Tech titans are returning to the Portuguese capital this week as one of Europe’s largest technology events, Web Summit, launches on Monday evening.
But those flying in on private jets to Lisbon are being forced to land further afield, and even in Spain, as the Portuguese capital’s main airport has struggled to fit in those on private aircraft.
“Please be advised that there is currently a shortage of private jet slots during Web Summit at Lisbon Airport (LIS) and surrounding smaller airports,” the event organisers said in an email.
“Lisbon Airport is experiencing difficulty managing the volume of traffic, resulting in a lack of available take-off and landing slots for all operations”.
However, for those who have managed to arrive, here is what they can look forward to at the event.
The conference kicked off as usual on the colourfully lit and packed centre stage with the likes of the CEO and co-founder of vibe coding company Lovable, former tennis pro Maria Sharapova, and influencer Khaby Lame.
While the conference is geared to tech, Web Summit has always attracted top names from sports. This year, several Formula 1 figureheads will speak, including Toto Wolff, Principal of Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team, and Laurent Mekies, team principal and CEO of Oracle Red Bull Racing.
Aside from the celebrity names, the main event is tech. Web Summit CEO Paddy Cosgrave highlighted how this is the 10th year the event has been held in Lisbon since the organisation began holding events in Dublin, allowing companies such as Revolut to scale.
Big tech companies such as Meta, Nvidia, Microsoft, and Boston Dynamics will also be present at the event.
Cosgrave highlighted the role of start-ups at the event and said Poland was exhibiting the most it ever has, while Germany is in decline. However, he also mentioned the global aspect of the conference with a focus on Chinese technology as the race for AI domination gains pace.
Over 70,000 attendees are expected. Some 2,500 start-ups will be exhibiting, and 900 speakers will be present.
The key topics
As for the topics of discussion, artificial intelligence will feature heavily. Vibe coding, where you can ask an app to build anything, will be a key topic and its influence on coders.
How governments are aiming to regulate AI and the ethics of the technology will be discussed at length, with Henna Virkkunen, the European Commissioner responsible for tech sovereignty, security and democracy, speaking in a session with Euronews.
Another discussion surrounding regulation with Euronews will be held with Des Hogan, commissioner for data protection and chairperson of the Irish Data Protection Commission.
This year, Web Summit will also be looking at AI’s soaring energy demands and how they can be met.
Electricity consumption from data centres is estimated to amount to around 415 terawatt hours (TWh), or about 1.5 per cent of global electricity consumption in 2024, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), and it has grown at 12 per cent annually over the last five years.
Another discussion Euronews will host is how Europe can lead in AI through datacentres and infrastructure to enable the technology to grow. It will feature the CEO of START Campus, which is building fully renewable energy data centres, and Nscale, which is building the advanced infrastructure and systems for AI systems.