Major tech conferences tend to include at least one stop in California. The two-day LeWeb event is being held outside Paris, France, though, as it’s all about Europe.
You know, Europe – that landmass containing about as many countries as America has states. Yet not nearly as many successful Web 2.0-type companies have come from Europe as America, and that’s one of the things the fourth annual LeWeb conference hopes to address.
The disparity seems to be largely due to funding – Conor O’Neill, the chief executive of Louder Voice, told Ewan Spence that European investors “perceive anything dot com as being very risky . . .” On the bright side, he added, “[B]ut that attitude is changing.”
So what else is LeWeb about? Loïc Le Meur, the conference’s organizer, allowed would-be attendees to more or less select the schedule, and they appear focused on succeeding through law-abiding and moral means. “[H]alf the conference is about how to grow an Internet that has a solid basis, that is respectful of privacy, copyrights and people,” Le Meur said in an interview with Victoria Shannon.
Time differences aside, LeWeb began yesterday (Tuesday) and ends today (Wednesday). Goojet, PLYMedia, and G.ho.st have been picked as some of the most promising startups, so while we wait for next year’s conference, these will be the companies to watch.
