The Gulf State will host next year’s Web Summit for the very first time.
Qatar has joined global technology giants at this year’s 2023 Web Summit in Lisbon ahead of its debut hosting of the event next year.
Set to run until November 16, the Web Summit in Portugal has already struck record-breaking numbers after returning back to the industry for the first in-person conference in two years.
More than 70,000 individuals have come together from more than 160 countries to discuss a range of topics, including deep tech, data science, design and environmental sustainability as well as the future of technology.
Sheikh Jassim bin Mansour Al-Thani, Director of the Government Communications Office (GCO), said Qatar’s upcoming Web Summit will be an opportunity for the youth in the region to demonstrate their ambitions.
“Just as the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 was a tournament for all Arabs, we are keen to make Qatar’s hosting of the Web Summit an opportunity for the youth in the Arab world to showcase their initiatives, abilities, and talents on a global stage, and to benefit from and interact with this remarkable global forum,” the official said.
“Hosting this event is an investment in talents, minds, developing technology, and the future, and it is a winning bet on Qatar and its youth,” he added.
Earlier this year, Web Summit booked Qatar as a host for the 2024 edition, marking the first time the event will be staged in the Middle East.
Taking place at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Center (DECC) from February 26-29, some 7,500 attendees worldwide are expected to join the Middle East’s first-ever Web Summit.
Paddy Cosgrave, Web Summit founder and CEO, hailed the Lisbon event as an ambition to make the event global, with Qatar being an opportunity to connect a new generation of like-minded thinkers.
“Web Summit in Lisbon has become the world’s largest technology conference, and our ambition is to make Web Summit ever more global. Establishing a new event in the Middle East is part of that broader plan for Web Summit,” said the CEO.
“Web Summit Qatar will help connect a new generation of founders in the Middle East to investors, journalists, customers, partners, and more around the world, and represents a new opportunity for Web Summit to convene technology’s leaders and develop an already fast-growing tech scene,” Cosgrave added.
Renowned figures like American entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk and venture capital investor Tim Draper have been announced among the speakers in Qatar, which will also host athletes and media personalities.
