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DIGITAL WORLD
FOR ALMOST EVERYONE WHO IS ANYONE IN THE TECH WORLD, DUBLIN WAS ONCE AGAIN THE PLACE TO BE AT THE END OF OCTOBER, WHEN THE CEOS AND FOUNDERS OF SOME OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL AND INNOVATIVE DIGITAL COMPANIES IN THE WORLD, TOGETHER WITH THE REPRESENTATIVES OF MORE THAN 300 INVESTMENT GROUPS AND 950 START-UPS FROM IRELAND AND EUROPE, GATHERED TOGETHER IN THE RDS FOR THE ANNUAL WEB SUMMIT. This year – incredibly just the fourth
‘Not only is this event a tremendous platform from which to reach the international technology community, but Ireland itself has a great reputation as an innovative and dynamic location where the technology sector thrives’
year of the event – was even bigger and better than before with the number of delegates more than doubling to nearly 10,000 people, 7,000 of whom travelled to Ireland from more than 90 countries around the world. The event also expanded in scope this year with the
Bruce Aust, executive president, Nasdaq OMX
the figure jumped to just short of 4,000 in 2012. It is now Europe’s biggest technology conference. The draw has always been the quality of line-up. Even in its first year, Cosgrave and his team managed to attract YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley, Twitter chairman and co- founder Jack Dorsey, and Skype founder Niklas Zennstrom as speakers. The summit’s increasing importance
was marked this year by its hosting of the first ever opening of the Nasdaq in Ireland, with Taoiseach Enda Kenny TD ringing the opening bell live on stage. He was joined there by Bruce Aust, executive president at Nasdaq OMX, along with Cosgrave and a crowd of digital founders. The ceremony was broadcast live on the Nasdaq building in Times Square in New York.
The Taoiseach described the ringing of the bell from Dublin
addition of food and social strands. Event co-founder Paddy Cosgrave said the newly created Food Summit, which served up thousands of meals to delegates each day and was operated in association with Good Food Ireland, was intended as a platform for Irish producers to showcase their produce to an international audience. The Food Summit featured chefs from some of Ireland’s top restaurants and hotels as well as artisan food producers from across the country. The Night Summit, meanwhile, included pub crawls,
performances from more than 30 up and coming and established music acts, and other arts events around the city. Both of the new strands added to the networking element
that has always been such a central part of the summit. “This is an event like no other,” said Cosgrave. “It is a melting pot where entrepreneurs can share experiences, collaborate on new ideas and have the opportunity to meet people who have blazed a trail in their respective fields, as well as pitch their business ideas to some of the leading investors in the world.” The Dublin Web Summit’s growth trajectory has been phenomenal: when it was first held three years ago, just 450 people attended; a year later, 1,570 people showed up, while
56 INNOVATION IRELAND REVIEWIssue 7 Autumn/Winter 2013
as symbolic of Ireland’s prime position as a hub of digital enterprise and innovation. “Dublin and the Silicon Docks have become one of the most exciting places on the planet today for building the businesses of tomorrow and that is in no small part down to the energy, intelligence and dynamism of our people,” he said. “Ireland continues to be a global magnet for tech start-ups and I’m confident they will play a large part in shaping the future of the internet.” Aust added: “Not only is this event a tremendous platform
from which to reach the international technology community, but Ireland itself has a great reputation as an innovative and dynamic location where the technology sector thrives. The country is a hotbed for the creative and multinational talent that these tech giants need.” Cosgrave said opening the Nasdaq was bringing international attention on Dublin as a vibrant tech city. “Over the past three years the CEOs of companies such as Wonga, Quantcast and Twitter all attended the summit and subsequently chose Dublin as the location for their European operations. Most recently, Ryan Smith of Qualtrics spoke of how his attendance at last year’s summit helped in the decision to locate their international HQ in Ireland.”
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