Technology is the new fuel of modern business, AI is the centre of attention globally, and more news. The team of Red Jumpers attended the Web Summit Qatar in February 2025 and has brought some fresh insights. In the article, we dive into our experiences and share the valuable takeaways from this dynamic event!
What is Web Summit?
Web Summit is one of the biggest and most influential IT conferences globally. Year after year, it’s been uniting tech thought leaders, startup owners, developers, investors, and simply technology enthusiasts.
From a modest tech meetup first held in 2009 in Dublin, able to fit in a hotel conference room, Web Summit has grown into a four-day global-scale event taking up the space of over a hundred thousand square metres in the capital city of Portugal – Lisbon! Moreover, for the last couple of years, the conference has been taking place several times a year, creating impact in other regions: North America (Toronto and Vancouver), South America (Rio), Asia (RISE in Hong Kong), and Middle East and Africa (Doha).
Today, Web Summit is more than just a conference – it’s an international platform for business networking, building professional authority, and learning from the innovation gurus.
What’s Special about Web Summit Qatar?
Web Summit Qatar 2025 was the first Web Summit event in 2025 and the second time the conference took place in the Middle East. This year, Doha Exhibition and Convention Center (DECC) saw 25,700 attendees from 124 countries, including 1,520 startups, 723 investors, and 381 speakers, almost doubling some of the 2024 numbers.
But why visit Qatar Web Summit at all, if there’s a much bigger event in Europe?
First of all, Web Summit in Qatar creates some unique business opportunities for tech companies as the countries of Middle East and Africa, whose representatives greatly favor this event, are now investing heavily in technological advancement and innovations. For example, last year, Qatar Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani announced a venture capital program Fund of Funds, promising to invest $1bln into international and regional venture capital funds.
Startups and investment funds can benefit from this, winning a part of the funding for expanding in the MENA region or business growth even outside of it. This time, His Excellence Sheikh Mohammed confirmed the endeavor, stating:
We plan to renovate our entire economy to make Qatar the top regional destination for startups and create an ecosystem for companies to innovate and thrive.
As a result, more than 1,634 companies registered to open offices in Qatar and 56 Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) were signed between Qatari institutions and leading global tech companies.
Also, Qatar has launched a national development program Qatar National Vision 2030, relying on extensive digitalization, support for startups, and artificial intelligence implementation. Plus, the country authorities lure foreign businesses with attractive tax policies and economic regulations.
Another specific feature of Qatar (and the countries of the MENA region in general) is the prominent role of face-to-face communication in building business relationships. Taking the time and effort to meet in person is considered an indicator of readiness for long-term and serious cooperation. This will be greatly appreciated by your potential Middle East clients and partners and will help you stand out among the competitors.
Why did Red Jumpers go to Web Summit Qatar?
As a company helping businesses grow and thrive through innovation and technological expertise, Red Jumpers viewed Web Summit Qatar as a treasury of potential connections, partnerships, and opportunities.
First of all, Qatar and the Middle East presented terra incognita for us in terms of business. Before, we only worked with clients from Central and Eastern Europe as well as North and South America. Now, due to the Qatar Web Summit, we got the chance to research a new market full of startups, investors, and technology enthusiasts – and we could not resist. Plus, Web Summit is known as a top networking platform for the IT community, where even a set of table tennis can end up with an acquaintance with a potential to grow into a business project!
Also, for a technology company like us, it’s critical to keep up with new trends and domains in our fast-paced industry, and the Web Summit conference is the right place for professional growth and learning. Here, you can join workshops and mentorship sessions, walk around company stands and delegation pavilions, and listen to impactful speeches from the tech and non-tech celebs – founders and execs from top tech companies and unicorns, best-selling authors, world-class researchers, politicians, and even people from sports and media (this year, actor Will Smith was one of the top guests).
Finally, we feel Ukrainian businesses are underrepresented in the Middle East market and this prevents our country from showing its true potential. To fix this, it’s important that Ukrainian companies like Red Jumpers join such events as Web Summit Qatar and come to light as reliable technology partners in every part of the globe.
Getting Ready for Web Summit Qatar
Of course, when going to such a massive event, it’s important to be prepared. Here’s what we would recommend for companies planning to attend the next Web Summit:
Be ready to pitch your product or services.
