The 2020 edition of the Web Summit, an annual gathering for the global tech industry, will be held exclusively over the internet this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, organisers said Thursday.

The event drew 70,000 people to Portugal's capital Lisbon last year, but organisers hope to boost participation by going online, targeting 100,000 participants for the December 2-4 summit.

"It's not sensible to organise large gatherings of any size," said Paddy Cosgrave, chief organiser of the "Davos for geeks" which was created in 2010 in Dublin.

"The health and safety of the people of Lisbon and our attendees is very important... the reality is we're in a second wave," he told AFP in a video interview.

While other major tech conferences such as the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona have simply been cancelled, the Web Summit's organisers hope it could become the largest ever online conference.

The summit is expected to address subjects linked to the coronavirus pandemic, such as the increase in remote work and other issues confronting the tech sector.

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