Portugal’s PM flags up the best of Portugal for business at Web Summit opening night
Portugal’s lifestyle quality, government support for companies wanting to set up in Portugal, measures to cut taxes and red tape, incentives for young people and development stimulation were all trumpeted as reasons why overseas companies should start up or expand in Portugal by Portugal’s Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro at the opening of Web Summit in Lisbon on Monday evening.
Luís Montenegro then used to event to announce that in the first quarter of 2025 the government would launch a Large Language Model (LLM).
An LLM is a type of artificial intelligence (AI) trained on large amounts of text to perform tasks related to natural language processing, such as ChatGPT.
“This way, each student can have their own AI tutor or citizens can more easily access services,” said Luís Montenegro.
It was the reason why he changed from speaking in English to Portuguese by way of a demonstration of how such a tool works. He then returned to speaking English to conclude his welcome at the Altice Arena venue in the city’s Parque das Nações district.
The event was also opened by Web Summit CEO, Paddy Cosgrave who received a standing ovation from the audience when he walked onto stage.
The Web Summit founder had resigned as CEO in October 2203 after backlash to a social media post he made accusing Israel of committing war crimes in Gaza.
When he returned earlier this year, he said he hoped to make the summit “more intimate and community-focused” in future.
“It’s so good to be back” he said to rapturous applause. “This year we have the largest number of startups ever,” he said, confirming around 3,000, with a strong and record participation of startups from Brazil and the United States. This year is also a record number for startups founded by women: 44%.
Paddy Cosgrave unveiled the latest invocations for the 2024 edition, such as a partnership with Crunchbase – a company that provides information about businesses. Their content includes investment and funding information, individuals in leadership positions, and corporate news – and “meet ups”. After the usual icebreaker where he invited the audience to “greet three people around you” Paddy Cosgrave officially opened the Web Summit.
The Mayor of Lisbon, Carlos Moedas reminded that he had always aimed to bring new technology companies to Lisbon, particularly unicorns. “They didn’t believe in us, but today we have 14 unicorns headquartered in Lisbon,” he said.
Also on stage was Etosha Cave, co-founder of startup Twelve, which recently raised US$645 million for her project which turns carbon dioxide into aviation fuels; and Max Tegmark, president of the Future of Life Institute, to talk about the challenges of artificial intelligence.
In the end, as usual at the Web Summit, the headliner of the event was Pharrell Williams. “I was a child with a lot of imagination,” the musician explained, recalling his humble origins and how much his childhood drove him to have the ambition to achieve his ambitions, developing qualities that he then applied in his professional life.
Web Summit, the largest technology fair in the world with 71,000 participants from 153 countries, will continue until Thursday.
Image: Mayor of Lisbon City Council Carlos Moedas attends the opening session of Web Summit Lisbon 2024 under the theme “Where the future will be born” in Lisbon, Portugal, 11 November 2024. The web summit will last until November 14 and the main focus is to foster meaningful connections and communities through meet-ups, powered by Summit Engine, Summit Web’s software. ANTÓNIO PEDRO SANTOS/LUSA
Copyright:
© 2024 LUSA – Agência de Notícias de Portugal, S.A.
Image: Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro speaks at the opening session of the Web Summit Lisbon 2024 in Lisbon, Portugal, 11 November 2024. Under the theme ‘Where the future will be born’, this year’s Web Summit will feature 2,750 startups, in which the main focus is to promote meaningful connections and communities through meetings, fuelled by the Summit Engine, the Web Summit software. EPA/ANTONIO PEDRO SANTOS
Copyright:
© 2024 LUSA – Agência de Notícias de Portugal, S.A.
