Twelve days out from the first-ever Web Summit in North America, the tech community gathered at KPMG Vancouver for what felt more like the start of a campaign than a day of startup workshops. There was coffee and media and name tags, sure, but the energy was something else. It was the culmination of a months-long initiative by Innovate BC to prepare local startups for their moment on the world stage. And at the heart of it all was a simple but high-stakes thesis: that by rallying around this massive global tech conference, British Columbia could accelerate its entire innovation economy.

“Web Summit is a generational opportunity,” said Peter Cowan, president and CEO of Innovate BC, addressing the crowd. “It has the opportunity to put the tech sector in front of the world stage.”

This isn't just rhetoric. Over 15,000 attendees from 120 countries are expected at Web Summit Vancouver. More than 1,000 startups have been accepted into the official program—300 of them from British Columbia. It's a rare alignment of global attention and local ambition. And for the provincial government, Web Summit is more than just a tech event. It's a bet on economic transformation through innovation.

From “event coming to town” to full-on strategy

In an interview, Cowan was candid about how the thinking evolved inside his organization. Initially, the mindset was, “Hey, there's just an event coming. We'll figure out how to leverage it.” But as the scope of Web Summit became clear, so did the opportunity. “Now the thinking has evolved into: how do we actually use this as a springboard, knowing we have something happening once a year for the next three years?”

That shift led to the creation of Road to Web Summit, a sprawling initiative led by Innovate BC and delivered with the help of 20 ecosystem partners across the province. Since February, the program has supported nearly 1,000 startups through pitch training, media coaching, export readiness, and investor engagement. The recent bootcamp in May was the final push—a last round of reps before demo day on a global scale. “We're bringing the world to our doorstep,” said Tomica Divic, VP of strategic partnerships and ecosystem development at Innovate BC. “It didn't happen by accident. This was a concerted effort across all levels of government.”

A startup accelerator in disguise

The support goes deeper than branding. Many founders attending the bootcamp spoke of the Road to Web Summit as an accelerator in all but name. Anne Hungerford, co-founder of Glüxkind Technologies, a smart baby gear company, called the programming “an amazing foundation” that would benefit companies long past the conference itself. Alycia van der Gracht, founder of QuantoTech, which builds decentralized vertical farms, noted that the training gave her company access to resources normally out of reach. “All our money is going toward building more technology and doing R&D,” she said. “We can't really be spending it going to travel places to meet this level of investor.”

This is exactly the kind of leverage Cowan hoped for. “Getting ten companies to show up to a one-day boot camp is difficult when there's nothing ahead of them to plan for,” he said. “But we're all rallying around the same event.”

The presence of 600 international investors in Vancouver creates a rare scenario. Companies can stay in town and still pitch to the world. More than that, Cowan believes the experience will sharpen their global edge. “The world moves at a very different pace once you move outside of BC,” he said. “This is an amazing opportunity for startups to see what their competition is going to be.”

What success looks like

For Cowan, success in year one is simple: better-prepared startups bringing in investment that wouldn’t have otherwise been accessible. In the longer term, Innovate BC wants to see companies grow, scale, and point back to Web Summit as an inflection point.

The economic stakes are significant. Web Summit is projected to generate over $280 million in economic impact over three years, according to officials. Amanda Collett, Web Summit's deputy country manager, highlighted Lisbon as a model, where the conference helped drive a 26-fold increase in startup activity.

But British Columbia isn’t just hoping for a Lisbon-style boom. It wants to grow on its own terms. Cowan acknowledges that not all investment will come from local sources—and that’s okay. “We don’t have all the capital that can be provided to companies that’s readily accessible here,” he said. “If we build good IP programs and a strong ecosystem, companies will want to stay in Canada regardless of where the investment comes from.”

The long game

Web Summit lasts three days. But its shadow could stretch for years. Innovate BC is already thinking about how to use the next year as lead time for 2026. Cowan sees this as a new rhythm: bake Web Summit into the province’s support cycle, align grants and programs around it, and build momentum each year.

“Innovate BC is here for the companies,” he said. “Our customers are the companies. We want them to grow, and we want them to stay in British Columbia.”

For a region often accused of underplaying its tech ambitions, Web Summit is a bold, public swing. Whether it connects or misses, the ripple effects will outlast the applause. This is British Columbia telling the world—and maybe itself—that it's ready to go big.