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On November 4th, the 9th and 10th grade Student Council members had the honor of having the opportunity of going to Web Summit- the world’s largest technology event. We left school at 9.30am and started our exciting day by heading out to Lisbon’s largest exhibition center. It was a long walk along Park of Nations to the main entrance, which gave us an impression of the size of this event. After going through registration and security checks, we entered the main hall at 11am and the buzz hit us. As we entered the huge room, we were exposed to the fascinating world of entrepreneurship and technology. It was overwhelming to see all the action going on, guest speakers in private corners, several stages with presentations going on, stall representatives getting people’s attention and so on. There were stalls everywhere, with small and large technology companies, countries presenting themselves to investors, schools, universities and so on.
We visited the following stands in detail:
– Startup Portugal
– Startup Lisbon
– Entrepreneurs’ Organization
– Casa do Impacto
At each of these places, we got great introductions to each of these organizations. We heard some speeches from: Mr. Domingos Guimarães (Academia do Codigo), Mrs. Jwana Godinho (Founder, It’s About Impact), Mrs. Chitra Stern (United Lisbon Education Hub and Entrepreneurs’ Organization), Mr. José Vale (Government Agency for Innovation), Maria Guimarães (Startup Lisbon), Mr. Nuno Cavaco (Ministry of Digital Transformation), Mr. Nir Zavarro, Ms. Natalya Berdikyan and Saahil Mehta (from Entrepreneurs’ Organization chapters in Tel Aviv, Barcelona and Dubai).
After speaking to these amazing people, all of us learnt a lot about entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship, how governments can prioritize and incentivize innovation and digital transformation. We also learnt about the importance of impact that businesses and social entrepreneurs create in the economy, community and society.
All in all, we had a fantastic day and are very thankful for the school to give us this opportunity at such a young age.
Aruna