Web Summit, the global technology events company, is launching a new North American flagship event in Vancouver.
The first Web Summit in North America, which will take place in Vancouver, Canada in May 2025, represents a new era for Web Summit and joins an expanding international roster of events run by the Dublin-based company.
Web Summit Vancouver will take over from Collision in Toronto, which became the fastest-growing technology event in North America. The new event will continue the company’s mission to support and connect the global technology ecosystem.
In the last two years, Web Summit has introduced three brand new events, including Web Summit Rio in South America, which has gathered more than 55,000 attendees in its first two years, and Web Summit Qatar in the Middle East, which drew 15,000 attendees in its first year. Web Summit’s flagship event in Lisbon is set to bring more than 70,000 attendees from 150-plus countries to Lisbon this November. In total, participation at Web Summit events has increased by 51 percent since 2022, and by the end of the year, our 2024 events will have drawn more than 160,000 attendees.
Web Summit aims to bolster this growth further as it takes over Vancouver in May 2025. With more than 11,000 tech companies, technology has become the fastest-growing sector in the province. The tech sector is growing at twice the rate of the overall economy, and Vancouver ranks first in high tech job growth in North America. Home to notable unicorns, including Dapper Labs, Blockstream, Trulioo, LayerZero Labs, Visier, the city also hosts major tech companies Salesforce, Apple and Amazon.
“We can’t wait to gather the tech world and take over the city next year. Vancouver is one of the most beautiful cities with a flourishing tech community that connects the Americas, Asia and the West Coast. The time has come to transition Collision into Web Summit. We have had the most incredible time in Toronto and are looking forward to continuing our Canadian journey in Vancouver,” said Paddy Cosgrave, founder and CEO of Web Summit.
“We are now in four continents and have every intention to bring something to Africa very soon, as we continue our ambition to connect the tech world and build meaningful and lasting communities around the world,” he added.
“British Columbia has a 30-year track record of creating and advancing world-class technologies, and we want to scale up our ability to commercialize innovation and translate these successes into a sustainable competitive advantage for our provincial economy,” said the Honourable Brenda Bailey, British Columbia’s Minister of Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation (JEDI).
“PacifiCan is here to champion BC as a global hub for innovation and technology, with cutting-edge talent and companies that are poised for international growth,” said the Honourable Harjit S. Sajjan, Minister of Emergency Preparedness and Minister responsible for the Pacific Economic Development Agency of Canada (PacifiCan). “Web Summit Vancouver is a transformative opportunity for the region that will create conditions for ongoing growth that will continue for years.”
“Collision has been an incredible success story for Canada’s tech ecosystem. It was exceptionally important to our government to have Web Summit stay in Canada and that Vancouver continue to build on and shape what was created in Toronto,” Harjit added.
Collision brought CA$189 million in economic impact to Toronto over its last three in-person events (2019, 2022, 2023), and is projected to bring CA$77 million in economic impact next week. From next May, Web Summit Vancouver will attract thousands of tech enthusiasts from around the world and inject hundreds of millions into the economy over the years.
Destination Vancouver anticipates that Web Summit Vancouver will generate CA$172 million in direct spending and CA$279 million in overall economic impact for British Columbia over three years. Web Summit’s direct economic impact can be worth €200 million annually in cities such as Lisbon, where it hosts its flagship event.
Web Summit has played a critical role in bolstering the tech landscape in its host cities and countries. Since Web Summit’s arrival in Lisbon, the Portuguese startup economy has grown significantly, influencing many young startups to relocate to Lisbon and major companies such as Mercedes, Revolut, and Google to open offices there.
“We knew Vancouver was the right place for Web Summit,” said Royce Chwin, President & CEO, Destination Vancouver. “A transformational event of this calibre will continue to build our reputation as an exceptional host city and sharpen Vancouver’s global destination competitiveness. And it will be an economic powerhouse – we anticipate that Web Summit Vancouver will generate $172 million in direct spending and $279 million in overall economic impact for BC in its first year.“
Web Summit Vancouver will build on the success of Collision, bringing together founders, entrepreneurs, business leaders, and investors across North America and beyond to connect and exchange ideas about the technology and trends shaping the world.
“Vancouver is ready to welcome the world,” said Vancouver mayor Ken Sim. “We’re a young, energetic city full of opportunity. Nowhere is that more obvious than in our thriving tech scene, where we’re advancing leading-edge technology like virtual reality and augmented reality. Vancouver is attracting highly-skilled people from around the world drawn here by our lifestyle, incredible natural surroundings, and the chance to be part of something exciting.”.
The final Collision event in Toronto will gather more than 40,000 tech entrepreneurs from 130-plus countries. In just 10 years, Collision has become the fastest-growing technology event in North America, often dubbed the “Anti-CES”, for its unique approach toward creating meaningful connections and communities.
About Web Summit
Web Summit is a technology events company, bringing together a global community of founders, entrepreneurs, business leaders, and investors to connect and exchange ideas about the technology and trends shaping the world. Web Summit events – including Web Summit in Lisbon, Web Summit Rio in South America, Web Summit Qatar in the Middle East, and RISE in Asia – have gathered nearly one million people since Web Summit’s beginnings as a 150-person conference in Dublin in 2009. Its newest event, Web Summit Vancouver, will launch in May 2025.
Forbes says Web Summit is “the best tech conference on the planet”; Bloomberg calls it “Davos for geeks”; Politico says it’s “the Olympics of tech”; the Guardian “Glastonbury for geeks”, in the words of Sky News, Web Summit is “the world’s most influential tech event”, and the Telegraph calls it the “planet’s ‘best’ tech conference”.
