100 million euros for the expansion of the exhibition grounds, tens of thousands of visitors this year: The biggest Internet conference in the world continues to grow and keeps the Portuguese capital, the Loyalty.
UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, at the opening, Tim Berners-Lee, the “inventor” of the World Wide Web as one of the main speakers, more than 70,000 anticipated visitors: The Web Summit, which starts on Monday in Lisbon, has finally evolved to the peak of the event in terms of the Internet.
Up until Thursday, the founders of start-UPS, corporate CEOs, and Geeks from all over the world are meeting in the Portuguese capital, there are hardly any free hotel rooms.
“For seven years I tried to win Tim Berners-Lee for the Web Summit, now it has finally come,” says Paddy Cosgrave, the founder and head of the event: “Few people have changed in the past hundred years, the world as strong as he is.”
The Rest of the list of Speakers is impressive: Brad Smith, Microsoft’s President, and Tony Bair, the former British Prime Minister, stand on it, as well as the Shell boss Ben van Beurden, representatives from Google, SAP, Mozilla, Netflix, Amazon, Apple, and – for the second Time in a row – Margrethe Vestager (article image).
Critical Internet-Conscience
The EU-Commissioner for competition, rests with the big Internet companies, have been thrilled with their critical presence in the past year, the visitors so that they had to be back, says Cosgrave. “Vestager is a brave woman, she shows a way, perhaps the whole world needs to go.”
Paddy Cosgrave, organiser of the Web Summit, is looking forward to another ten years of a conference in Lisbon
Cosgrave like the Web Summit as a thoughtful Conscience of the Internet: a critique of the economic development of the Word Wide Web was expected by its inventor Berners-Lee. Finally, the recently re-told, the big Tech have to be to smash corporations would have to. A lot of over the Internet different than originally planned.
At the Web Summit in Lisbon, however, everything is going well. So good, that, the, founded in 2009, Tech-conference will also take place during the next ten years in the Portuguese capital. “Lisbon is one of the coolest cities in Europe,” says Cosgrave. “After it no one had for a long time just on the Radar, now more and more start-UPS and large companies such as Mercedes and BMW.”
Thus, the Web Summit, invest the city, and Portugal is now around a hundred million in infrastructure for the Web Summit. Among other things, the exhibition site is to be expanded, because in the coming year, more than 100,000 participants are expected.
Good Business
In spite of the high expenditure of a good deal: As all the years of 2018 are fully booked, the Hotels in Lisbon; the Hotel and restaurant Association expects revenue of about 60 million euros. The Web Summit in 2017 has resulted in Portugal’s tax revenues in the amount of 30 million euros, in this year, they are likely to be even higher. The city and the government declared that the next ten years, Web Summit would bring to the country about three billion.
The Web Summit (here’s a picture of 2017) is now the largest Internet conference in the world
Not to mention the transactions that are initiated in a Web Summit or be made: for example, the German automotive industry to 2018 is represented almost completely explains Cosgrave, and, like all other participants in the search for new ideas.
And the display often developed by small Startups, where the Meeting will provide the opportunity. “The Web Summit it comes to good ideas”, stressed Cosgrave, therefore, may imagine in addition to the Major in that year, 60 exciting Startups on the main stage.
Watch the Video 01:19 live Now 01:19 Min. 
Web Summit 2017: women in the Tech industry
Base to expand
Including, for the first Time a company from the food sector: Wefarm, a network that supplies smallholder farmers with information via SMS.
“We’ve dealt with until now, hardly to agriculture and food,” says Cosgrave. That should change, the base of the Web Summit will be expanded in the coming years.
The fun factor, by the way: He begins with the “Surf Summit” on the weekend in the almost 50 kilometres from Lisbon, away to the coastal town of Ericeira and continues with the “Night Summit”, organized excursions, night life to Lisbon.