Overall of Web Summit 2022: Technology is the force that unites us!

Dr.R.Erdem Erkul

The capital of Portugal, Lisbon, hosted the annual Web Summit this year again. The city has been developing its own technology tourism thanks to those events like Web Summit, world’s largest technology conference.?

Even in the first two days, more than 70.000 people attended the Web Summit.? Being given the possibility of exchanging ideas about new generation technologies, listening to visionary speeches, and meeting very precious people make a technology conference even more meaningful.

International brands, new investors, enterprises, and startups that have bright new ideas are brought together in this significant technology conference. All segments from different technology branches came together to share, learn, and further advance their vision and capacity. On the one hand, there were Fortune 500 companies, and on the other hand, there are new candidates for the Fortune 500… Except for the private sector, public sector, and new technology companies, heads of state and politicians also participated in the event.

The summit offered us a great chance to network and discuss significant issues, such as the internet, developing technologies, and WEB3. I would like to share my experiences, the memorable moments of Web Summit 2022, and the significant headlines that caught my eye.

First of all, Lisbon is a wonderful city that everyone should see! The journey started with the opening night, which was a great start to the summit! Lisa Jackson from Apple and Katie Prescott from The Times gave their speeches. Later, Web Summit's co-founder Paddy Cosgrave and Binance’s CEO Changpeng Zhao touched upon different points about new-generation technologies at the opening night.

We were together with many people interested in different areas of technology, there were companies competing with each other in the stands next to each other, and this signifies the ‘’Uniting Power of Technology’’

Investors, entrepreneurs, technology lovers, and the financial world took their places in this uniting event. We listened to their success stories, their failings, and perspectives.

After opening night, a very busy three-day program was waiting for us. The first day’s schedule was very rich, and I found myself meeting different people, and listening to very innovative speeches. A different vision was being discussed in each pavilion in the fair area where the Web Summit was held.

I would like to mention Turkey’s presence at the Web Summit. There were Turkish companies that I felt very proud of when I saw them. Besides the Türkiye stand that represented our country so well, there was a gaming company from Türkiye. The technology ecosystem in Turkey is developing in a very fast manner. Tech conferences organized in Türkiye are increasing every day both in terms of quality and quantity. Turkey will be a meeting point for such global events.

Meeting leaders that I never had the opportunity to meet face-to-face before gave me a very different perspective.

I had the opportunity to meet Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of Binance, and we talked about Web 3, blockchain, and the technologies of the future. Meeting Mr. Zhao and exchanging ideas with him was really meaningful.

Moreover, at the 500 Startups panel, listening to the stories of different startups, being inspired by them, and hearing about their successes firsthand was another session that expanded my perspective. At the same time, we came together and shared our views at the network event of the London School of Economics.

At the last day of the summit social issue that I find very important was discussed:?What would be the social and economic effects of Web3 in the future??Tim Berners Lee, one of the founders of the World Wide Web (www) and the founder of Web3 company Inrupt, and his co-founder John Bruce discussed this important topic and shared their views with us.

After a very productive couple of days, I said goodbye to Web Summit and Lisbon.

As Türkiye, we need to be aware of where and how we should stand because we have a very strong potential. I fully believe in the power of young Turks. If we could reach our potential, we could certainly do great things.