Everything you need to know about Web Summit 2021

Today is the day. Europe’s largest technology and entrepreneurship event returns once again at the Feira Internacional de Lisboa (FIL) and Altice Arena, in Lisbon, after last year’s edition was held in 100% online format. 40,000 attendees are expected in the venue.

With the opening day taking place today and if you are attending, the following guidelines will help you clear up any doubts you may have regarding the venue and help you navigate this year’s summit.

How to arrive at the event?

To get to Web Summit, located in Parques das Nações, attendees can use several types of public transport, but the main ones are:

Metro:

If you’re coming from the city centre, take the green line from Baixa-Chiado station to Alameda station. From there, take the red line to Oriente station. After arriving, you just need to walk five minutes to the final destination.

Alternatively, if you are coming from the Humberto Delgado Airport (the only one in Lisbon), you can take the red line from Aeroporto station to Oriente.

Attention: It should be noted that next week, on November 2, there will be a partial strike at Metropolitano de Lisboa and a 24-hour strike on November 4.

Bus:

However, if you are worried about the strike, you can always take the 728, 744 or 782 bus to Oriente station. From there, is just five minutes’ walk from the event venue.

Special Web Summit pass:

At last, a special offer from Carris (which operates Lisbon’s buses) and Metropolitano de Lisboa will also be available. Both companies will offer a Web Summit pass, for one, three or five days, and a route dedicated to the event.

Depending on the participant’s choice, Web Summit passes can be for one, three or five days, costing €9.5, €18.50 or €25, respectively, and will cover the Lisbon, Sintra and Cascais areas.

The pass allows travel on Lisbon’s public transport, including buses, lifts, trains, trams, lifts and underground.

The line dedicated to the event – Huttle Web Summit – will run between Praça de Comércio (crossing Rua da Prata and Rua da Alfândega) and Oriente Station (Av. D. João II), with an average interval of 22.5 minutes.

The first trip from Praça do Comércio starts at 08h00 am and the last one at 08h00 pm, while the first and last trip from Oriente Station are scheduled for 08h45 am and 08h45 pm, respectively.

Accessing the Web Summit venue

Another thing that you should know is that attendees have to comply with the venue’s health and safety guidelines if they want to get access to one of the biggest tech events in Europe.

To access the venue you will need:

• Photo identification;
• EU Digital Covid Certificate; or
• Valid negative PCR test from within the last 72 hours; or 
• Valid negative antigen test from within the last 48 hours.

Inside the event, everyone will be required to wear masks indoors, and outdoors within event access lines. The only exception is attendees eating or drinking, and those presenting on roundtables, speaking on Web Summit stages, performing on camera, or broadcasting interviews.

Opening ceremony

On the event’s first day, scheduled for November 1, the Web Summit organization has decided to invite the following names to the big stage:

• Frances Haugen – The Facebook Whistleblower; Whistleblower Aid
• Libby Liu – CEO of Whistleblower Aid
• Ayọ (fka Opal) Tometi – Co-founder of Black Lives Matter
• Nicolas Julia – Co-founder & CEO of Sorare
• Paddy Cosgrave – CEO & Founder of Web Summit and Collision
• Pedro Siza Vieira – Minister for the Economy, the government of Portugal
• Carlos Moedas – Mayor of Lisbon

Moments you won’t want to miss

Over the four days of the Web Summit, there will be numerous debates, talks and lectures. However, with so much to choose from, ECO decided to leave some suggestions that might interest you.

November 2:

• “Facebook and innovation in Europe”, with Nick Clegg, VP of Global Affairs & Communications of Meta (Facebook), and Matthew Garrahan, News Editor of Financial Times. Local time: 10h00 am – 10h20 am.
• “Why Amazon wants you to talk to Alexa less”, with Tom Taylor, SVP of Alexa, Amazon. Local time: 11h25 am – 11h40 am.

November 3:

• “#BlackLivesMatter: Revolution v reform”, with Ayọ (fka Opal) Tometi, Co-founder of Black Lives Matter, and Nicholas Thompson, CEO of  The Atlantic. Local time: 11h15 am – 11h35 am.
• “How can we achieve digital equality across the world?”, with Brad Smith, ‎President and Vice-Chair of Microsoft. Local time: 12h35 pm – 13h00 pm.

November 4:

• “A new dawn for AI’s ABCs”, with Vasco Pedro, Co-founder & CEO of Unbabel, Daniela Braga, founder of Defined.ai, and David Walsh, Acting Managing Editor of Euronews Next. Local time: 11h10 am – 11h30 am
• “NASA: The bright side of the moon”, with Carlos Garcia-Galan, Head of European Service Module (ESM) Integration, NASA. Local time: 15h35 pm – 15h55 pm.

Venture and CIS battle for attention on this year’s Web Summit

This year, Web Summit has added to its portfolio two new events that aim to diversify the technology sphere. Their names are the Corporate Innovation Summit (CIS) and Venture.

• According to the event’s website, the Corporate Innovation Summit (CIS) is an invite-only event ahead of Web Summit – starting on October 31 and ending on November 1 -, that brings together “women and men guiding some of the world’s biggest companies into the future.”
• As for Venture, the event will take place on the same days as Web Summit (From November 1 to 4) and is directed to investors.