This position was conveyed to the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, and the Minister of Economy, António Costa Silva, during a meeting with Portuguese start-ups that will participate in this year's edition of the Web Summit.

In an intervention in English, in the former royal arena, next to the Palácio de Belém, in Lisbon, Paddy Cosgrave maintained that in 2016, when the Web Summit took place in Lisbon, the historic centre of the city "was practically abandoned", with "the declining population".

"And almost overnight, in a very short period of time, Lisbon has become the most attractive place in the world," he said.

The Irish businessman considered that "when all this interest arises in relation to a city, with so many talented people coming from all over the world, it brings great opportunities, and it also brings challenges".

"Hopefully these challenges can be resolved with some money. Lisbon is drenched with more money than it has ever had, and I hope some of that money goes to smoothing some of the rough edges that arise when a city, almost overnight, becomes one of the most attractive places to be in the world", he added.

For those wondering if the Web Summit will ever leave Lisbon, Paddy Cosgrave replied: "We probably never will".

Under the terms of a contract signed in 2018 with the Government and the Lisbon City Council, Web Summit committed to remain in the Portuguese capital for another ten years and not to hold competing events in Europe during this period, receiving in return 11 million euros for each edition – out of a total of 110 million euros, of which 80 million come from the Portuguese State, spread between 2019 and 2028.

This year's annual edition of this technology summit in Lisbon is scheduled for November 1st to 4th.