Your presentation must be clear, concise, and attention-grabbing from the start. It’s super-important to make your audience understand your key features and benefits within the first seconds. Because the event is huge and everyone wants to see as much as possible within a very restricted time frame.
Think of ways to stay in touch with your prospects.
We prepared leaflets and business cards to give away, however, Qatar 2025 just proved our Stockholm Tech Show 2024 experience: people are going paperless and will need your business card only to copy your phone number and find you on WhatsApp. By the way, this messenger is a preferred means for communication in Qatar (as well as European countries), so make sure you have an account on WhatsApp. Also, the fastest way to share your contact info would be to convert it into a QR-code you can place anywhere.
Take advantage of the organiser’s technology.
Web Summit provides attendees with access to its super-convenient and user-friendly app. Use it to look through the lists of other attendees, research, find out information about your potential prospects, get in touch, and arrange in-person meetings beforehand. Plus, during the event, it is widely used in place of traditional business cards.
Consider having unusual merch or attractions.
The place is packed with competing agencies, so it’s good to be visually recognizable. But interestingly, compared to European conferences we had visited, few companies had typical merchandise like clothes or stationery. Alternatively, many stands were equipped with photobooths and people literally stood in lines to take photos there. Looks like corporate gifts are getting out of trend and the audience is more driven by emotional experiences from technology.
Learn about the local culture.
Make sure you are aware of the culture specifics of Qatar to look professional and show respect to the hosting country. Although it is a relatively open country with cultural diversity, its official religion Islam has a great impact on many aspects of life. For example, most activities stop during prayer time which is five times a day, and foreigners are expected to accommodate. So take the time to find out about the social distancing norms, appropriate dress code, traditional greetings, farewells, and thanks, how to politely refuse, ask for, or offer help, etc.
Getting to and around Doha
Our trip started on Feb 18 in Ivano-Frankivsk, aiming for Krakow, Budapest, and, finally, Qatar on Feb 20.
Ukraine-Poland
We got on a direct bus from Ivano-Frankivsk to Krakow. The trip took us about 9 hours, including crossing the border. Actually, this was much faster than we expected, so we had 5 hours before our next bus and we spent them walking around and enjoying the old city. However, we would still recommend including extra hours to your itinerary since border crossing can be tough and unexpected.
Poland-Hungary
Our bus ride from Krakow to Budapest also lasted for less than was planned. Initially, we only had to stay the night in the hotel before our flight. But we arrived so early we couldn’t even check-in. Luckily, we were allowed to leave the luggage so we could stroll around the city to kill some time.
Hungary-Qatar
Next day in Budapest, we boarded the plane for a 5-hour flight straight to Doha. With Qatar Airlines, offering the passengers a comfortable plane, tasty snacks, and some movies to watch, the trip was a real pleasure and passed almost unnoticed. The only thing you have to keep in mind is that to travel to Qatar you will need a visa, which can be obtained directly at the airport.
Doha, Qatar
Doha is a huge city and getting around on foot is not an option, so it’s important to research the local public transport in advance. The best way to get from the Doha airport to the hotel is by taxi. For this, you can install an app called Carva – the local analogue of Uber. It allows adding your bank card for online payments which is super-convenient. They have Uber too, but drivers only take cash and it’s more pricey than Carva.
Another great means of transport in Doha is underground. It’s modern, very clean, and cheap – the price of a daily ticket is only 60 UAH. The Doha underground is also crowd-free as most locals prefer cars: the gasoline is really low-cost here.
The trip back home took us just a day as we only had a flight from Doha to Budapest and a direct bus from Budapest to Ivano-Frankivsk.
Culture Specifics of Qatar
Qatar is an Arab and Muslim country, so, obviously, its public norms and traditions differ from European and it’s important to know about them to avoid making a poor impression, in the best-case scenario, or getting fined or even arrested if things go totally wrong.
Language
Arabic is the official language spoken in Qatar but English is widely spoken in public places, especially those full of tourists.
