Web Summit 2025: being in the place where the future has already begun

I have been feeling this for weeks, but Web Summit 2025 made everything clearer. To be in Lisbon during the event is to feel, almost physically, that the future has already begun and that Portugal is at the center of this change. Not as an extra, but as a protagonist.
The topic that dominated everything was Artificial Intelligence. Not just an abstract AI, but many AIs, in many forms and uses. In health, mobility, rehabilitation, in the way we work, sell, communicate, create, decide. In politics and even in the way we look at democracy. And behind each panel was the same silent conclusion. The world has entered a new phase and Europe, with Portugal in it, cannot miss this train.
As I walked through the pavilions, I saw a mixture that always impresses me. Founders of small startups side by side with unicorns installed in Lisbon. Giant infrastructures such as the data center projects in Sines to be spoken in the same sentence as specialized hubs of the Unicorn Factory in Rossio. Global platforms announcing offices in Alcântara, while Startup Portugal shows numbers from an ecosystem that already has thousands of companies, qualified jobs and growing exports.
But, more than the ads, what struck me were the stories and the energy. An exoskeleton that restores mobility to those who thought they would never walk again. AI agents who start supporting entrepreneurs in the business plan, marketing, and operation, almost like silent advisors, are always present. Digital platforms showing how a simple video can exhaust a small neighborhood business on the other side of the world.
At the same time, there is a serious conversation going on about regulation, ethics, trust, data, and security. Europe is looking for the balance between protecting citizens and not killing innovation. Portugal is positioning itself as a living laboratory of this new phase. A small country that is learning to play in big leagues.
I leave this Web Summit with a double feeling. On the one hand, humility, because the speed of change is enormous. On the other hand, a serene pride. I was there. I saw, heard, took notes. And I can say, with conviction, that something profound is happening in Portugal. It is not just technology. It is a new way of imagining who we might be.