After the recent scandal of the Cambridge Analytica case, and the controversies of influence via social networks of the last American elections and other major political events on the planet in recent years (Arab Springs, Brexit, … etc.), the web in the broad sense is worrying. It is in this atmosphere of increasing distrust and the emergence of complex and sometimes obscure technologies for some (artificial intelligence, blockchain, …) that the great mass of the Web – and now like all major international tech-oriented trade fairs and conferences, becoming the great mass of Digital – has opened its doors since the evening of Monday, November 5. Web Summit is one of those major events that punctuate the digital economic year because the major decision-makers of this tool and virtual economy meet there.
The place of women in tech, how to engage or re-engage employees as a digital company, personal data, looking back at the dangers of social networks and the behaviors they cause, preventing the rise of fake news or even whether the web should be recreated from scratch … here is a global panel of the various exchanges taking place on the stages of the 2018 version of Web Summit. It is also a desire to show that the world of the web is doing its introspection and looking for solutions to renew itself. The large “Women in tech” area or the main stage of the “Startup University” forum also shows that support, mentoring, and experience sharing must allow for better support of the players who make (more and more) the web and digital their daily activity at the service of society and companies.
Web Summit also stands out from other trade fairs and conferences by the fact that it is a real networking venue; indeed, out of the some 70,000 visitors expected over 3 days, around 2,000 startups and 1,500 investors are present to exhibit or participate in exchange and meeting forums. Many decision-makers travel, which is what makes the reputation and quality of Web Summit editions.
In the next 2 days, we will get a little more to the heart of the matter with the 2019 trends that will be expressed and the responses provided by the web giants and specialists from all over the world. Find our live tweets of the event on the Normandie Web Xperts page on Twitter: @n_w_x
Lamine Talakela – CEO Consulting TIME, for NWX and the Founder Family
