3 things we learned about community at Web Summit this year

This year at Web Summit, our community initiatives were a resounding success, with a wealth of inspiring and informative content for attendees to enjoy.

Web Summit is committed to ensuring a diverse and equitable space for all at our events. We believe that diversity and inclusion are essential to our mission of connecting the brightest minds in the tech industry.

We recognise that the tech industry is not always inclusive or welcoming to everyone and we want to change that by creating an environment that is safe, welcoming and nurturing for all.

The community team here at Web Summit works hard to provide a platform for underrepresented groups to share their voices and ideas.

We’re excited to share some community highlights with you from three jam-packed days of Web Summit 2022 in Lisbon. Enjoy!

🔥 More than 30,000 women attended Web Summit 2022 🔥

Web Summit attendees and our very own DEI programme manager, Carmen Antiqueira (on right) pose for a picture in the Women in Tech Lounge at Web Summit 2022. Image: Lukas Schulze/Web Summit (CC BY 2.0)

The sheer number of women who attend our event is a mark of success for us. We are delighted to say Web Summit 2022 welcomed more than 30,000 women to the event this year – 42 percent of our total number of attendees.

If you happened to walk past the Web Summit 2022 Women in Tech Lounge, sponsored by Toptal, you will have witnessed and felt the enormous energy of networking, fun and conversation that occurs when women come together.

Freelance matchmaking platform Toptal was proud to sponsor the Women in Tech Lounge, which celebrated, connected and educated the ever-growing diversity of talent in the technology field.

The Lounge stage featured sessions on labour retention, startup scaling, business ethics, building your brand and more. Web Summit community partners Lean In Portugal and GirlMOVE even made an appearance.

Lean In Portugal also hosted an Impact masterclass, helping attendees to learn how to be an ally and to understand their privilege and power.

Hosted by Stela Suils Cuesta – regional Lean In leader and co-founder of Diversitude – this masterclass looked at recent research into allyship. The research included a finding that, although the majority see themselves as allies, few employees are taking basic allyship actions.

🎓 Nurturing the next generation of founders 🎓

Brad Smith, vice chair and president of Microsoft, addressing students at a Web Summit masterclass. Image: Lukas Schulze/Web Summit (CC BY 2.0)

Web Summit 2022 saw the first year of our new scholarship programme, through which young people from Europe and beyond were invited to apply to attend the Lisbon event.

Scholars from 21 different countries had the opportunity to join roundtables, masterclasses and Night Summit, alongside a busy schedule of talks and topics that Web Summit offers across 25-plus tracks.

“I’m confident that I’ll be able to use all the knowledge and new contacts I’ve made to develop my own startup.”

– Web Summit 2022 scholarship programme participant

One participating scholar said: “I was able to make new friends, meet famous speakers, talk to leaders of big companies and emerging startups, and learn about innovative technologies – all thanks to the scholarship programme.”

They went on to say, “I’m confident that I’ll be able to use all the knowledge and new contacts I’ve made to develop my own startup. I’m very grateful and thankful for the opportunity to participate in the event and the scholarship programme”.

One bonus for scholarship programme students was the opportunity to attend four exclusive sessions in which they could get up close and personal with top speakers, including Microsoft president Brad Smith, Code and Theory CEO Dan Gardner and, of course, Web Summit CEO Paddy Cosgrave.

By all accounts, these sessions were well received, with one student saying, “I particularly liked the scholarship session with Brad Smith. It was really inspiring to have such close contact with a successful professional like him, and having the opportunity to ask him questions was a one-time life experience”.

We look forward to seeing our scholarship programme develop in the future as the community grows, and we can’t wait to meet those who we believe are future speakers, founders and investors at our events.

💪 Small but mighty community partners 💪

In addition to our larger community partners at Web Summit, this year we wanted to shine a spotlight on the great work that smaller groups are doing to improve the tech ecosystem.

The organisations we partnered with included As Raparigas Do Código, who focus on promoting digital inclusion for girls and young women, and HUKI (the Croatian Office for Creativity and Innovation), which is aiming to become the leading organisation in Europe for non-formal education and for generating social innovations.

It was also wonderful to welcome members of the Amos Bursary from the UK, who were pleased as can be when one of the members of the group won the Golden Ticket on Opening Night.

We always want to provide equity where it is most needed. It’s great to see how individuals and smaller organisations benefit from the experience of Web Summit.

Are you interested in joining Web Summit 2023 as a community partner? Visit our community page for more details.

Main image of attendees networking at the Women in Tech Lounge: Web Summit