On January 7th, the second day of CES , the Seoul Economic Promotion Agency (SBA, CEO Kim Hyun-woo) hosted the Global Innovation Forum, a global startup ecosystem networking event centered around CES's largest national pavilions. This event, CES's first national startup competition and networking program, saw participation from seven countries: South Korea, Taiwan, Switzerland, Israel, Japan, Canada, and France.
The Global Innovation Forum was conceived to strengthen connections between international startup ecosystems, taking advantage of CES, the world's largest technology exhibition. Following the Seoul Innovation Forum, which began in 2025 with five countries participating, the forum expanded its scope and strengthened its programming, renaming itself the Global Innovation Forum in 2026. This event was jointly organized by startup support organizations operating national pavilions in each country.
The event began with an IR pitching competition featuring startups selected from each participating country. Startups from each country presented their technologies and business models to a panel of judges and event attendees. Global media representatives and venture capitalists participated in the judging, evaluating the startups based on their investment attractiveness and global expansion potential.
As a result of the competition, the Grand Award went to First Habit, affiliated with the Seoul Integrated Center in Korea. The Scale-Up Award went to Hua Tech International from Taiwan, and the Impact Award went to Cubic Space from Canada. The winning companies received trophies and cash prizes. The participating startups evaluated the event as an opportunity to showcase their technologies to global investors and media and explore opportunities to enter overseas markets.
In the panel discussion that followed, representatives from startup support organizations from various countries shared their respective startup support policies and key issues in the global startup ecosystem. Furthermore, enhanced networking sessions allowed global venture capitalists, media, startups, and startup support organizations to connect and discuss potential collaborations. Some startups were also given the opportunity to present their technologies on stage, giving one-minute PR speeches.
Kim Hyun-woo, CEO of the Seoul Economic Promotion Agency, said he hopes the Global Innovation Forum will establish itself as a representative event for international cooperation and global startup exchange at CES, and that he will continue to develop it into a program that attracts the attention of key players in the global startup ecosystem.
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