ACRAL, the Algarve’s retailers’ association, has celebrated news that Lisbon will host the 2016 Web Summit and has called for the Algarve to attract similar events to the region.
“The Algarve needs these kinds of events,” said Victor Guerreiro, the president of ACRAL.
“Besides having a direct impact on the economy, they bolster everything from partnerships to investments and give companies a chance to expand to other markets,” he said, adding that they also help increase the region’s visibility.
The Web Summit is an annual technology conference that has been held in Dublin since 2010 but will be moved to Lisbon in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
It focuses on internet technology and usually features the industry’s big names. This year, some of the attendees included president of Pixar Animation Studios, Ed Catmull; Chief Data Officer of Deutsche Bank, JP Rangaswami; Chief Digital Officer of The Guardian newspaper, Tanya Cordrey; and EVP of Business Development at Microsoft, Peggy Johnson.
While covering the logistics behind the Web Summit costs €1.3 million, the expected return is of “around €175 million”, says Guerreiro, stressing that the event also takes place in November, during the low season.
Lisbon’s first Web Summit will be held between November 7-10 and is expected to attract 50,000 people from 130 countries, including 1,000 speakers, 2,100 start-up companies, 1,000 investors and over 1,200 journalists.
By MICHAEL BRUXO [email protected]
