3 takeaways from Invest in Pomerania at Web Summit 2022

At Web Summit 2022, Invest in Pomerania surveyed hundreds of attendees about their economic outlooks and the tech cities of the future. Let’s take a look at the responses.

Web Summit 2022 brought more than 71,000 attendees from around the world to Lisbon, where much of the conversation – both on and off stage – was about remote work, digital nomads and smart cities.

At the Invest in Pomerania survey wall, attendees shared their thoughts on these concepts in response to some key questions.

Here are some of the key findings:

Porto is the destination of choice for digital nomads

Attendees were asked whether they would prefer to live and work in Porto, Gdańsk/Tricity, Vilnius, Dresden or Sofia.

The most popular destination by far was Porto, which won out with 50.4 percent of votes. Given Portugal’s increasing popularity with digital nomads – and that Portuguese attendees made up the largest cohort at Web Summit by nationality – this is perhaps an unsurprising result.

The next most popular destinations were Vilnius at 17.5 percent and Gdańsk/Tricity at 16.6 percent, followed by Dresden at 9.6 percent. Trailing slightly behind the rest was Sofia on 5.9 percent.

The Invest in Pomerania survey wall, next to a Northern Poland booth at Web Summit 2022. Image: Web Summit (CC BY 2.0)

Attendees predict a tech boom for Vilnius

When asked which of the cities listed above will have seen the most technological development by 2023, Vilnius was well ahead of the other options at 38.8 percent – indicative, perhaps, of the rapid development of the Baltic tech ecosystem.

Porto came in second place at 26.1 percent, with Gdańsk/Tricity following at 19.4 percent.

When asked – during an event-floor interview at Web Summit – about the choice of cities for these questions, Invest in Pomerania deputy director Marcin Grzegory explained “this is the pack that we would like to run against, because it’s tough competition. So, if we can get an edge on these cities, who knows what will be next.”

Attendees favour higher-risk, higher-return investments

When attendees responded to the question, ‘What do you look for in an investment?’, we learned that:

• Attendees favoured high-return, high-risk investments in new markets, with nearly half of respondents supporting some degree of financing within these parameters.
• There was a clear preference for new markets over more established markets.
• There was a significant preference for high-return, high-risk investments over low-risk investments with a steady return.
• Attendees didn’t sit on the fence when it came to the debate over risk, with responses showing varying degrees of comfort on both ends of the spectrum.

To find out more about Invest in Pomerania and the wider region’s business potential, visit the Invest in Pomerania website.

Main image of an attendee interacting with the Invest in Pomerania survey wall at Web Summit 2022: Web Summit (CC BY 2.0)