there Was music, a few stalls, and roulottes to sell food, at least a graffiter to draw on a wall, a presenter much more excited than the audience, a certain air of festival and dozens of startups to try to convince juries along the old machines to bake bread. It was a festive atmosphere and some confusion that were announced in the 66 startups that will represent Portugal at the Web Summit, a major event of entrepreneurship organized by an irish company and that will happen in November, in Lisbon.
The contest Road2WebSummit, promoted by the Government and by the organization itself, had received 237 entries from startups interested in going to the event and determined 170 finalists. The 66 winners have been chosen in this Wednesday, after a presentation of a few minutes before one of the multiple panels of juries, in a kind of cubicle improvised in which English was the language current.
The selection happened in what is now called the Hub Creative of the Blessed – a series of buildings expenses by the time that include an old factory bread and to the military warehouses in the area of Lisbon, that the municipality is to transform it into a space dedicated to technological industries and creative. The startups chosen now have the right to have a stand at the Web Summit (a pass that, in normal conditions, it costs about two thousand euros, and must go through an approval process on the part of the organizers) and an entry for four people. The startups will also have access to training sessions and there are still seven companies that will participate in a meeting with political leaders international.
In the list of startups chosen are products that will software to the management of businesses (Magnifinance), the solutions of computer security Probe.ly), passing by products in the area of health (Magnomics, MitoDIETS) and agriculture (WiseCrop). One of the companies oldest in the list is the Science4you, founded in 2011, and that sells games and educational toys.
After the announcement, it was time for the prime minister to rise to the stage of a warm room and crowded (the mayor Fernando Medina had recalled shortly before, while he was speaking, that the air conditioning was already invented there are a lot) to make a pitch for technological entrepreneurship, and argue that the country should bet on areas outside of those that are typically associated with. “The Web Summit is a very important event, is a reference and is a way of confirming the country in a way different from its traditional image. Know that we are a large tourist destination, a large producer of shoes, olive oil, wine and textiles, but we also have the profile of being good in the car industry or the aircraft industry, and we have today a multitude of companies in the areas of new technologies,” said António Costa, who classified the event in November as "an extraordinary opportunity to build and globalize these companies."
The Web Summit, whose coming to Portugal after five editions in Dublin was announced in September of last year, has had a strong support on the part of the Portuguese authorities, and there is even a working group created by the Government to accompany the event. The organization expects about 50 thousand participants, many of whom will come from abroad, and 600 speakers. Many of the speakers are from companies in the area of information technologies, but there are also executives of the automobile industry, musicians, and a hand-full of ex-footballers and sports managers.
Already the company behind Web Summit (which he also dedicates to the organization of other events) took the opportunity to announce that will open in Lisbon, the first office outside of Ireland. Paddy Cosgrave, co-founder and the most familiar face of the event, stated during a press conference, to have in Dublin "many people" who would not care to be at work in the Portuguese capital.
In answer to questions from journalists, Cosgrave declined to comment on a phrase spoken just before by the minister of Economy, Manuel Caldeira Cabral, who had spoken to have the event staged in Lisbon during the five years, when the commitment displayed by the company and by the Government is only three. "My attention is in the next six weeks," said the responsible, who also claimed not to know the expectations of revenue for this edition, nor the costs of organizing the Web Summit in Lisbon.
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