Greetings
Stand up to greet a person who just arrived. Keep in mind that greetings in Arab culture are gender-specific. You can use the expression As-salamu alaykum (Peace be upon you) or marhaba to greet men of Arab origin. Men also typically shake hands and give each other a kiss on the cheek. Meanwhile, women greet each other with as-salamu alaykum or ahlan wa sahlan. It is also not common to give and shake hands with women.
Religion
However, Qatar is quite open and tolerant, of course, there are some rules related to Islam. First of all, non-islamic guests should be mindful of prayer hours taking place five times a day: at dawn (Fajr), around midday (Duhr), in mid-afternoon (A’asr), at sunset (Maghrib), and about two hours after sunset (‘Esha). The exact timing varies each day according to the sun’s position but you will know from a loud melodious call sounding from the mosques – azan. Avoid talking loudly, drinking, eating, taking photos in public during these hours, especially when close to praying areas. Shops and businesses also can be closed at this time – once we couldn’t even buy ice-cream as the shop closed for prayer in front of us.
Behavior and Clothing
Behavior and dress codes in Qatar are quite conservative, too. Men are extremely polite and courteous. Arab women mostly wear Islamic veils – including niqabs that cover the face but keep the eyes open, and burkas that cover the face completely.
For foreigners, it’s better to have your shoulders and knees covered in public places like shopping malls, cafes and restaurants, museums, transport, and so on. Open clothes like swimsuits are only acceptable on the beaches and pools. However, there wasn’t any special dress code for the Web Summit attendees, we dressed in clothes covering our knees and hands at least to elbows as a sign of respect.
It is not recommended to show affection (hugging and kissing) in public places, as they can be viewed as a reason for a fine, detention, or even arrest by law. Also, avoid taking pictures of religious buildings, military objects, and other people, especially Arab women. If you are posting online, make sure you don’t make any comments about Qatari culture, government, and commercial enterprises (even hotels and restaurants) while you are in the country as this may be considered as cybercrime.
Try to avoid gestures with your fingers – use the entire palm of your hand. To take, give, or hand over food, drinks, or other objects, use your right hand. If you are offered a cup of coffee (which is traditional here) but you wish to refuse, move an empty cup from side to side with your right hand.
Smoking and drinking alcohol is prohibited in public places. However, you can order alcohol in accredited places like hotel bars and restaurants. Remember that offering alcohol to muslims is also a no-go. As well as food that contains pork.
To find out more details and recommendations, you can refer to the official resource of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.
Insights from Web Summit Qatar 2025
The leading idea of this Web Summit was the extensive reach of technology and AI across all industries.
Special attention was drawn to the finance and security sectors. For example, many speakers mentioned the importance of AI in financial security for such tasks as fraud detection and the evaluation of clients’ creditworthiness, adding to service reliability. Also, they discussed AI-powered investment tools which can make a real breakthrough for customers in this domain, lowering the entry threshold and becoming more user-friendly.
Also many thought leaders highlighted the role of chatbots which, powered with AI, can provide customer support in multiple languages with better quality and more efficiently.
Discussing the AI models market, the founder of ScaleAI, the top US data annotation company, Alexandr Wang made quite a controversial note that the US and China seem to be the global leaders and main competitors today, with China’s recent presentation of DeepSeek. As he commented,
Nearly every country in the world, or nearly every company in the world, will ultimately likely build AI technology on top of either the US technology stack or that of the Chinese technology stack.
All in all, everything drills down to acknowledging that in the modern business environment, companies ready to embrace innovation and technology will be leading the race in providing the best services, customer experiences, and data protection.
Conclusion
Web Summit Qatar made a great impression upon our team. It gathered around 25,000 people and the audience of this volume was very pleasant to work with. However, the organizers are not willing to stop on this figure.
The Middle East market is worth paying attention to. At this point, we cannot speak of the outcomes of our trip as we’re just starting to build the relationships with our new connections from this event. Many people we spoke to mentioned that local investors and companies are eager to work with Europeans but the latter rarely come to visit.
Rather discouraging was the fact that relatively few Ukrainian companies attended the conference – only 20 out or 17,000 representatives from around the globe. It was quite a weak national competition to present. This is why we think Ukrainian companies need to research and discover this market more actively. Hopefully, Red Jumpers made a good start!
