Qatar’s growing role as a regional tech hub has been reaffirmed with the roaring success of the Mena debut of the world’s largest tech event. As stated by Sheikh Jassim bin Mansour bin Jabor al-Thani, Director of the Government Communications Office (GCO) and Chairman of the Web Summit Qatar 2024 Organising Committee, the exceptional organisation of such a celebrated global event and the huge turnout recorded for a first-year edition showcases the country’s capacity to further its role as a leading destination for technology and innovation in the region and in launching initiatives that advance the digital and IT sector in Qatar and beyond.
With curtains coming down on the four-day summit that hosted 15,453 attendees from 118 countries, who witnessed the tech innovations of 1,043 startups from 81 countries, including 10% from Qatar and 20% from Africa, Web Summit CEO Katherine Maher summed it up as an incredible event. “We had record numbers of people. It was the most international star event ever in the region in terms of startups. We had the most international Web Summit first-year event we’ve ever done. I am so impressed by the Qatari hospitality, so excited to be able to come back year after year,” Maher said while referring to the fact that. Web Summit Qatar will be held for four more years.
“We want more people to come. We want more international startups. We want more connection to the region. We want the Qatari ecosystem to grow. More startups from here, more startups located here,” she said on her expectations for the event’s successive editions. The event featured 401 investors, 148 partners, 380 speakers and around 900 tech journalists and media representatives. Maher also thanked His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, who toured the venue and met some of the partners and several participating startups. Similarly, she lauded Qatar’s $1bn investment in both international and regional venture capital funds, which was announced by HE the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani during Web Summit Qatar’s opening night.
“The first-ever venture capital funds programme is meant to foster innovation in the startup ecosystem and to attract international VCs and startups to the GCC. As His Excellency emphasised, technological innovation is rapidly advancing and it is our collective duty to ensure that this progress continues to serve the greater good by balancing innovation with ethical principles and guiding progress with moral wisdom for the benefit of all,” Maher said.
The summit also featured the signing of 24 memorandums of understanding between institutions in Qatar and prominent tech ventures toward boosting the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystems in Qatar and beyond. Another salient feature was an impressive participation of women at the event. A total of 37% of the attendees were women, 30% female speakers, and one in three startups in the startup programme had a woman on the founding team along with thousands of women in tech attendees from all over the world.
