Conference: This Year’s Web Summit Will Take Place Physically

The COVID-19 pandemic is still ongoing but it will not be stopping Europe’s biggest tech conference- the Web Summit, from taking place in-person. The web summit, which was held virtually last year due to the coronavirus pandemic, will return as an in-person event in Lisbon this November.

“We couldn’t be more excited to return in-person. Seeing people safely connecting in-person again, and re-experiencing the magic of face-to-face interactions, will be incredible,” Paddy Cosgrave, Web Summit CEO, said in a statement.

In November Last year, Paddy Cosgrave had said that he looked forward to the 2021 Web Submit which he expected to return in-person, and that the venue, Lisbon’s Altice Arena, had been booked for the event.

Organizers of the event, on Wednesday, said that they were abiding by COVID-19 protocols and were working closely with health officials to set up a COVID-safe event. And while it has not yet been decided whether masks or tests will be required, the venue is being prepared to ensure social distancing is possible.

The Portuguese government plans on lifting the compulsory use of masks in outdoor areas in September; use of the mask will, however, remain required in large gatherings. According to government data, some 71 percent of Portugal’s population have received one dose of a COVID vaccine, and 62 percent are fully vaccinated.

Parts of the conference will be streamed online, just as it was done before the pandemic.

Last year, due to the pandemic, the Web Summit event had to be adjusted to meet various health and safety restrictions linked to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, following in the steps of other major tech conferences, such as RSA and the Mobile World Congress.

In 2019, the conference, attracted a little over 70,000 participants from 163 countries, hosting over 1,200 speakers across 22 stages. Last year, the event was able to accommodate more participants and 104,000 attended the online-only event.

This year’s Summit is expected to host 70,000 attendees in Lisbon personally, as well as up to 80,000 online, a welcome option for guests who are unable to travel long distances. Over 1,000 speakers and 1,250 startups are lined up to attend the Summit, which will take place from the first to the fourth of November, the company said.

The event had been held annually in the Portuguese capital since 2016, when it moved there from Dublin, Ireland, and like every other year since its inception, it will be joined by hundreds of speakers, many of which are chief executives of major tech enterprises.

The founder also announced last year that 2022 could see a South American Summit in either Rio de Janeiro or Porto Alegre, describing Brazil as “an absolutely fantastic, thriving country.”