Empowered Attends Web Summit Vancouver with Startup Portugal 

At the end of May, Empowered Startups attended Web Summit Vancouver as part of the Startup Portugal delegation. Considered one of the largest tech conferences in the world, Web Summit brings together key players from across the technology ecosystem. 

An Important Conference for the Portuguese Startup Ecosystem 

Founded in 2009, Web Summit has been held annually in Lisbon, Portugal, since 2016 and has gathered over a million attendees globally.  Web Summit Vancouver, a spin-off of the main conference, gathered thousands of participants in downtown Vancouver for four days of connection, learning, and networking. The mission of the conference was to connect CEOs, founders, investors, and other industry leaders around new technological advances in the industry.  

This year, Empowered had the honour of welcoming a delegation of Portuguese startups to Vancouver, the city where Empowered is headquartered. Startup Portugal brought a delegation of 20 startups to showcase the exciting work being undertaken in the country. The delegation highlighted Portugal’s tech ecosystem and represented the country at the Portugal & Lisboa Lounges and other areas of the conference.  

The conference allowed the delegation to highlight the innovation happening in Portugal and demonstrated the country’s reputation as a driving force in the tech space.  

Building Bridges Between Portugal and Canada 

For Empowered Startups, Web Summit Vancouver was an opportunity to welcome startups from Portugal and strengthen ties between our two ecosystems. Empowered holds a unique position in Canada, partnering with the Canadian government, as well as the governments of Alberta and British Columbia. We are deeply connected to Canada’s research and development sector and are well integrated in the startup ecosystem. With these connections, we were able to highlight the opportunities available to startups in both countries and to explore potential areas of future collaboration for the Portuguese startups. 

It was an inspiring week, and we’re grateful for the opportunity to host Startup Portugal and its delegation of companies. We look forward to building on the momentum of the conference and will continue to foster the meaningful connections that were made in the months ahead.