Qatar is ‘perfect gateway’ to region and world, says Web Summit CEO

There has been a “dramatic increase” in the participation of entrepreneurs, investors, and chief executive officers (CEOs) from traditional businesses in the Middle East in Web Summit, “the largest technology conference in the world,” according to its founder and CEO, Paddy Cosgrave.
“And the time feels right to do our first event in the Middle East,” Cosgrave told journalists during a media roundtable held Sunday to announce the staging of Web Summit Qatar, which is slated in February 2024.
Cosgrave said, “Web Summit brings together more technology entrepreneurs, more technology investors, and business journalists than any other event in the world...but our ambition is not to create a regional technology conference. It’s to create the most important global technology gathering in the Middle East.
“And in that sense, Qatar for us is the perfect gateway, not just to the region but to the world. Our ambition is not just to hold an event in Qatar, but to expand its horizons to all over the world, to create the largest technology gathering in the region and to have a global impact,” Cosgrave pointed out.
According to Cosgrave, Web Summit Qatar is expected to host more than 100 countries in February next year and is seen as a platform for companies from the region to showcase the technologies that they’re building to the participants of the event.
“There are already 70 startup CEOs coming to Web Summit in Lisbon in November, largely a consequence of the event in February in Doha. For Web Summit Qatar, we already have technology CEOs from more than 60 countries. We’ve already 64 countries represented and that number will only increase over the next four months,” Cosgrave explained.
He said Web Summit Qatar will discuss some of the most pressing global issues, including artificial intelligence (AI) and “the rise of the rest” – the speed at which companies are emerging from countries outside of traditional areas.
“The world was focused around the Western world. That’s changing before our eyes with the rise of the rest, especially India, China, the Middle East, and Africa. The world is changing and the timing of Web Summit in Doha, I think, is quite perfect in that regard,” Cosgrave further explained.