Web Summit 2026: where to park in Lisbon and how to avoid traffic in Parque das Nações. With increased car traffic in Parque das Nações, finding parking may become more difficult. Find out what the alternatives are for getting to the event and avoiding the main disruptions. Executive Digest November 9, 2026 10:21 Lisbon hosts, from November 9 to 12, another edition of Web Summit, one of Europe's largest technology gatherings. The event, held for the 11th time in the Portuguese capital, is expected to attract more than 70,000 participants from more than 160 countries, significantly increasing pressure on traffic and parking in the Parque das Nações area. Choose Executive Digest as your preferred source on Google Choose The conference takes place between MEO Arena and the Feira Internacional de Lisboa (FIL), in an area where pedestrian traffic plays an important role and where the concentration of thousands of visitors may make car access difficult. For those intending to travel to the event, choosing transport and planning the trip can make a difference. EasyPark, a company integrated into the Arrive mobility platform, recommends that participants prioritize public transport and, if they have to use a car, seek parking alternatives outside the area closest to the venue. "Urban mobility is something we deal with every day. At crucial moments in cities' daily life, we know that pressure can be greater," says Scott Booker, general manager of parking at Arrive, arguing that advance planning is essential to reduce congestion and circulation difficulties. The official also stresses that events of this size are particularly demanding in areas with limited car access, especially when many visitors are unfamiliar with the usual routes and parking conditions. Continue reading after the advertisement Where to park during Web Summit? For those attending Web Summit and intending to travel by car, one of the main recommendations is to avoid looking for parking near MEO Arena and FIL, where high demand may make it harder to find an available space. As an alternative, EasyPark suggests that drivers look for parking in the areas of Cabo Ruivo, Olivais, Moscavide or Encarnação. These areas allow you to leave the car farther from the event center and complete the journey via the public transport network. From these locations, participants can use the metro or city buses to reach Oriente station, located about a five-minute walk from the spaces where the conference takes place. Using parking garages, rather than looking for spaces on public streets near the venue, is another recommended solution to reduce time lost in travel and avoid unnecessary circulation on the busiest streets. Continue reading after the advertisement Metro and train are alternatives for reaching Parque das Nações Public transport is one of the most practical options for those intending to travel to Web Summit, especially during peak periods. For visitors arriving in Lisbon through Humberto Delgado Airport, the metro provides a direct connection to Parque das Nações. The Red Line allows travel between the airport and Oriente station in just three stops, avoiding the need to use a car. Those traveling from other regions of the country can also choose the train. Oriente station is served by important national rail connections, allowing arrival in the event area without facing the constraints associated with traffic and parking in the capital. The proximity between the railway station, the bus terminal, the metro and the conference venues also makes it easier to combine different means of transport, reducing the need for car travel within Parque das Nações. Continue reading after the advertisement Going by car? Plan parking before leaving home For participants who have no alternative to using a car, the main recommendation is to prepare the trip in advance. Identifying a parking lot beforehand, defining the route and allowing extra time for the journey can help avoid delays. EasyPark warns that looking for parking without a defined destination may worsen road traffic, especially when a large number of drivers arrive in the same area within a short period of time. It is also important to pay attention to the parking rules in force in Parque das Nações. There are areas subject to fees and others with spaces reserved for residents, so drivers should check the applicable conditions before leaving the vehicle. The company also recommends using digital tools that allow managing parking payment and, when possible, remotely extending the authorized period, avoiding additional trips to the car during participation in the event. EasyPark provides parking services in Lisbon, including in Parque das Nações, both in surface spaces and through the automatic license plate recognition (ANPR) system available in the FIL parking lot. Continue reading after the advertisement Integrated into the international mobility platform Arrive, EasyPark operates in more than 4,000 cities in more than 20 countries, providing digital solutions for parking, charging and urban mobility. With thousands of participants expected over the four days of Web Summit, anticipating routes, choosing parking outside the areas of greatest concentration and using the metro or train appear as ways to minimize traffic constraints and facilitate access to the event.

