Web Summit 2020 moves online amid surge in COVID-19 cases

Boston Dynamics Founder and CEO Marc Robert presents “Spot”, a robot dog, on the last day of the Web Summit in Lisbon on 7 November 2019. – Photo: AFP/Patricia De Melo Moreira

Europe’s largest tech event, Web Summit, will be going, well, to the web in 2020 as COVID-19 cases continue to surge in European countries. Here’s how it will work.

The summit is expected to address subjects linked to the coronavirus pandemic, such as the increase in remote work and other issues confronting the tech sector.

WEB SUMMIT 2020: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

THE MOVE ONLINE

Web Summit organisers confirmed that the event will be held exclusively online, due to the coronavirus pandemic and the surge in new cases, predominantly in Europe.

One of the largest tech events in the world, the 2019 Web Summit edition saw more than 70 000 conference-goers gather in Lisbon, Portugal.

Now that the event will be hosted online, the organisers are targetting 100 000 visitors for this year’s event. Paddy Cosgrave, chief organiser of the Davos for geeks, told AFP on Thursday:

“It’s not sensible to organise large gatherings of any size. The health and safety of the people of Lisbon and our attendees is very important […] The reality is we’re in a second wave”.

WEB SUMMIT 2020: DATE AND TIME

Web Summit 2020 will take place from 2 to 4 December 2020. The opening ceremony will start at 12:00 SAST and will be hosted by Lisbon Mayor Fernando Medina and Portugal Prime Minister Antonio Costa.

Scheduled talks throughout the conference include:

• Baobab Studios: The Making of Baba Yaga, by Maureen Fan
• From Gaming to Mainstream, by Discord CEO Jason Citron and Axios CTC Ina Fried
• From Cashless to Cardless: What’s Next? by Starling Bank founder Anne Boden
• The World’s First Instant Play Gaming Company, by Playco CEO Michael Carter
• How to Sell a Great Story, by DLD founder Steffi Czerny and Huawei SVP Chen Lifang
• 2020: The Best and Worst of Social, by Co-founder at That Lot, David Schneider
• Mobile Gaming Trends, by App Annie CEO Ted Krantz
• How AI can Eliminate the World’s Language Barrier, by Unbabel co-founder Vasco Pedro

And those are just a few talks I’m personally looking forward to, scheduled for 2 December 2020. The complete schedule – covering 2 to 4 December – can be viewed here.

WEB SUMMIT 2020: SPEAKERS

The organisers have, to date, confirmed the participation of 300 speakers, including anthropologist Dr Jane Goodall, as well as Zoom founder Eric Yuan and Mark Cuban, Shark and Dallas Mavericks owner.

Other notable attendees include Facebook’s CTO Mike Schroepfer, Slack co-founder Cal Henderson, Xiaomi president Xiang Wang, Komaza MD Esther Mutuma and Nokia CEO Pekka Lundmark.

The complete list can be viewed here.

WEB SUMMIT 2020 THEMES

Web Summit’s content spans more than 30 topics “covering all industries touched by tech”. There will be six general themes throughout the 2020 event:

• Marketing and Media
• Developers and Data
• Society
• Commerce
• Lifestyle
• Business Development

“Where the future goes to be born”.

The Atlantic