The 2017 Web Summit in Lisbon already has seen 55,000 tickets sold, at up to €1,500 each
The estimate is by Paddy Cosgrave, the founder of this event who said the number of 'start-up' company delegates that have booked was up 30% with new ideas and companies coming from all over the world.
"Maybe 55-56,000 tickets already sold. Prices are around €1,000 but the price is increasing and it will reach €1,500 on Thursday," Cosgrave said at the launch of Inspire programme which is selling 10,000 tickets to young people for €7.50.
This year's summit runs from 06 to November 9 at the Altice Arena and has many more speakers than last year.
One in 10 participants is Portuguese and the percentage of women is 42% among national and international participants.
In addition to the Inspire programme, Cosgrave said that there are several initiatives that allow tickets to be sold at reduced prices, or free, such as Women in Tech and an initiative for engineers, which allow access to the event for €85 or free of charge.
"These companies are based all over the world and we have 250 coming to Portugal for the first time," noted the entrepreneur.
Initiatives include a "special web-conference" with speaker Al Gore, focused on environmental issues, global warming and sustainable energy.
When asked about the problems in the 2016 edition, in terms of logistics and transport, Cosgrave explained that "everything was very new. The first day was learning and even on the second day there were very few problems with the Metro. 2017 is a new year, I do not think we will have significant problems."
Paddy Cosgrave also highlighted the "incredible" partnership with the Government.
"They are very supportive and very interested in technology and entrepreneurship," he said, noting that the new Secretary of State for Industry, Ana Lehmann, "is absolutely fantastic to work with, as was João Vasconcelos," her predecessor.
