The Web Summit is positioning itself as a broad tech and future festival. What does this mean for exhibiting startups? Also: Does the Web Summit compare to other mega-conferences?
After Opening night The Web Summit begins with its program and startup exhibition. The crowd of 60,000 visitors is spread out across the four exhibition halls and the adjacent Altice Arena. The Web Summit doesn't need to shy away from comparisons with other major conferences such as SXSW: In terms of both the number and the quality and internationality of the exhibiting startups, the Lisbon conference is at least on par with the other giants. However, since the expo site is somewhat remote, the event, at least during the day, is more reminiscent of a traditional trade fair than a tech festival. Night Summit, the evening networking program in the city's bars and clubs.
Here comes the night time. #NightSummit #websummit #lisbon #websummit2017 https://t.co/BEEkCJNKL9 pic.twitter.com/fPdbZkGkql
— Daragh J. Anderson (@D_r_ghJ_nd_rs_n) November 8, 2017
Waters down the topic?
As was already clear on the opening night, the event's focus is deliberately broad. Speakers at the Web Summit include François Hollande, Al Gore, Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich, Wladimir Klitschko, US soccer goalkeeper Hope Solo, Dr. Oz, known from US television, and countless other big names from politics, the tech industry, science, and sports.
The Web Summit thus offers the ideal platform for the big players in the tech industry: VW, for example, is using the conference to present a collaboration with Google. Digital Hub Initiative The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy will be present with its own booth. And the overarching theme is "Artificial Intelligence."
(Photo: Munich Startup)
Is this diversity of topics an advantage for startups or does it dilute the topic of the conference?
“The global IT industry comes together at the Web Summit”
We have Philipp Uscharewitz from HoloLight The Munich-based mixed reality startup will have a booth at the Web Summit. Uscharewitz says:
"There's a lot going on here, and you meet some high-quality visitors. However, the conference is very much about AI, which we have little to do with. That's why it's sometimes difficult to find the right personal contacts."
But the size of the conference also brings advantages, says Uscharewitz:
"On the other hand, the global IT industry comes together at the Web Summit. This is, of course, important for exchanging ideas and identifying new trends. We're taking the opportunity to present ourselves and help shape the emerging mixed reality market. For us as a B2B provider, however, industry trade fairs like Automatica or the Hannover Messe make more sense."
He can't yet assess the program himself. Because he's standing at the booth, he hasn't heard much of the speakers on Tuesday:
“We’ll catch up on that in the next few days.”
He still has some time: the Web Summit in Lisbon runs until Thursday.
