Tech Community Travels to Lisbon for Web Summit

This past November, the capital of Portugal hosted the annual web Summit, known as “Europe’s Largest Technology Marketplace.” Previously held in Dublin, Ireland, for the past seven years, the conference moved to Lisbon as the city becomes a more prominent hub for the continent’s technology sector.

More than 50,000 people from the technology community attended the conference in the sunny Atlantic city, providing a massive boom for the city’s tourism numbers and economy. As more interest revolves around Lisbon as a technological hot spot, the similarities between San Francisco and the Portuguese capital become even more evident. From the red bridge that runs across the Tagus River (25 de Abril Birdge) to the hilly inner-city streets and the charming cable cars, the two cities mirror each other in a few obvious ways.

Hosting the conference is one of the Portuguese government’s early attempts at attracting the tech workforce to Lisbon. Officials hope to draw start-ups to the city where they can enjoy a more fulfilling lifestyle and low cost of living compared with other tech-heavy cities. The prevalence of English speakers is also a plus as visitors from England and Germany make up the majority of those interested in relocating to Lisbon.