Surge in delegations as Vancouver hosts ‘Olympics of Tech’ for the first time

Thousands of technology startups and industry leaders are in Vancovuer for Web Summit, one of the biggest tech conferences in North America.

One of the world’s biggest technology conferences launched Tuesday with a surge in international delegations as Vancouver hosts the event for the first time – in the middle of trade war.

The provincial government provided $6.6 million over three years toward luring Web Summit from Toronto, which hosted the event for three years when it was called the Collision conference. Though the deal was inked last year, the timing has been fortuitous.

“Countries all over the world are scrambling to figure out how they continue to help their companies trade into North America,” said Web Summit founder and CEO, Paddy Cosgrave.

“If they’re having difficulty doing that directly through the United States, Canada is the next best place to locate or relocate your operations.”

The minister of jobs, economic development, and innovation is pleased to see their investment come at a time international companies are looking north.

“There’s real appetite right now from places across the EU and the Asia Pacific,” said Diana Gibson. “We’ve got delegations coming from countries from all across the globe and they’re really interested in B.C. and in Vancouver.”

Cosgrave confirmed there are more government-affiliated delegations in Vancouver than any other Web Summit event they’ve held; there are four each year, with only one in North America.

The Financial Times has called Web Summit the “Olympics of Tech”

The B.C. pitch

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim, was an early champion of bringing the event to the city – along with then-jobs-minister, Brenda Bailey – and he opened the event Tuesday evening at the Vancouver Convention Centre.

“Vancouver’s more than just the view,” he told attendees. “This is a city built on bold ideas, on collaboration, and the belief the future doesn’t just happen – it’s something we create together.”

Sim said in the past 10 years more than $40 billion has been invested in companies in the city and welcomed the “big, bold thinking” and fresh ideas being discussed this week.

In addition to the international delegations, there are groups from across Canada and British Columbia seeking to take advantage of the innovation, creativity, and funding in one place.

“It’s amazing to have a global audience coming into our backyard,” said Brea Lake, CEO of Accelerate Okanagan.

“Since all of tariffs coming in, people doing business with the states are looking to diversify now and I think this is an awesome opportunity to get to look abroad and see where there’s opportunities for collaboration and partnerships.”

Week-long event draws thousands

More than 15,000 people from 100 countries are expected to attend Web Summit, with networking events and product showcases from apps to AI, robotics to virtual reality.

There will be a B.C. Pavilion that’s been engineered to showcase both startup companies and established technology companies from across the province as well as big names like Microsoft and Google.

“We’ve been at the forefront not just of gaming and creative, but of life sciences and biotech and broader tech innovation,” said Gibson.

“(Hosting Web Summit) is a culmination of a lot of work that’s been done to build our tech ecosystem from our deep talent pool and our world class research institutes to our anchor companies.”