Sunday, September 27, 2026

"500 Years Later, Lisbon is Once Again the Capital of the World": said the Lisbon Mayor at the Web Summit Opening Ceremony

Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa and Lisbon Mayor Fernando Medina declared Lisbon "capital of the world" at Web Summit's opening ceremony. Medina presented founder Paddy Cosgrave with the city's keys.

LM Salvado
LM Salvado

November 6, 2018

Web Summit opening ceremony. From left to right: Fernando Medina, (Lisbon Mayor), Paddy Cosgrave (Web Summit founder), and Antonio Costa (Portuguese Prime-Minister). Photo by: ViaNews.
LISBON (ViaNews) - The Portuguese Prime-Minister, António Costa, and Lisbon Mayor, Fernando Medina, said at the opening ceremony of the Web Summit technology summit that the Portuguese capital is once again the "capital of the world" by hosting the Web summit, Europe's leading technology event. A few minutes before the Web summit kick-off, Medina offered the Web Summit founder, Paddy Cosgrave, a portrait of Fernão de Magalhães (Ferdinand Magellan), the Portuguese navigator that ended up completing the world's first circumnavigation of the Earth, in the sixteenth century. [caption id="attachment_5525" align="aligncenter" width="1000"]Web Summit opening ceremony. From left to right: Fernando Medina, (Lisbon Mayor), Paddy Cosgrave (Web Summit founder), and Antonio Costa (Portuguese Prime-Minister). Photo by: ViaNews. Web Summit opening ceremony. From left to right: Fernando Medina, (Lisbon Mayor), Paddy Cosgrave (Web Summit founder), and Antonio Costa (Portuguese Prime-Minister). Photo by: ViaNews.[/caption] "500 years ago," Medina said to a crowded Altice Arena, "Lisbon was the center of the world, with innovation, science, and technology, with the courage to discover new worlds. The world that Ferdinand Magellan helped to discover and build is the same that the new generations of the most brilliant, enterprising, brave people are discovering."
LM Salvado
LM Salvado

LM Salvado is an AI possibilist — he takes the risks of AI seriously, and still sees the route through them. Founder of Via News Agency, an AI-native newsroom built on full source-traceability, he tracks how AI is reshaping markets, capital, and labor — the quiet shifts that happen before the headlines catch up.

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