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How Web Summit Vancouver 2025 Rewrote the Tech Conference Playbook
- workspaceinterns24
- Jun 9
- 5 min read
Updated: Jun 10
Vancouver didn’t just host a tech conference this spring. It established a new benchmark for what innovation gatherings can, and should, look like.
Web Summit Vancouver 2025 marked the North American debut of one of the world’s most influential technology summits, but it didn’t arrive quietly. From May 27 to 30, the Vancouver Convention Centre transformed into a global command center for technology, investment, and big-picture thinking. Over 15,700 attendees from 117 countries made the journey. What they experienced was more than programming. It was signal through the noise.
A shift in geography, a shift in intention
This was the first time Web Summit came to North America, replacing Toronto’s Collision as the continent’s flagship. It was a move that surprised few in the know. British Columbia’s tech sector is no longer emerging, it’s asserting. With more than 11,000 tech firms and the fastest high-tech job growth on the continent, Vancouver didn’t need to pitch. It simply opened the doors.
The turnout justified the shift. More than 1,100 startups exhibited. 44 percent were founded or co-founded by women. Over 600 investors were in the room, representing funds with global reputations: Thiel Capital, 500 Global, Race Capital, and others. These weren’t show-and-tell booths or investor speed dates. These were conversations between builders and backers who came to work.
This summit had teeth. And soul.
What set this event apart wasn’t the scale. It was the substance.
Gary Marcus delivered a keynote that ripped through the ambient optimism surrounding AI. He didn’t romanticize machine learning or language models. He diagnosed them. “AI systems today are powerful but dumb,” he said, pointing to fundamental limits in reasoning and contextual understanding. His call was clear: if we want to rely on AI, we need to rebuild its foundations.
Dr. Cornel West, scholar, activist, and presidential candidate, brought an entirely different charge. In a live Q&A session, he tackled the role of technology in societal equity, and the silence that too often surrounds it. “You can’t talk about the future without talking about justice,” he said. The audience didn’t just clap. They stood.
Brad Smith, Microsoft’s Vice Chair, outlined the company’s efforts to embed ethical principles into digital transformation, from renewable energy use in data centers to its approach to responsible innovation. Jay Graber, CEO of Bluesky, explored the future of decentralized social media. Jack Newton of Clio talked about scaling SaaS without sacrificing service. And Raquel Urtasun, the force behind autonomous vehicle firm Waabi, reminded attendees that AI isn’t just lines of code. It’s the future of how we move through the world.
The PITCH final that should be studied
Every major tech summit hosts some kind of pitch event. Few deliver a lineup like this.
The PITCH final at Web Summit Vancouver featured three companies.
All were founded or co-founded by women.
All were based in Vancouver.
All were building the future.
Lite-1 won the day, and the PITCH trophy, for their bio-based colorant platform, which replaces toxic dyes with sustainable alternatives developed from microorganisms. The implications for fashion, cosmetics, and materials are enormous.
But this wasn’t a solo act. GlüxKind’s AI-enabled smart stroller is solving real pain points for new parents. VodaSafe’s aquatic rescue tech is already being used by first responders to save lives. The judging panel, which included Edith Yeung, Wesley Chan, and Audrey Marie-Nely, knew what they were looking at.
AI was everywhere, but it wasn’t hype-driven
Sessions on artificial intelligence weren’t monologues. They were interrogations.
At the AI Ethics and Responsible Tech meetup, Katie Pizzolato of IBM spoke about the double-edged sword of quantum computing. Yes, it could revolutionize cybersecurity. But without guardrails, it could break it.
Brad Smith detailed Microsoft’s use of energy-efficient infrastructure, hydro, solar, and even natural cooling, for AI data centers. Tarun Mehta of Ather Energy and Christopher Hopper of Aurora Solar connected AI’s future to the climate challenge, calling for renewable integration as table stakes.
Attendees left with a rare feeling: optimism, tempered by rigor.
Climate tech moved from fringe to focus
British Columbia’s cleantech industry wasn’t a sidebar. It was a narrative thread that ran through the summit.
The BC Pavilion showcased companies like Svante, which is scaling carbon capture manufacturing, and Arca Climate, which is developing mineralization-based solutions that generate real-time carbon credits. These aren’t experiments. These are high-functioning businesses embedded in a regional economy designed to lead on climate solutions.
With 492 pure-play cleantech firms now operating in the province, the story told in panels and tours wasn’t about theory. It was about execution. And it resonated.
Summit engine isn’t a gimmick. It’s infrastructure.
Web Summit’s proprietary matchmaking software didn’t just facilitate networking. It delivered. Over 500 business-to-business meetings took place through the Do Business with Canada program alone. Each was algorithmically curated based on sector alignment, strategic goals, and capacity to execute.
Outside the formal structures, nearly 100 curated meetups extended the reach. Sessions on women in tech, AI founders, and regional innovation clusters brought people together with shared ambition, not just shared geography.
And in the informal moments, in the corners of meetups, over coffee, during the walk to the next session, you could feel it: this wasn’t performative networking. These were the building blocks of real deals.
AI is the new industrial revolution. The question is: who’s driving it?
Dr. Birgul Cotelli described AI agents that can perceive, reason, and act. Others discussed the acceleration of large language models, the emergence of autonomous workflows, and the opportunity to radically enhance productivity across every industry.
But the consensus was clear: the pace of innovation outstrips our frameworks for accountability. And unless leaders act intentionally, on equity, environmental impact, and data ethics, this next revolution could replicate the mistakes of the last.
Web Summit Vancouver didn’t enter the chat. It rewrote the script.
The old model of a tech summit, a carousel of thought leadership, a few splashy product announcements, and a lot of recycled slides, doesn’t work anymore.
The stakes are higher.
The problems are sharper.
The solutions have to be braver.
Vancouver showed what a new model looks like.
A summit where ethics are on the main stage. Where women-led startups win without caveat. Where cleantech is mainstream, not niche. Where global means truly global, not just North America and Western Europe.
It’s not just that Web Summit is coming back in May 2026. It’s that the work started in 2025 will still be unfolding. That’s the mark of a summit that did its job.
Workspace Global took the opportunity and turned it into strategy
For companies like Workspace Global, this wasn’t about showing up for visibility. It was about executing on global alignment. Attending gave our leadership access to partnerships that matter, insights that translate into service innovation, and market openings that can accelerate regional growth.
More importantly, it amplified African creative and tech talent at a time when the global ecosystem is finally paying attention. Workspace Global left with more than business cards. They left with leverage.
If You’re Building What Comes Next, You Need to Be There
This isn’t about checking a box. It’s about being in the room where it happens. The partnerships, the pivots, the insights, they don’t wait. And they don’t get repeated.
If you weren’t there in 2025, study it.
If you’re planning for 2026, start preparing now.
Because the future isn’t being predicted anymore. It’s being built. And you’re either contributing...or catching up.
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