LAS VEGAS — As CES 2026 brings the global technology industry back to Las Vegas, one of the week’s most internationally focused startup gatherings will take place just off the show floor.
The Global Innovation Forum 2026 (GIF 2026) will be held Jan. 7 at Caesars Palace Las Vegas, convening startups, venture capital firms, media, and government-backed innovation agencies from seven countries for an evening of pitching, discussion, and deal-making.
Hosted by the Seoul Business Agency (SBA) in collaboration with CES national pavilions, GIF 2026 is positioned as a cross-national collaboration platform designed to help emerging companies expand beyond their home markets.
Participating national pavilions at GIF 2026 include South Korea, Canada, Switzerland, Israel, Japan, Taiwan, and France, reflecting a broad mix of hardware, software, AI, mobility, health tech, and enterprise innovation ecosystems.
Each participating country will be represented by one selected startup during the event’s IR Pitching Competition, offering concise investment-focused presentations aimed at global venture firms, strategic partners, and media. Following the pitches, a panel discussion will bring together startup ecosystem stakeholders to share perspectives on international expansion, investment trends, and collaboration opportunities across markets. The discussion is designed to move beyond surface-level demos and focus on how startups can scale globally amid shifting regulatory, funding, and supply-chain realities.
The pitch competition is designed to highlight not only individual startups, but also the policy frameworks, funding environments, and commercialization strategies shaping innovation across different regions.
Kiseok Cha, head of the SBA’s Future Strategy division, said his organization is a small business support organization, run by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, that is dedicated to discovering and nurturing promising startups.
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“We provide various programs for startups and SAMEs, especially in fields such as IT, AI, biotech, design, and cultural content,” he said. “Our main work includes total support, global business development, technology, commercialization, talent development, and support for creative industries.”
The Global Innovation Forum is an outgrowth of the Seoul Innovation Forum, which launched last year at CES 2025 with participation from five countries: Japan, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the Republic of Korea. The SBA had been attending CES for years, Cha said, observing the various national pavilions and wondering whether there was room for collaboration to give startups an even bigger boost.
“So we reached out to different countries, and it kind of started to snowball from there,” Cha said. “It started last year as the Seoul Innovation Forum, where SBA helped bring countries into that ecosystem. But then, once more countries became interested, we started to contact people with the potential of growing it, and that’s when we changed it over to the Global Innovation Forum.”
The rebranded forum has been expanded to include more national pavilions, and the support program is being strengthened to offer more stable and long-term global partnership opportunities, Cha said. The highlight of the forum, the IR Pitching Competition, has been strengthened through an enhanced judging panel that includes executives with global venture capital firms. Through this approach, participating companies are expected to gain opportunities for accelerated growth, expand brand awareness, and attract practical investment and market validation in a single venue.
“We have a forward-thinking, big goal here,” he said. “It’s not just about this platform or this event. We want to go further, with the potential for collaboration with other countries, investing opportunities, education and meetup programs. So we have this long-term vision, both for CES and for follow-up so we can bring all this to a truly international scale.”
