The Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said he is “disappointed” at the Web Summit organisers’ decision to move the convention from Ireland.
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“Web Summit 2016 will be held at the MEO Arena and FIL Feira Internacional de Lisboa”.
The event, which started five years ago with 400 technology entrepreneurs, will draw around 30,000 attendees this November, the organizers said in an e-mailed statement on Wednesday.
When asked what financial incentives had been provided to move the event to Lisbon, a spokesman for the Web Summit told TheJournal.ie the company would “not comment on confidential commerical agreements”. The annual technology event attracted some of the brightest technological minds to our capital and became an important pillar of the global startup ecosystem.
Last month it emerged that Lisbon, London and Amsterdam were all in talks with the event’s organisers, so today’s announcement does not come as a complete surprise. It was those first attendees who became our greatest champions, spreading the word of Web Summit far and wide.
“It has not been an easy decision to move Web Summit from its Irish home”, Cosgrave said. We want it to continue to grow and for our attendees to get the best experience possible.
About Lisbon, he went on to say, “Lisbon is a great city with a thriving startup community”.
Mr Kenny said the Web Summit had been a “great addition to Ireland’s reputation”.
The news will come as a blow to Ireland’s industrial policy makers, who have used the event in recent years as a reference point for foreign tech firms seeking to establish a European base here.
The blog post notes that the new venues could accommodate up to 80,000 people (gulp!) and that the city has better transportation options and hotel options.
“This is a big move for us, to leave Dublin after five years”.
The tech conference has since grown to be a massive event, attracting 22 thousand people and speakers like the founders of Twitter, Tinder and Instagram. Our headquarters is here in Dublin and will remain here.
“We will always be grateful for the support and encouragement we received from Dublin, the Irish authorities and the Irish start-up community”.
2,000 start-ups, 1,000 investors and 650 speakers will participate in the three-day conference. We will continue to try to showcase the future while delivering new ways of bringing people together, wherever it may be in the world.
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The Web Summit is to be located in Lisbon “for the next few years”, according to Portugal’s deputy prime minister, Paulo Portas.
