Research & Innovation

As widely predicted, the Web Summit will soon hold its final nerd-fest in Dublin (for the foreseeable future) and, after a five-year tenure in the capital, will move to Lisbon next year.

Portugal’s government is to pay just €1.3m per year to Ireland’s Web Summit organisers to move Europe’s largest web technology conference.

The modest bursary will prompt new questions on why Ireland’s most successful technology event is moving out of the country with an estimated loss to the local economy of €100m.

According to the conference’s organisers, the company is moving its event to Portugal next year because of the difference in infrastructure quality rather than for a better financial subsidy.

A lack of hotels, transportation and suitable venues in Dublin have been the subject of complaints by company chief executive Paddy Cosgrave.

“We need a new home for future growth at Web Summit,” said Mr Cosgrave.

“Lisbon has the infrastructure and that is why we are making the move. We think it’s the right one for our attendee experience.”

Company founders’ disillusionment with Dublin’s infrastructure means that the conference is unlikely to return to Ireland in its present form in the near future.

The Web Summit’s flight, which will not affect this year’s conference, is likely to damage Dublin’s reputation as an international tech conference centre. Ireland’s industrial policy makers, which paid the Web Summit €235,000 in subsidies last year, have used the event in recent years as a reference point for foreign tech firms seeking to establish a European base here.