Disruption & Opportunity

What began as a focused gathering on the implications of the Web becoming a platform has transformed into an industry event focused on the latest Internet innovations—the services, applications, businesses, and models—that are redefining the way companies do business and how people live.

In 2004, Web 2.0 focused on one big idea: The Web has become a platform, a foundation upon which thousands of new forms of business would emerge. In 2005, at the second annual Web 2.0 Conference, we focused on the idea of “Revving the Web” - with the platform in place, we highlighted emerging innovations, with a particular emphasis on the entertainment, communications and IT industries.

This year, we're thinking even bigger. It's clear that major swaths of the global economy are in significant flux. Now that the Web has become a robust platform with countless innovations driving its ongoing development, widespread disruptions in traditional business models are well underway. The telcos are under siege from VoIP and bandwidth hungry content companies. Entertainment and publishing companies are struggling with consumer-driven media and the attention economy. And the IT giants - Microsoft chief among them - are in a battle for their lives with the “give it away free and monetize it with ads” model of Yahoo! and Google.

The “Who's Who” of the Internet

Now in its third year, Web 2.0 has become the gathering place for business leaders of the new Web - it reflects and embodies the community - bringing together the best to discuss and debate the most important issues and strategies driving the Internet economy and what we might expect in the coming year.

• 50+ thought leaders and entrepreneurs slated to present in an interactive format stressing audience participation
• More than a dozen extraordinary thinkers and business leaders will present “High Order Bits” - ten minute stand-and-deliver presentations designed to provoke, delight, and amaze the audience
• Top executives from platform businesses will address the future of the Web in plenary sessions
• We'll focus on innovative new web technologies in our expert led-workshops
• Second Annual Launch Pad event featuring presentations by a select group of start-ups
• A variety of unique networking events including receptions, dinners and evening parties

The Web 2.0 Summit connects the leaders and technologists opening the Web's business opportunities. Conference attendance is limited to maintain an intimate setting and foster dialogue among all participants.

2006 Conference Topics will Include:

• Defining Web 3.0: What's Next?
• Collision of the Titans: Publishers v. Platforms
• Collective Intelligence or The Madness of Crowds?
• What Might Go Wrong in Web 2.0?
• Is the IPO Culture Over?
• Launch Pad 2.0
• Shorts 2.0
• The Tiered Internet: A Debate
• Web 2.0 in China
• High Order Bits
• Disrupting the Disruptors: Incumbents Strike Back
• Privacy and Trust: Who Owns Your Data?

What Is Web 2.0

Defining just what Web 2.0 means still engenders much disagreement. Tim O'Reilly attempts to clarify just what we meant by Web 2.0, digging into what it means to view the Web as a platform and which applications fall squarely under its purview, and which do not.
Read more here.