'Fantastic opportunity': 15,000 expected at massive tech conference in Vancouver
Conference runs until May 30
Thousands of entrepreneurs and investors are flocking to Vancouver to attend a much-anticipated tech conference over the next week.
More than 15,000 attendees from 120 countries are expected to attend the first-ever Web Summit Vancouver, which has drawn headline speakers including Jay Graber, CEO of Bluesky, Ivan Zhang, co-founder of AI company Cohere, and American philosopher and author Cornel West.
Local officials say the summit is a "fantastic opportunity" for the entire province.
"This is a really exciting week to welcome the world, to showcase the innovation, to showcase the technology, and, really, the talent that we have here," said City of North Vancouver Mayor Linda Buchanan, who is also chair of the Invest Vancouver Management Board.
Conference panels will include discussions ranging from whether AI is "morally and technically inadequate," to the next era of social media, to investment strategies of the future.
Business leaders across the Vancouver region are thrilled at the chance to woo new investors and international talent.
Brett Henkel, co-founder and senior vice-president of Burnaby-based Svante Technologies, said the conference can help local companies draw international attention.
"We want to get people to know that this is a great place to do business," he said. "It's a great place to manufacture — there's not enough manufacturing here in British Columbia. We want to draw more, especially clean tech manufacturing. It makes a lot of sense to do it here."
Henkel said Web Summit will benefit smaller companies as well.
"The better we can get people to know these companies here and draw investment, the better for all of these companies here."
Vancouver's competitive advantage is its access to experienced tech companies, according to Henkel, as well as its access to the Asia-Pacific region.
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Gurpreet Kalsi, director at AI machine-learning company Fujitsu Intelligence, said a tech conference like Web Summit coming to Vancouver is "long due."
The high number of international attendees proves the conference is a good idea, Kalsi said.
"It showcases … how many people are actually looking to invest in B.C., and Vancouver specifically," he said.
"We have, now, the right talent pool. We have a lot of start-ups here as well … I'm very excited about it."
The conference runs from May 27 to May 30.
Web Summit started in Ireland in 2009; the conference's flagship event in Portugal last year attracted more than 70,000 attendees.
With files from Chad Pawson