The founders of Skype, YouTube, Bebo and Twitter will join other young leaders of the most influential tech companies at the invite-only Founders event, which will take place in Dublin.
Taking place from 28-30 October, the event is planned to be an annual gathering of the world’s most influential young company founders and CEOs, and will run alongside the Dublin Web Summit.
The event has been organised with support from the leading figures across Europe, including Niels Thogersen, honorary director general of the European Commission.
Thogersen has dubbed the event as “Junior Davos” while the Irish Times has called it “Davos for Geeks.”
Attendees will include Niklas Zennstrom, founder of Skype, Chad Hurley, founder and CEO of YouTube, and Jack Dorsey, founder and chairman of Twitter.
Other guests include Dr Martin Curley, Intel’s global director for research and innovation, Dave Morin, co-founder of Path and creator of Facebook Platform, and Michael Birch, founder of Bebo.
Political figures at Founders event
Many political figures will also attend, such as former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Dr Mary Robinson, and former prime minister of South Korea, Dr Hong-Koo Lee.
Chief investors will be attending, such as chief economist of the World Bank, Dr Justin Lin, and international chairman of Goldman Sachs, Peter Sutherland.
The group will discuss a range of issues, including philanthropy, entrepreneurship and investment.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen will host a dinner for the group and the President of the European Parliament, Dr Jerzy Buzek, will make a televised address from Brussels.
The group of young founders has been drawn from some of the fastest-growing technology companies around world.
“Founders is not just an opportunity for those behind the world’s fastest-growing companies to come to Ireland, it’s also an opportunity for Ireland to showcase its transformation to the world,” said Paddy Cosgrave, organiser of Founders.
“There is a very positive story to be told and that’s why so many of the world’s leading media outlets are coming to Dublin for Founders. Our technology sector is booming. Dublin is becoming a global innovation hub.”
“Not only are we attracting ever-increasing numbers of leading international technology companies to Ireland, we are also slowly but surely seeing a marked increase in Irish technology companies expanding internationally,” said Cosgrave.
