Rio de Janeiro's Technological Ambitions
Web Summit is now in its third edition in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro. Local leaders are looking to Lisbon as a model for transforming Rio into the technological center of Latin America.
In an interview with Lusa, Júlio Azevedo, the director of international relations at Maravalley, Rio's new tech park, emphasized that "Lisbon has always been a great case study." He noted that the Portuguese capital underwent a transformation that Rio aims to replicate.
Azevedo stated, "Lisbon is a city that found in technology a path for economic development and became a significant hub for that region." The Rio de Janeiro government is keen to emulate this success, aiming to become a global tech hub for Latin America, with the Web Summit playing a crucial role in this transition.
To support this growth, the municipality established Maravalley in 2024, a tech park directly linked to the Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics. Located in the port area, Maravalley integrates academia, business, and public power to transform knowledge into business opportunities and urban redevelopment.
"We are not only going to create a concentration of tech companies, but we are also going to completely change the occupation of the port area," Azevedo highlighted.
The impact of these efforts is evident at the Web Summit Rio, which features a record 20% of local startups among over 1,300 participants this year. According to Maria Ana Encarnação, the startup manager for the event, this edition has reached a new milestone with 1,397 startups from 43 countries, marking a 31% increase from last year.
For the first time, startups have already signed up for 2026, demonstrating the eagerness to join the global Web Summit community. From April 30 to today, Rio de Janeiro has become the world center for technological innovation, hosting 28 Portuguese startups focused on solutions in artificial intelligence, human resources, and sports and fitness.
The event also addresses themes such as artificial intelligence, sustainability, financial technology, platform regulation, and diversity in tech. The Brazilian government estimates that the Web Summit could attract over 800,000 attendees and inject approximately 1.2 billion reais (around 250 million euros) into the local economy by 2028.
The Web Summit, which originated in Ireland in 2010, has been held in Lisbon since 2016 and will continue there until 2028. Additionally, the event has expanded to the Middle East with Web Summit Qatar, which took place in early 2024.
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