Mayor of Lisbon Moedas kicks off Web Summit 2022 by launching city’s Unicorn Factory

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Mayor of Lisbon Carlos Moedas kicked off the Web Summit 2022 by announcing the launch of the city’s Unicorn Factory to help start-up companies with potential to get off the ground.

He pointed out that Lisbon and its partners will invest EUR 8 million in the platform to strengthen the economy and create wealth, predicting that overall investment could reach 100 million as private partners and sponsors, including US tech giant Google, are supporting the platform.

“The aim is to help take companies, of any nationality, at the beginning of their lives, help them reach a global scale and eventually become unicorns or companies worth USD 1 billion,” Moedas stressed.

He pointed out that it makes no sense to have a city that supports the launch of start-ups but does not have the infrastructure needed to scale them up “into viable international companies.”

The Web Summit was launched in 2009 in Dublin, but moved to Lisbon permanently in 2016. It focuses on emerging technologies, drawing in speakers that include experts, CEOs, politicians and celebrities, among others.

It provides networking opportunities for industry leaders, experts and entrepreneurs, and has returned as an in-person event last year, after being held online in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

More than 70,000 people attended the opening on 1 November, with 2,630 start-ups and companies presenting their ideas to more than 1,000 investors. Over 1,000 speakers from companies including Google, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook and Amazon will hold speeches at the event that closes on 4 November.

Web Summit co-founder Paddy Cosgrave pointed out at the launch of the 2022 event that “our job is, I think, to push the boundaries of debate and discourse.”

Commenting on proposed solutions to environmental issues, he expressed belief that the discussion needs to widen “because not every solution is going to emerge from an internationally agreed document.” Cosgrave stressed that all voices should and will be heard at the Web Summit.

“By early 2021, it looked like Web Summit might not survive the year,” Cosgrave noted and added “as a team, we rallied together and somehow made it through 2021… it’s been an extraordinary recovery over the last 18 months, from near death in early 2021 to our best year ever in 2022.”

(Photo credit: Carlos Moedas / Twitter)