Energies are high in Lisbon as visitors snap photos with the Web Summit logo on the Praça do Comércio on Sunday evening Delano

Energies are high in Lisbon as visitors snap photos with the Web Summit logo on the Praça do Comércio on Sunday evening Delano

Although some members of the delegation have already made their way to the Portuguese capital to take advantage of the holiday weekend, the rest of the delegation will be in the city by Monday evening, when Paddy Cosgrave, Web Summit CEO & co-founder, officially kicks off the event. 

Amongst the speakers to follow him are whistleblower and president of the Freedom of the Press Foundation, Edward Snowden, who will be joining remotely. His appearance follows hot on the heels of the release in September of his “Permanent Record”, a book Bloomberg hails both as a bestseller and a “honeypot for hackers”. 

Also on Monday evening’s lineup: Huawei rotating chairman Guo Ping will discuss 5G, followed by a water-themed talk with Jaden Smith, American rapper and co-founder of 501CThree.org and Just Water; Gary White who, along with actor Matt Damon, co-founded Water.org; Paul O’Callaghan of BlueTech Research; and Laurie Segall of Dot Dot Dot Media. 

From future cities to the future of Brexit

On Tuesday, the Luxembourg delegation--which includes representatives from the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce, the economy ministry, Luxinnovation, Deloitte, KPMG, Foyer, Baloise, CFL, Post, the University of Luxembourg and its SnT centre--will have their choice at a wide range of themed talks, workshops, and more. While privacy, AI and 5G are among the top focal points, events addressing the future of Brexit and Donald Trump’s presidency have also been added. 

Over the course of the coming days, the Luxembourg delegation will have a chance to hear from a wide range of speakers, including former British prime minister Tony Blair and Princess Beatrice of York; chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier; EU commissioner Margrethe Vestager; US White House CTO, Michael Kratsios, and house representative Ro Khanna; executives from Google, Microsoft, Huawei, Amazon, ESA and more. Manchester United footballer Juan Mata will also share thoughts on his Common Goal initiative, while former Barcelona and Brazil star Ronaldhino will talk Teqball. 

Workshops are also as varied as the speakers, ranging from how to kickstart innovation and scale content, to venture debt, chaos engineering and data lakes. 

Tuesday evening's events include a special edition of Startup Stories by Paperjam Club, held at Lisbon’s Vodafone headquarters, and a networking reception held in collaboration with the embassy of Luxembourg to Portugal, the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce and its Enterprise Europe Network, in collaboration with Luxinnovation, the House of Startups and the Luxembourg Open Innovation Club. 

By Wednesday, some of the delegates will head back to the grand duchy, while the summit continues through 7 November. 

Click here for more information about Web Summit 2019, including a live feed.