Paddy Cosgrave returned to centre stage at Web Summit in Lisbon at Monday’s opening ceremony in the Portuguese capital. Mr Cosgrave resumed his role as chief executive of the events company earlier this year.
In his opening remarks at the 2024 edition of the tech conference, Mr Cosgrave said it is “great to be back” at the event, which takes place at the MEO Arena in Lisbon this week.
The venue will play host to some 70,000 attendees and 3,000 start-ups, including more than 100 from Ireland, as well as investors, celebrities and policymakers.
Among those scheduled to speak at Web Summit 2024, which officially sold out on Monday morning, include Brad Smith, vice chair and president of Microsoft, world wide web creator Tim Berners-Lee, Manchester City and Portugal player Ruben Dias and former Dutch football player Patrick Kluivert.
Mr Cosgrave, who did not address the reasons for his resignation from the company shortly before the conference last year, was joined on stage on Monday evening by Portuguese prime minister Luís Montenegro.
The politician and leader of the Portuguese Social Democratic Party welcomed attendees to Portugal, describing it as “Europe’s west coast”.
[ Paddy Cosgrave keeps it light and bright on Web Summit returnOpens in new window ]
Other speakers on the night included Grammy Award-winning musician and producer Pharrell Williams.
Mr Cosgrave resigned from the chief executive role at Web Summit in the weeks before the 2023 eventafter corporate backlash to remarks he made on social media about Israel’s actions in Gaza following Hamas’s October 7th attack.
In the post, Mr Cosgrave said he was “shocked at the rhetoric and actions” of western leaders in support of Israel, “with the exception in particular of Ireland’s Government, who for once are doing the right thing”.
Meta, IBM, Google and a host of other tech giants pulled out of the 2023 conference. Meta and IBM have returned as sponsors of the 2024 conference, according to its website.
Mr Cosgrave apologised and clarified his remarks before announcing his resignation, admitting that his personal comments had “become a distraction from the event, and our team, our sponsors, our start-ups and the people who attend”.
Former Wikimedia Foundation chief executive Katherine Maher was announced as the new chief executive of Web Summit and was in situ during the 2023 event.
However, she left the role in January to join US radio network NPR as its chief executive, paving the path for Mr Cosgrave’s return in April.
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