Vancouver to host Web Summit in 2025

Web Summit has announced that it is launching a new North American flagship event in Vancouver, Canada in 2025. The new event, Web Submit’s first in North America, will succeed Collision in Toronto which is hosting its final edition this week. Web Summit runs the largest technology events across the globe, including Web Summit Lisbon, Web Summit Rio, Web Summit Qatar, RISE in Asia, and now Web Summit Vancouver. It is expected that Web Summit Vancouver will generate close to $57 million in direct spending and more than $93 million in overall economic impact for British Colombia in its first year. Paddy Cosgrave, CEO of Web Summit, said: “We can’t wait to gather the tech world in Vancouver and take over the city next year. Last month I flew to Vancouver to check out the city and meet Mayor Ken Sim and Destination Vancouver. I was so blown away by its beauty and tech scene. It’s the perfect place to bring the tech world. “Similar to Lisbon, Vancouver and British Columbia might seem like the underdogs at first but the energy and drive to build on an already very fast-growing technology ecosystem blew me away.” The importance of the announcement was echoed by a consortium of organisations, led by Destination Vancouver, and in partnership with Pacific Economic Development Canada (PacifiCan), B.C.’s Ministry of Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation (JEDI), the City of Vancouver, and tech industry leaders, who helped bring the event to Vancouver. “British Columbia has a 30-year track record of creating and advancing world-class technologies and we want to scale up our ability to commercialise innovation and translate these successes into a sustainable competitive advantage for our provincial economy,” said Brenda Bailey, B.C.’s minister of JEDI. With more than 11,000 tech companies employing more than 220,000 British Columbians, technology is the fastest-growing sector in the province. The regional tech sector is growing at twice the rate of the overall economy and Vancouver ranks first in high-tech job growth in North America. “We knew Vancouver was the right place for Web Summit,” said Royce Chwin, president and CEO of Destination Vancouver. “A transformational event of this calibre will continue to build our reputation as an exceptional host city and sharpen Vancouver’s global destination competitiveness.”