WebSummit Centre Stage (Altice Arena)

For the third time in a row, I’ve attended a Websummit. This event is indeed a marvelous conference for startups and techies but it is a lot more than that. At Websummit everybody has something to see, something to learn and something to share.

It is impossible to ignore that “every company wants to be a tech company”. At websummit that is obvious. Even Tommy Hilfiger has its own stand and presents itself as a tech company.

Websummit is also all about startups and entrepreneurship. Some startups come looking for funding, some come looking for partnerships and others just want to create awareness.

But not only startups are attracted to this “festival”. There are lots of Big Tech Co’s all over the venue. A big stake of the biggest companies has come to Lisbon for the event and brought the very best they have so offer and showcase.

Being at Websummit is also something of a “status affirmation”. We are here, We are disruptive, We are making thins happen out there, come and see.

This year’s summit was also about Data. Not only privacy or personal data, but data in general. Some weeks ago, in another conference, in Angola, my mentor was saying to an audience of senior telco stakeholders that everything is generating data all the time and that data is going to generate knowledge. And it is this knowledge that moves the economy…and the world, for that matter.

Data might not be the new oil, but it certainly is the fuel of the upcoming tech war.

Edward Snowden appeared at the event via videocall and questioned the effective impact of the GDPR. “The problem isn’t data protection, the problem is data collection,” Snowden said. “Regulation and protection of data presume that the collection of data in the first place was proper, that it is appropriate, that it doesn’t represent a threat or a danger.”