The co-founder of the tech summit, which will be held in Qatar next year, says the West has lost its lead on tech.

Speaking on Al Jazeera Digital’s show On The Record, Cosgrave said the West has lost its status as the leader in technology and innovation after being in the position for half a century.

“For 50 years advances within technology were driven by the United States, but over the past decade, there has been rapid dispersion of technological capability to other parts of the world,” he said.

“In the coming decade, China will dominate technology because it has focused intensively on the important partnership between the public and private sectors with stunning results.”

Cosgrave was critical of the US and European countries, saying they “find it difficult when companies from elsewhere in the world outcompete them”.

The Irish co-founder of the global tech event has earmarked the Middle East as the region that will bring “most of the growth” in the technology sector, whose emerging companies the event will showcase.

“When Web Summit started, it attracted an overwhelmingly European and North American audience, but the changes over the past five years have been stark with the rise of participation from the Arab world,” Cosgrave said.

Qatar is slated to host the 2024 edition of the event from February 25 to 29, and Cosgrave said it will help bring the rest of the globe to the country and the Arab world.

“[It will] show them that this is an incredibly important market. You can’t not be here.”

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