London celebrates online culture with the first European Internet Week

(Internet Week Europe)

In November London will be hosting the first Internet Week Europe, a five-day festival that celebrates the best of Europe's digital industry.

"Some of the biggest names in digital media have joined together for a citywide celebration of all things Internet," comments Nicolas Roope, co-chairman, Internet Week Europe.

"It's an amazing opportunity to experience the best of Europe's internet culture and commerce, meeting the people behind the screens who are creating the future of digital media."

The European counterpart of New York's popular Internet Week sees companies such as the BBC, Yahoo!, Creative Review, Google and Tweetdeck honor Europe's thriving internet industry with parties, talks and special events.

A host of conferences, technology demos, panel discussions, educational programming and meet-ups have also been planned for the festival.

Festival organizers are encouraging additional European organizations to get involved and host their own Internet Week Europe event during the "open" festival.

This idea of free-to-join "crowdsourced participation" helped Internet Week New York City grow to encompass over 250 events in 2009; Internet Week Europe aspires to build off the success of its sister event.

While still much smaller than the South by Southwest Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas, or the Campus Party (an annual LAN party considered to be the biggest online electronic entertainment event in the world), Internet Week is growing fast.

The annual New York edition has become a popular fixture in the technology agenda - attendees are still not sure if it is because the multi-event festival provides an interesting overview of internet start-ups and fresh ideas or if the line up of cocktails and late-night meet-ups is just too good to resist for the generations of bloggers usually accustomed to hiding behind their online aliases.

Internet Week Europe will take place from November 8 to 12. The event will be held in various venues across London and online.

A full calendar of related events can be found on Internet Week Europe's website: http://www.internetweekeurope.com/