enthusiastic Summit officials through a special mobile app with friendly Sarah Jane Allen, Key Attendee Success Executive and Beth McAvoy, Senior Technical Business Analyst, helping me greatly.
Before describing my experiences at the Web Summits, which, by the way, attracted more participants in 2023 than any previous event, that record only to be broken yet again last year, I think it’s important to know what Paddy said after the tragic outbreak of the Israel-Palestine conflict.
“War crimes are war crimes, even when committed by allies,” he wrote at the time. “I unequivocally support Israel’s right to exist and to defend itself … I also believe that, in defending itself, Israel should adhere to international law and the Geneva Conventions — i..e, not commit war crimes.” He also called for the unconditional release of all Israeli hostages, adding “I unreservedly condemn Hamas’ evil, disgusting and monstrous October 7 attack.”
Urged on by Israeli officials, major sponsors such as Meta, Google, Intel, Siemens and Amazon pulled out of the event that year, as much to their loss as the organisers, with X-files actress Gillian Anderson – someone I once had immense admiration for – withdrawing from her speaker spot.
Thankfully, visionary Cosgrave and his hard-working team, have survived that backlash, having gone from strength to strength since the Summit’s inception, expanding its reach far beyond Portugal to include Quatar, Canada and Brazil, and a RISE event in Hong Kong, gathering more than 140,000 attendees every year from all over the world. It’s a phenomenal global event series achievement, all the more so considering the company’s humble beginnings as a 150-person conference in Dublin in 2009.
The list of ‘A’ speakers since the idea for this network of Summits emerged is sensational. Think tennis star, Serena Williams; President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen; author Margaret Atwood; Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres; president of Microsoft, Brad Smith; Olympic World Champion runner Mo Farah; the late theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking and Irish musician and social activist, Bono of U2, and you have some idea of the diverse scope. One of my favorite actors, Will Smith, was a guest speaker in Doha last month.
As for exhibiting partners, they included IBM, Adobe, Meta, Huawei, SAP, DELL, Qualcomm, VISA, American Express, Niantic, Pitchbook, EDP, and KPMG.
Statistics from last year’s Lisbon’s event as presented by Katherine Farrell, Vice-President of Communications at Web Summit, reflect its success: 71,528 attendees from 153 countries; 3,050 companies exhibiting, with 1,066 investors and 935 speakers; over 44 percent of startups are women-founded, highest to date; women represented 42 percent of attendees and 37 percent of speakers and 62 trade delegations from 36 different countries.
Illustrating the financial influence of the Web Summit, startups raised over 750 million USD over the 12 months since the 2023 Summit.
“Technology continues to impact everything we once held certain about, work, society, economics, politics and life itself on this planet and the Web Summit’s mission is not only to enable meaningful connections that change the world but to undertake a range of initiatives to support diversity, equality and inclusion across the tech worlds,” said Cosgrave.
As for my experiences in Lisboa last year, if you scroll through my posts during the Web Summit there (Nov 11 to 14), you will get an idea of the fascinating people I met and the social, cultural and economic issues I learned about.
People like the effervescent Merin M-McDonald from Ireland, a member of the ‘Women in Tech’ group with whom I went to several events.
“I was delighted by the large number of startups, especially those led by women, the overall diversity of teams and the variety of Community Meetups,” she told me. ”I was especially impressed by the Meetup organised by Cheyenne Fernanda, CEO of Ferna Tech Venture Studio, as well some of the amazing masterclasses such as that by Begonia Vazquez Merayo from net4tec.”
Merin also felt the Brazilian Pavilion at APEX showcased superbly how innovative producers in that country, including the Amazon region, are making positive impacts on local communities. Like many people at the Summit, Merin voiced concerned about the integration of AI into society. “The major challenge is to achieve this without losing touch with our humanity, to make sure we still remain creative and authentic. In this respect, the Web Summit was a reminder of the importance of connecting with each other.”
Then there were two men of widely different ages and backgrounds – Raj Abhyanker in California and André Gonçalo Dias Feliciano in Lisboa.
Raj is a qualified lawyer and entrepreneur who is CEO of GovGPT, a company that develops artificial intelligence (AI) technologies with dual-use applications in the civilian and military sectors. GovGPT was selected among the finalists for best start-ups in the world at the Web Summit. Raj describes his company’s product, DragonFly, as “a tactical vest that uses computer vision to protect and save lives of police and keep the public safer by 360 degree situational awareness and haptics. We are bringing the nextgen AI to public agencies, empowering them to to be smarter than ever before.”
André Gonçalo Dias Feliciano is a young physics engineering student at the University of Lisboa and an up-and-coming Portuguese nuclear scientist who also studied artificial intelligence and is a model for aspiring students. Both co-founder and board member of Nuclear Vision Portugal and a boy scout master, Andre was an enthusiastic volunteer at the Web Summit and was able to explain to me in simple terms how nuclear fission works for clean energy purposes.
A word of friendly advice to those attending a Web Summit for the first time and I certainly urge you to do so, even if you’re not an IT nerd like me, it’s a decision you won’t forget. There is SOOO much happening, so many excellent speakers, so many presentations, so many enjoyable social get-togethers with like-minded people, both during and after the events, you’ll need to be extremely well organised. Study carefully the comprehensive program in advance so you know which issues you are most interested in and how to get to the specific locations where they will be discussed.
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