Now that the pyroclastic flow of digital tears over the Web Summit's move to Lisbon has subsided, it looks less of a disaster for Ireland and more of a straightforward commercial decision by Paddy Cosgrave, its ebullient co-founder. Lisbon showed more money, which talks, so the summit walked.
Cosgrave appears typical of folk who self-recognise as entrepreneurs: talented, energetic, smart, pushy, egocentric, vainglorious and a touch annoying. I’ve never met the chap, but he’s shouted down the phone at me a few times.
A story abounds from a while back, when he supposedly went off on a rant in front of a room full of people about how US multinationals treat Ireland, holding the country that cossets them to ransom on matters such as tax. Cosgrave wanted to “call them out”, as digital types might say, but decided against it.
While giving out yards about things in Ireland, he apparently let slip that officials in Northern Ireland had offered him a ball of cash to move the Web Summit to Belfast. Shifting the summit has been on his mind for a long time.
He and his partners run a business. Why shouldn't they move it to a bigger, more suitable venue to make more revenue? A potential problem, however, is its appeal is indelibly wrapped up in Dublin as a city. Ben Rooney, the former technology editor of the Wall Street Journal Europe, once wrote that most tech conferences take place in "characterless, purpose-built centres that aren't really part of [a] city at all".
The Web Summit's attraction, he said, was primarily because it had such a different, more convivial atmosphere. Will Bono lead pub crawls for Cosgrave around Lisbon? It will also be interesting to see if Enda Kenny shows up again this year, after his sharp remarks on Wednesday about Cosgrave's "demands".
Lisbon is a beautiful city, but the summit is moving to just another of those “characterless” venues, a cavernous room sponsored by a telco that was built for Expo 98.
If Cosgrave maintains the cool lustre, it will be a fine achievement.
In the meantime, ticket prices for this year’s summit jump at 6pm today from €729 to €1,245. If you want access to the speaker’s lounge, the cost jumps from €4,725 to €5,245. It’s a business, after all. It’s not philanthropy. Right, Paddy?
