IDB Group’s GET Forum 2026 in Quito Highlights Ecuador's Rise as a Leading Entrepreneurship Hub

• President Daniel Noboa underscored the country's growing economic dynamism at the opening
• IDB Lab signed agreements for projects totaling up to $24 million in Colombia, Honduras, and Uruguay to expand credit and strengthen innovation
• Artificial intelligence took center stage in discussions on productivity and talent

QUITO - GET Forum 2026 brought together nearly 2,800 participants from across Latin America and the Caribbean and the rest of the world, highlighting Ecuador's leading role as a hub for entrepreneurship and exploring innovation and technology as drivers of productivity and economic growth in the region.

President Daniel Noboa inaugurated the event, underscoring Ecuador's human talent as the country's greatest asset and pointing to growing economic dynamism and rising investor confidence.

Ecuadorian authorities announced during the event the reactivation of the National Council for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CONEIN), the country's entrepreneurship and innovation governance body, to strengthen coordination and set priorities across the ecosystem, as well as the creation of a fund of funds to mobilize public, private, and international financing and support businesses at every stage of their development.

Ecuador has one of the highest rates of early-stage entrepreneurial activity in the region at 30%, and among the highest globally, according to a recent IDB Lab study unveiled in Quito. The analysis also signaled the need to increase the share of ventures that successfully scale up and achieve sustained growth.

At the event, IDB Lab CEO Graham Macmillan pointed in the same direction, stressing: "Innovation cannot scale in isolation. Entrepreneurs need access to capital, talent, technology, knowledge, customers, and markets. Platforms like GET Forum help create those connections that are part of the infrastructure an innovation ecosystem needs."

Addressing the challenge to open more opportunities to strengthen innovation ecosystems in the region, IDB Lab signed three operations at the event totaling up to $24 million. These operations include:

• $11 million in a results-based financing system for biodiversity in Colombia.
• $10 million loan to Paigo, a fintech working to expand access to credit for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Uruguay.
• $3 million ecosystem-building program in Honduras.

Across these programs, IDB Lab will contribute up to $13.5 million, while partners and the IDB Natural Capital Lab will add another $4.5 million, and an additional $6 million is expected in co-financing.

Organized by IDB Lab, the innovation and venture arm of the IDB Group, GET Forum is the Group's premier platform for advancing entrepreneurship, innovation, and technology-driven solutions across the region. More than 800 participants attended the conference, including 154 startups, 167 corporations, and 59 investors, totaling nearly 400 companies. The Innovation Village, held on the first day of the event, attracted more than 2,000 attendees, including emerging entrepreneurs.

The forum highlighted opportunities but also key ecosystem challenges. According to LAVCA, venture investors deployed $2.2 billion in early-stage rounds in Latin America in 2025, representing a 30% increase from 2024. Yet many entrepreneurs still face significant gaps in access to the financing needed to scale their solutions.

Artificial intelligence was a central theme throughout the gathering, with discussions focused on its potential to boost productivity, create better jobs, and improve public services. While frontier AI infrastructure is being developed globally, IDB Lab sees a major opportunity to build and finance the local layer that adapts these capabilities to the region's sectors, needs, and markets.

Among the senior IDB Group officials who addressed the conference were IDB Executive Vice President Everett Eissenstat; Vice President for Sectors and Knowledge Ana María Ibáñez; Vice President for Human Resources and Digital Transformation Pilar Girón; IDB Invest CEO James Scriven; IDB Lab CEO Graham Macmillan; and IDB Group Country Representative for Ecuador Ignez Tristão.

GET Forum 2026 was made possible through the close partnership between the IDB Group, the Government of Ecuador, the Alliance for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (AEI), and the Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN).

About IDB Group

The Inter-American Development Bank Group (IDB Group) is the leading source of financing and knowledge for improving lives in Latin America and the Caribbean. It comprises the IDB, which works with the region's public sector and enables the private sector; IDB Invest, which directly supports private companies and projects; and IDB Lab, which spurs entrepreneurial innovation.