At Web Summit’s opener, Palestine gets a brief mention and the loudest cheer

Paddy Cosgrave welcomed thousands of Web Summit early arrivals to Lisbon on Monday night, telling them the future of technology was “increasingly Chinese”, with “more than 50 superstars from China’s leading AI labs” attending the technology conference.“This year’s Web Summit’s has, without a doubt in my mind, the most important line-up of technology speakers we have ever had. They are not from California – they are from China, because Chinese companies are building more for our shared futures than companies from anywhere else. This is just a fact,” he said.“We’re of course grateful to have speakers and partners like Apple, Meta and Google – they are the prominent technology companies of today,” he said while standing alone on stage, with two jumbo-screens of his face bookending the recognisable Web Summit logo. “These companies are all – almost without exception – started in California.“But, increasingly, the superstars of the future are not coming from California, they’re coming from China. They’re the future stars in AI, in robotics, as we’ve just seen, in cars, as we will see, in energy and in so much more,” Cosgrave said. READ MOREKicking-off the opening ceremony was a two-minute dance routine performed by nine humanoid robots – created by the Chinese company AgiBot, whose robots swept athletics categories in the first world Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing three months ago. [ More than 100 Irish start-ups head to Web Summit alongside largest-ever Chinese delegationOpens in new window ]Addressing the crowd gathered in the centre stage of the MEO Arena, Cosgrave wore a speckled moss green Aran jumper that looked strikingly similar to one available to buy from the namesake fashion brand designed by his wife, Faye Dismore, which retails online for a cool €895.This one, however, was more bespoke than an off-the-rack knit. It had the phrase “keep the triple lock” stitched across its chest in a not-so-subtle statement of Cosgrave’s opinion on the Government’s recent move to reform the traditional pillars of the State’s military neutrality.Appealing to his tech-obsessed audience, the triple lock was represented with three padlock emojis.What was perhaps a less predictable gauge of the crowd’s reaction was the mere mention of Palestine. Three years ago, Cosgrave resigned as chief executive of Web Summit amid controversy caused by him tweeting: “War crimes are war crimes even when committed by allies, and should be called out for what they are.”Only two weeks after Hamas’s October 7th attacks, Cosgrave’s condemnation of Israel’s assault on Gaza prompted international companies to withdraw from the high-profile tech conference.He eventually returned to his post some six months later and now, three years on, the first night’s host Casey Lau rolled the dice in shouting out Palestine as one of the countries that has sent start-up delegations to the conference. “We have people from Paraguay, from Pakistan, from Palestine ...” he said, trailing off in suspense (or nervousness). But the gamble paid off. It garnered the loudest cheer of the night. Lau tried to follow up with its flag-bearer – who walked alongside a man carrying the Irish tricolour through the middle of the stadium, in a parade of nationalities represented at the conference – to ask him what his start-up’s purpose is, but to no avail.