Web Summit signs 3-year contract with Rio de Janeiro

The Web Summit is to be expanded to the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro with a conference in 2023.

he event, Web Summit Rio, is the first of Paddy Cosgrave, CEO of Web Summit, which will be other “regional Web Summits around the world” over the next three years, including conferences in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

Mr Cosgrave said the deal included trading terms between the Brazilian authorities and his company, but declined to give details of the amount involved.

“We’re in Rio for the next three years, with an option to extend,” he said. “It’s very similar to the framework we used when we first moved to Lisbon from Dublin.”

According to the agreement with the Lisbon authorities, Web Summit will receive 11 million euros per year to host the event there. The agreement was recently extended to 2028.

Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes said he believes the deal could be worth R$1bn (€188m) for Rio’s economy. He also said the agreement could extend beyond that three-year period.

“This could be an agreement for 10 or 20 years, we’re quite optimistic about that,” Mr Paes said.

Mr Cosgrave said Web Summit’s brand equity was a driver for the deal.

“We hope that the short-term direct economic impact of an event like Web Summit can add as much value to the economy as the long-term brand equity [it brought] to Portugal.”

Mr Cosgrave said speakers and other details have yet to be announced.

In Ireland, the Web Summit founder is currently involved in several legal disputes with co-founders Daire Hickey and David Kelly. Last week, an associate of Mr Hickey, Mark O’Toole, started a libel case in the High Court against Mr Cosgrave over comments made about Mr O’Toole on Twitter.

The Web Summit employs over 200 people at its Dublin headquarters.