We are delighted to announce that Paddy Cosgrave, CEO and co-founder of Web Summit, is the 2018 recipient of the Outstanding Contribution to the Events Industry award.
Paddy’s achievements are extraordinary, taking a local Irish event to global prominence at a rate of development never seen before in the Irish or indeed global events sphere.
Web Summit’s story illustrates the power of events as a communications, engagement and activation channel which is unequalled by any other medium.
The fact that both Paddy's and Web Summit’s roots are here in Ireland demonstrates the capability of our events sector to deliver, not just at home, but on the international stage as well.
To mark the occasion, the legendary Anna May McHugh, the driving force behind the National Ploughing Championships, will make the award presentation to Paddy at Citywest Hotel, Dublin on July 20th at the Event Industry Awards annual awards ceremony.
Anna May was the original recipient of the award when the EIA’s were first established ten years ago.
Paddy stated, “It’s an honour be recognised in this way by other professionals in the Irish event industry. It has been amazing to me to see how our flagship event Web Summit has grown. It started with just 400 people in 2010 and there will be about 70,000 people in Lisbon this November.
I work with a team of incredibly talented individuals who consistently deliver world-class events at scale across Europe, Asia and North America. The team has grown to nearly 200 and I am proud that we are still headquartered in Ireland.”
Anna May McHugh, NPA Managing Director said, “I’m delighted to make this presentation to one of Ireland’s brightest young Entrepreneurs - as organiser of Europe’s largest outdoor event I know the challenges of the events industry and Paddy has proven his ability and drive in all of his achievements. I’m very pleased for him and all of the team and happy to be part of this occasion”.
Eugene Bortolozzo, founder of the Event Industry Awards remarked, “To honour Paddy, and by extension Web Summit, through making this award is a privilege for me personally and the Event Industry Awards as a whole. The awards are about excellence and there is no better embodiment of event excellence than this year’s recipient of the Outstanding Contribution Award, Mr. Paddy Cosgrave”.
Web Summit is a global technology conference hosted annually in Lisbon. In 2018, more than 70,000 attendees from over 170 countries will fly to Lisbon for Web Summit, including over 1,500 startups, 1,200 speakers and 2,600 international journalists. Speakers in Lisbon 2018 will include the founders and CEOs of the world’s largest tech companies as well as political leaders and major sports, fashion and music personalities. Web Summit also runs MoneyConf in Dublin, RISE in Hong Kong, and Collision in Toronto.