LeWeb London To Bring Together “Digital Hippies”

Loic LeMeur, the man behind the LeWeb series of events, has announced the theme of the upcoming London conference: “Digital Hippies and the Sharing Economy”.

LeWeb London 2013 will be dedicated to the companies for which earning money “is not the only goal”, and explore topics such as transparency, authenticity and community building.

It will take place on the 5 and 6 June in the same venue as last time – the Westminster Central Hall.

Peace, tech and love

Every year since 2004, LeWeb has brought together global start-ups, industry leaders, journalists, sponsors, investors and web celebrities to shape the future of the Internet.

The Europe’s biggest tech conference was traditionally held in Paris, but last year the organisers decided to establish a second annual event, to take place in London.

According to LeMeur, in the world where we share cars (Whipcar), knowledge (Wikipedia) and even our rubbish (Freecycle), doing good is not just an ethical choice – it can also be a successful business model.

“Today’s Digital “Hippies” share many of the core ideological views as the 1960’s movement while focusing on creating products and start-ups that they believe can change the world for the better,” explains the LeWeb website.

Last year, 1,500 people from around 55 countries attended the London event. While it was mostly viewed as a success, the organisers have found plenty of things they could improve. This year, the LeMeurs have promised attendees more networking spaces, more sponsors, and if Luc has his way, possibly even some meditation rooms.

The speakers for LeWeb London will be announced in the coming weeks. Last year’s participants included Bradley Horowitz, vice president of product management at Google, Alexander Ljung, founder and CEO of SoundCloud, UK Digital Champion Martha Lane Fox and Phil Libin, CEO of Evernote.

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