How did arrive grow from a Polish acquisition into a global engineering hub? November 4, 2026 Arrive is the global urban mobility platform behind EasyPark, ParkMobile, RingGo, Parkopedia and Flowbird, operating in more than 90 countries. In Poland, Arrive runs an engineering organization in Łódź that builds software used across that worldwide network. But they did not start that operation from scratch - they acquired it, then grew it from roughly 70 people to close to 200 in two years. That growth curve is why the Arrive story is worth a close read if your company is weighing Poland. Most case studies about Poland describe a decision. This one describes what happened after the decision, which is the part that actually determines whether a Polish hub works. Who is Arrive, and what does the company do in Poland? Arrive is a Stockholm-headquartered mobility platform created by the consolidation of several of Europe's and North America's best-known parking and mobility brands. In June 2025, EasyPark Group unified under the name Arrive as the parent company for EasyPark, Flowbird, ParkMobile, Parkopedia, RingGo, Yellowbrick and YourParkingSpace. The group operates in more than 90 countries and over 20,000 cities. In Poland, Arrive is visible to drivers through EasyPark. Behind that, the company runs something considerably larger: an engineering and operations organization in Łódź that develops software and products for the company's global urban mobility ecosystem. How did arrive enter the Polish market? Arrive entered Poland through acquisition, one of several routes a foreign company can take into the Polish market, alongside opening a branch, setting up a subsidiary, hiring through an employer of record, or working with a local recruitment and outsourcing partner. Acquisition is the fastest of those routes, because the team, the entity, and the local knowledge arrive on day one. EasyPark Group closed its acquisition of Flowbird Group on January 15, 2025, with Cameron Clayton, then CEO of EasyPark Group, appointed CEO of the combined company. Flowbird was itself a merged business: Parkeon and Cale came together to form Flowbird in 2018. Somewhere inside that lineage sat a Polish office in Łódź, operating as Flowbird Polska. Arrive describes the Łódź site as its historical footprint in the city, formerly the headquarters of Flowbird Polska, and originally a localized base. A local office, serving local needs, doing solid work that nobody outside the group had much reason to notice. That is the starting point most acquired Polish teams share. What happens in the following 18 months decides everything, and this is where the Arrive story turns. The new development in Łódź. In September 2026, Arrive announced that Łódź would become a global Innovation Center. The company presented it as a dedicated software engineering hub driving product development across its worldwide urban mobility ecosystem, and as a transition of the former Flowbird Polska headquarters from a localized base into an expanded technology and operations hub. The announcement came with a number that explains the decision. Arrive stated it had grown the number of roles in Łódź by over 150 in the preceding two years, and committed to scaling the center further through the hiring of engineering and technology specialists. On the other hand, Łódź media described the same growth from the headcount side: around 70 people worked in the Łódź Innovation Center a year earlier; close to 200 work there now, after the company expanded its premises. Why did arrive invest further in Poland? Arrive could have folded the Polish office into Paris or Stockholm after the acquisition. It did the opposite, and the reasons the company gave were about capability, not cost. Cameron Clayton described Poland and its engineering team as a key to their operations and growth: "Poland is a key market for Arrive's growth, both as a market for our services like EasyPark, but also as an exciting additional European location as an Innovation Center [...] Łódź offers an exceptional depth of engineering talent and a vibrant tech ecosystem that matches our global ambitions. Transitioning our historic base here into a core innovation hub enables our engineering teams to build the next generation of smart urban mobility tools from the heart of Europe." Łódź: A strong talent base and a city ready for innovation. One question that may pop into your mind is: Why did they choose Łódź over Warsaw or Wrocław, which are known for being tech hubs in Poland? Łódź offered Arrive a combination that was difficult to find elsewhere in the country: an established team, access to a substantial talent pool, a less saturated recruitment market than the country's largest business hubs, and a local government actively committed to supporting the investment. The city's talent base is considerable. Łódź is home to more than 200 IT and 113 BPO/SSC companies employing a combined 65,000 specialists. Łódź University of Technology educates nearly 20,000 students across 42 fields of study, including more than 2,600 students in IT-related disciplines, with programmes available in both Polish and English. The city also has an established presence of international technology companies, including Ericsson, Sii and Fujitsu, which operate offices and R&D centres there. The demand for technical education is equally telling: in 2024, the Information Technology programme at Łódź University of Technology attracted more than five applicants per available place. The local authorities also see Arrive's investment as an important contribution to the city's technological ambitions. As Adam Pustelnik, First Deputy Mayor of Łódź, stated: "Arrive's expansion in Łódź and its decision to establish a key innovation centre here are a source of great satisfaction for us. This investment confirms the city's strong academic and business potential and supports our ambitions to develop advanced technologies, particularly in the smart city sector." He also highlighted the benefits for residents, including new highly specialised jobs and opportunities for both experienced professionals and university graduates to develop skills for the future. "Having innovations that transform how people move around cities in Poland and across Europe developed right here in Łódź is particularly important to us. We are committed to supporting Arrive's continued growth and are confident that the city can become a birthplace of solutions shaping the future of mobility across Europe," he added. What can other companies take from the Arrive story? Arrive turning an office into a global Innovation Center shows how much room Poland leaves between entry and scale. Acquisition was the way in, but a branch, a subsidiary, an employer of record, or a local hiring partner led to the same place on a different timeline. It also shows the map is wider than two cities. Kraków and Warsaw dominate the conversation, but Arrive scaled in Łódź, a city of 645,700 people with its own technical university and far fewer global brands bidding for the same engineers. For companies that will find it hard to outbid the largest employers, that is what decides whether the hub fills. Planning something similar in Poland? Whether the starting point is an acquired team, a first engineering hire, or a full hub, the questions are the same: which city, which route in, how fast the team can realistically grow. Main Photo Source: www.arrive.com