Web Summit begins today with the intervention of the inventor of the ‘web’
The Web Summit kicks off today in Lisbon with the inventor of the web to share his vision of the network he created almost 30 years ago and United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres to address the digital future.
At 5:00 p.m., the opening of the third edition of the Web Summit in Lisbon opens, and to welcome the more than 70 thousand expected participants, the organization organizes, before the opening ceremony, an “Opening Night Festival “for the first contacts.
The official opening, on the main stage of the summit, only arrives at 6.30 pm with a speech by Paddy Cosgrave, executive chairman of the event, who will introduce the speakers.
Opening the speeches will be the British physicist Tim Berners-Lee, who invented the world wide web (‘www’) almost 30 years ago.
Tim Berners-Lee will talk about his vision for this network, which he created in 1989, initially aimed at making the web accessible and serving humanity.
Next, it will be the turn of the vice president in the social and environmental areas of Apple, Lisa Jackson, to intervene on “Good businesses that do well”, relating the activity of the technology giant with its sustainable objectives, namely the bet on renewable energies.
And because the technology is also related to cinema, especially the special effects, will follow on stage the American filmmaker Darren Aronofsky, director of Protozoa Pictures and known for films as Pi (1998), Life is not a dream (2000) and Mother (2017).
The last speaker is the Portuguese António Guterres, secretary general of the United Nations.
In a 15-minute speech on how to create a “digital future that is safe and beneficial to all,” he will share his vision of harnessing new technologies while safeguarding the dangers of innovation.
Then comes the greetings of the Prime Minister, António Costa, and the mayor of Lisbon, Fernando Medina.
For those who resist, the “Opening Night Festival” continues at 8:00 p.m. and until midnight near the event, by the river, at Rua do Bojador.
According to the organization, this edition of the Web Summit, which runs until Thursday at the Altice Arena (formerly Meo Arena) and FIL, in Parque das Nações, will be “the biggest and the best” ever.
In addition to the expansion of space, this year’s edition will have three new stages at the Web Summit: “DeepTech”, which will focus on the impact of technologies such as computing and nanotechnology in industry and everyday life, “UnBoxed” where technology critics will analyze electronic products, as well as “CryptoConf,” which will discuss subjects such as digital currencies.
In all, there will be 25 different conferences within a single summit.
As in other editions, there will side events to the summit, such as the Night Summit nightlife at the LX Factory and the Sunset Summit party at the Portugal Pavilion.
The technological, innovation and entrepreneurship summit Web Summit was born in 2010 in Ireland.
In 2016, the summit moved to Lisbon, with an initial forecast to stay three years.
However, in October of this year, it was announced that the event will continue to be held in Lisbon for another 10 years, ie until 2028, with annual counterparts of 11 million euros and the expansion of the Lisbon International Fair (FIL).
