As the technical solutions provider within 14 West, it is up to our teams to not only understand the businesses we work with, but to stay at the forefront of innovation in order to offer customized support. My field of expertise in Martech often demands that I keep my finger on the pulse when it comes to the tech industry, and with that, I was encouraged to attend the global Web Summit in Lisbon, Portugal this past November.
For those who don’t know about it, this event is an annual tech conference held each year and boasts as the largest tech event in the world with over 70,000 attendees. This year’s conference featured over 1,200 presenters, including whistleblower and privacy advocate Edward Snowden, former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, former professional boxer Wladimir Klitschko, actor and activist Jaden Smith, Rotating Chairman of Huawei Guo Ping, and Wikipedia CEO Katherine Maher.
As with any large international conference, there are plenty of choices for attendees, but Web Summit takes it to the nth degree. Spread across the massive Altice Arena campus on the outskirts of downtown Lisbon, large “stages” were setup that centered around concentrations such as Fintech, HealthTech, Martech, Future Societies, Robot/AI, blockchain-all-the-things, and much more. Additionally, we could choose a track to get suggested speaking sessions on the Web Summit app. At the time of this post, you can view the 2019 schedule here if you want to check out what was covered. I chose the Martech and Fintech tracks, but, it seems as though the unofficial themes of the conference were Data Privacy and Borderless Everything.
Regarding Privacy, Edward Snowden kicked off the conference with his keynote underscoring the need for consumers to take control of how and by whom their data is collected. Several speakers in the Martech arena discussed building trust in the new digital age with privacy as a major undertone, thus pushing the Privacy Track to center stage as the week wore on. One interesting new development in the Privacy space that marketers and advertisers may find useful was the presentation by creator of the JavaScript language and former Mozilla lead, Brendan Eich. He spoke about his new browser, Brave. It not only allows users to choose who tracks their data but also deploys a cryptocurrency method to get rewarded when the user allows ads or allows data collection. Intrigued, I’ve started using Brave since the conference, and although it does allow this advertised transparency, there’s still some work to go.
Borderless services — meaning everything needed for true “digital nomads” to traverse the globe — was another major theme in the Fintech and Healthtech realms. Products promising global healthcare and even fully integrated cryptocurrency trading in the palm of your hand which could remove the need for a “home” bank were touted. This aspect, I suspect, was given more prominence in this venue due to the large global audience working in the digital field. Also, digital nomadic tendencies are picking up speed in the gig economy… so this is a natural step for this industry to take.
I found the talk by Yancey Strickler, former CEO and Co-Founder of Kickstarter, on “Bentoism” very insightful. Strickler defines the practice as a means to identify, grow, and protect our values in a world of competing self-interest. Give it a read here.
Ultimately, I recommend the Web Summit to anyone looking to expand their world view, as it pertains to the role the digital world plays in shaping it. I can see myself attending this again, especially if it’s in Lisbon, which played as a beautiful backdrop for an event that fills each attendee with new ideas.
