Jason Tse spent decades in finance and the airline industry before becoming increasingly drawn to the technology layer behind the business — and eventually, to the broader tech ecosystem in British Columbia and beyond. Now Deputy Country Manager for Canada at Web Summit, he spoke to us about what the event means for Vancouver, what excites him about the local ecosystem, and how to make the most of the experience.

In my previous life, I was in finance and banking and spent most of my career in the airline business. The movement of goods and people is far more technology-driven than most people would assume. Over time, I was increasingly drawn to the technology layer behind the industry, which led me to become more involved in the broader tech ecosystem, connecting with founders, investors, and innovation organizations in British Columbia and abroad.

I was drawn to Web Summit’s mission of connecting people and ideas that change the world.

While Web Summit is a massive global technology event series with incredible speakers, I saw that everything it designs and builds has connections and community at its heart. That aligned quite well with my experience and passion for building communities. I have been quite fortunate to be involved in various organizations in the Vancouver ecosystem and would like to consider myself a community builder, connecting people, facilitating opportunities, and helping businesses grow.

When it comes to Vancouver, it’s important for local economic development to seed, scale, and retain innovative companies high up the value chain in order for Vancouver and Canada to be competitive on the world stage; Web Summit can be a key catalyst in that regard.

I also believe that the proliferation and implementation of AI will be one of the most transformative applications in terms of productivity enhancement in history, and Web Summit brings tech leaders together to host some of the most important conversations about AI, which I’m excited to help facilitate.

I’m a Canadian, and I’ve lived in Vancouver for over four decades. I’ve seen how the ecosystem has grown quietly over the last few decades. We’ve attracted some of the largest global technology companies like Electronic Arts, Netflix, Amazon, and Microsoft.

Canada offers a unique combination of political stability, a really well-educated and diverse talent pool, thanks to our top-ranked universities. This also helps to bring a global perspective. Right now, the Canadian brand has never been stronger across the world, and it's a great time to leverage that asset and to provide international leadership.

Web Summit is one of the largest events hosted in Vancouver and can be a key building block for establishing Vancouver and Canada as an important player in the technology and innovation stage. You will not only have global tech and business leaders, startups, investors, and policymakers converging in one location. The event will also have a strong representation from more mature industries like logistics, infrastructure, and energy that are being transformed by technology.

Vancouver is part of the burgeoning Cascadia region and a key gateway between North America and Asia from both a physical and knowledge standpoint. That international perspective will likely emerge from the conversations and partnerships that materialize.

Web Summit is a meta event that brings together thousands of companies and startups (at all levels), investors, policymakers, and media across many key industries. Startups generally want to attend to meet investors and other founders. Investors generally want to meet both startups and their peers to discuss and debate where capital is flowing and what is happening in the venture market as a whole. More traditional companies want to join to figure out how best to move their companies forward. So you can be any size, and any industry, and as long as your company or you are interested in technology, which is essentially the future of business, you can find some value in attending and making meaningful connections.

On a similar note, Web Summit is meta and operates at scale. I’d recommend that everyone come with clear objectives and intentions, whether it is to meet investors, customers, or build partnerships. Download the app. This gives you access to connect with the entire Web Summit Vancouver network, research who is going, and helps you discover what or who you might not already know. It’s also important to leave room for serendipity. A lot of the relationships formed at Web Summit have happened in queues for burgers or panels. You can’t leave that part out.