Web Summit from home: Here’s what’s happening on day 1

  • ECO News
  • 2 December 2020

More than 800 speakers will be on the Web Summit stage over the next three days. We have selected what you can't miss in the first fully online web summit.

The opening day of the first 100% digital Web Summit will be a way for us to see Paddy Cosgrave again, who opens at noon with the welcome session, accompanied by Prime Minister António Costa and the Mayor of Lisbon Fernando Medina. But that is just the beginning.

Throughout the afternoon, dozens of speakers will circulate among the five virtual “stages”. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen explains her vision for Europe at the conference “A Europe for everybody” in 20 minutes (from 12.10 p.m. to 12.30 p.m., on Channel 1 of the platform). On the same channel, at 12:30, director and producer Ridley Scott talks about a “Digital Democracy with a purpose”, accompanied by Luís Neves, CEO of the Global Sustainability Initiative and Secretary of State for the Digital Transition André de Aragão Azevedo, in a conversation moderated by BBC journalist Dearbhla Gavin.

At 1:10pm, on Channel 2 – Creators, media professionals Michael Peters (CEO of Euronews), Justin Smith (CEO of Bloomberg Media) and Leisha Chi-Santorello (editor at BBC) talk about the competitive and fearless business of giving news in 2020. “Have we got news for you” is an opportunity to hear some of today’s most prominent media voices.

Scheduled for 2pm on “Roundtables” is the conversation between Yves Bernaert and Frank Plastina. The two Accenture managers talk about “Cloud and systems: operating in a new reality”.

“Investing in the climate future” is the topic of discussion that takes us back to Channel 1 of the Web Summit at 2:55 pm: Juan de Antonio, CEO of Cabify, is talking with Amazon Kara Hurst’s director of sustainability and Nigel Topping, high level climate champion at COP26 and coordinating with governments and other partners for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Channel 5, dedicated entirely to the Portuguese ecosystem and its partners, kicks off at 2pm. At 2:45 p.m., the “Portugal’s network for planet regeneration” conversation will feature Ana Salcedo (Zero Waste Lab), Gil Penha Lopes (Ecolise) and Pedro São Simão (Portuguese Plastics Pact), and will be moderated by ECO journalist Mariana de Araújo Barbosa.

Then, at 3:30 p.m., also on Channel 1, European Commission executive vice-president Frans Timmermans is chatting with ECO journalist Mariana de Araújo Barbosa about “The future of Europe is green”.

Former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, now High Commissioner for Human Rights at the United Nations, is chatting with Reuters journalist Simon Robinson about “Human Rights in the Digital Age” at 6:30 p.m. at the Centre Stage (Channel 1).

The day ends at 8:15 p.m. on Channel 1 – Centre with a conversation between the actress and founder of The Goop, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Nicole Quinn, partner of Lightspeed Ventures about investment, founding companies and everything in between.