I've been thinking about marble floors lately. Specifically, the polished marble of Austin's Hilton lobby at 4 a.m., where sleep-deprived founders would dare each other to backstroke across the entire expanse while hotel security pretended not to notice. It sounds absurd—and it was. But those moments of beautiful absurdity were where the magic happened at South by Southwest Interactive between 2005 and 2009.

That was real festival culture. And it transformed Austin from a quirky college town into a global beacon of innovation and human progress.

The evolution of connection

Having just experienced Web Summit Vancouver, I'm energized by what I witnessed. The calibre of minds, the quality of conversations, the sheer potential—it was remarkable. But I also recognize the gap between what was and what could be. As one attendee described it, parts felt like "the living embodiment of LinkedIn"—polished, professional, but missing the spark that transforms conversations into breakthrough collaborations.

Side events featured DJs so loud that conversations became impossible. Networking sessions felt cramped and rushed. Many interactions carried a transactional undertone, particularly with service providers who seemed to miss that AI is rapidly automating much of what they're pitching.

But here's what excites me: these aren't criticisms—they're opportunities. Web Summit has given us a powerful foundation to evolve into something uniquely transformative.

The festival philosophy

SXSW understood something profound: breakthrough innovation requires the collision of disparate worlds. It needs environments where a live-streamed backstroke competition at 3 a.m. can catalyze your next breakthrough—not because it's planned, but because it creates conditions for serendipity to flourish.

I remember the Driskill Bar's back room during those formative years—leather couches worn soft by countless late-night conversations, venture capitalists in selvedge denim debating the future beneath oil paintings of Texas cattle barons. That's where Twitter found its wings in 2007. Where Foursquare's founders first imagined location as social fabric in 2009. Not in pitch decks, but in comfortable leather couches and quiet corners where real work happened after official programming ended. The evening parties, the late-night conversations, the serendipitous hotel lobby encounters—that's where entire industries were reimagined.

Vancouver's distinctive potential

Vancouver possesses all the elements for this evolution. We have world-class research pushing boundaries of AI, quantum computing, and biotechnology. We have creative industries that understand storytelling and human connection. We have cultural sophistication that values depth over hype, substance over spectacle, long-term thinking over quick wins.

Most importantly, we're motivated by belief that technology should enhance human flourishing, that innovation should serve justice, that progress should be measured by the quality of life we create for everyone.

Designing for depth

Imagine Web Summit Vancouver events designed for our community's maturity and values. Instead of networking sessions that feel like speed dating between LinkedIn profiles, we could create structured salons diving deep into climate adaptation technologies, ethical AI governance, inclusive innovation methodologies. Instead of side events where DJs drown out conversations, we could host intimate gatherings that facilitate dialogue: innovation showcases at Science World, philosophical debates overlooking English Bay, late-night problem-solving sessions in Gastown heritage buildings where comfortable seating and proper acoustics allow four-hour conversations that change trajectories.

Less transactional noise, more substantive discourse. Fewer pitches from service providers whose functions are increasingly automated, more space for cross-disciplinary collaborations our community craves.

The two-year horizon

Web Summit has committed to Vancouver for multiple years. That gives us time to thoughtfully demonstrate what's possible when you combine global-scale convening power with authentic community values, when you merge cutting-edge technology discussions with deeper questions about how we want to live together.

We can showcase Canadian innovation not as a competitive response to Silicon Valley, but as a distinctive approach to progress—one prioritizing sustainability over scale, community over individual achievement, wisdom over mere intelligence.

A renaissance garden

Vancouver could become a renaissance garden—a place where transformative innovations take root not in sterile conference environments, but in rich soil of genuine human connection, cultural diversity, natural beauty, and shared commitment to progress that serves everyone.

The marble floors of the Hilton lobby taught me that innovation emerges from the intersection of serious and playful, planned and spontaneous, professional and deeply personal. Web Summit Vancouver could become our canvas for exploring those intersections.

Vancouver has always looked forward while honouring what came before, embraced progress while staying grounded in values, and welcomed the world while maintaining distinctive character. Web Summit gives us the platform to share those qualities with the global innovation community—and help shape what the future of human progress could look like.

The question isn't whether we can create something extraordinary. The question is: what kind of legacy do we want to build together?

Martin Montero is the founder and director at Prometheus Forge.