Mayor John Tory will be joined by Councillor Michael Thompson (Ward 37 Scarborough Centre), Chair of the Economic Development Committee, and multiple partners on a pan-Canadian delegation of more than 400 companies, organizations and individuals attending Web Summit – the world’s largest annual technology conference in Lisbon, Portugal from November 5 to 8.
The purposes of the mission are to promote the benefits of doing business in Toronto and to raise awareness that Toronto will host Web Summit’s sister conference Collision for three years, starting in May 2019.
“Web Summit is the ideal event for Toronto to expand its profile and influence as North America’s fastest growing tech community and as the new home for North America’s fastest growing tech conference, Collision,” said Mayor Tory. “I am proud to help lead this Canadian delegation and to continue to promote Toronto’s tech sector.”
On November 5, Mayor Tory will speak at Web Summit’s Eco-System Summit, as well as participate in a Facebook Live event (https://www.facebook.com/WebSummitHQ/) at 9:30 a.m. Lisbon time (4:30 a.m. Toronto time). The delegation, which primarily consists of established and startup tech companies, incubators and venture capitalists, will connect and network with some of the approximately 70,000 attendees from more than 170 countries.
The City’s Web Summit mission partners include: City of Montreal, Collision, Communitech, Global Affairs Canada, Invest Canada, Invest Ottawa, MaRS Discovery District, Montreal International, Tech West Canada, Toronto Global, Tourism Toronto, Vancouver Economic Commission, Waterloo EDC and York Region.
“Web Summit is widely regarded as an event that sparks significant international technology partnerships and investments,” said Councillor Thompson. “It is essential for us to be there to promote Toronto as a serious industry player and to encourage conference attendees to come to Collision next year in Toronto.”
The fastest growing tech conference in North America, Collision is in its fifth year and has grown from 5,000 to more than 25,000 attendees. It will have an estimated economic impact of $147 million and is expected to draw 90,000 attendees to the city from 2019 to 2021. Toronto will host Collision at the Enercare Centre from May 20 to 23, 2019. For more information on Collision, visit https://collisionconf.com/ and on Web Summit, visit https://websummit.com/.
For more information about the mission, visit https://startupheretoronto.com/canadaatwebsummit/.
“We worked with our partners for over a year to attract the Collision conference to Toronto for three years beginning in May 2019. That event will bring 30,000 delegates and $50 million in spending to Toronto each of the three years, and also showcase our surging entrepreneurial and tech scene to investors and industry leaders from around the world. Web Summit gives us the perfect opportunity to build awareness and excitement for Collision in Toronto.” – Johanne Belanger, President and CEO of Tourism Toronto.
“Toronto is one of the fastest growing tech markets globally and has become a preferred destination for some of the top tech companies in the world. Web Summit and Collision are ideal forums to forge new partnerships for our ventures, showcase top talent and connect the global innovation community to our inclusive ecosystem.” – Yung Wu, CEO of MaRS Discovery District.
“Web Summit has become a global marketplace where startups can meet with decision makers and other tech leaders to develop connections and gain exposure. We look forward to joining the Canadian delegation and sharing a national narrative around the amazing growth our ecosystem has been experiencing.” – Abdullah Snobar, Executive Director, DMZ – https://dmz.ryerson.ca/
“My decision to participate in Web Summit in Lisbon was a highlight of my startup journey. I made it through all the heats of the pitch competitions to get to the final three and pitch in front of 15,000 people. I came in second overall. I met investors and insurance companies from across the globe and Jauntin is in a better position because of it.” – Rain Takahashi, Co-Founder of Jauntin – http://jauntin.com/
“One of our meetings at Web Summit led to a $3.1 million investment from a top European venture capitalist. This, coupled with the incredible connections we formed through invaluable face-to-face time with executives, founders and exhibitors, made attending Web Summit a hugely strategic experience for our company.” – Roy Pereira, Founder of Zoom.ai – https://zoom.ai/
“At VanHack, we look forward to attending Web Summit 2018 with many other startups and community partners in the city to help build a global gateway through which international startups and talent would consider Canada as a destination to grow and scale.” – Giselle Guimarães, Co-founder and CSO of VanHack – http://www.vanhack.com/
This news release is also available on the City’s website: https://bit.ly/2JFLFFm
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