Government Communications Office holds press conference ahead of Web Summit Qatar 2024
The Government Communications Office (GCO) has announced that preparations are complete for Web Summit Qatar 2024, set to kick off next Monday, February 26 at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Center. Thousands of entrepreneurs, investors, tech leaders and experts from around the world will attend the event.
The announcement was made during a press conference held at the Four Seasons Hotel Doha, where it was shared that the Summit will witness the attendance of over 12,000 participants, 500 investors, 200 speakers, 100 partners, and more than 1,000 start-ups from 80 countries, including 100 start-ups from Qatar. In addition, 500 media entities from around the globe will cover the four-day event.
Speaking during the conference, Sheikh Jassim bin Mansour bin Jabor Al Thani, Chairman of the Web Summit Qatar 2024 Organising Committee, said: “This edition of the Web Summit will see the largest-ever participation of its kind for start-ups in this global event, which reflects Qatar’s growing status as a promising destination for technology and investment, regionally and worldwide.”
He added: “Dozens of Qatari start-ups are taking part, whom I urge to leverage the opportunity of the summit being hosted in their country for the first time toward building partnerships, connecting with leading global companies, gaining knowledge and experience and networking with participants from across the world. In doing so, they can play an active role in boosting Qatar’s tech ecosystem and empowering existing ventures and new startups, in line with our ambitions for Qatar’s national economy.”
Among the local startups taking part are Avey, which specialises in health-tech, Zakey e-commerce platform; EMMA Systems, an AI-powered airport management systems developer, Wqtah tourism and booking app, Muallemi education platform; and Urban Point, which offers discounts on dining and entertainment.
Katherine Maher, CEO of Web Summit, said: “The first ever Web Summit in the Middle East hosted in Qatar will be recognised for its growing number of participating startups – more than 1,000, which is double the number that we expected. In fact, of those startups 10% will be attending from Qatar, 30% are women-founded, 10% are what we consider impact startups and 50% will be attending from the broader Middle East region.”
Maher emphasised the significance of the event in supporting female participants to play their part in economic and social development. She further mentioned that the Women in Tech initiative this year has received an overwhelming response from Qatar, the Middle East, and other parts of the world with tickets completely sold out.
Notable speakers will include HE Mohammed bin Ali bin Mohammed Al Mannai, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, HE Hassan Al Thawadi, Secretary General at the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy, Amjad Masad, Founder and CEO of Replit, astronaut Sara Sabry, Founder and CEO of Deep Space Initiative, Blake Chandlee, President of Global Business Solutions at TikTok, Marc Reed, CEO of WPP, and show host Trevor Noah.
Web Summit Qatar 2024 will feature some of the world’s most prominent personalities, innovators, creators and officials, including representatives from Amazon, Meta, Shell, Huawei and Snapchat, reflecting Qatar’s regional and global standing.
Partners for the debut Web Summit in the Middle East and Africa include the Qatar Investment Authority, Media City Qatar, Microsoft, Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, Snoonu, Cisco, Palo Alto Networks and others.
Tickets for the Women in Tech program sold out two weeks ago. The program, which promotes gender equality and women’s participation in tech, will see the participation of Women of Qatar, a local initiative aimed at empowering women’s roles and their contributions to the country’s development, as well as thousands of women tech activists worldwide.
Hosting Web Summit comes in line with Qatar’s Third National Development Strategy, which aims to launch initiatives to enhance the tech ecosystem, incentivise the development of advanced technologies and boost ICT capacity building, all toward supporting economic diversification and the realisation of the Qatar National Vision 2030.
Interested parties can view the Web Summit Qatar 2024 agenda, speakers list and key discussion topics by visiting: https://qatar.websummit.com.