South Summit Expands Global Footprint: Brazil 2026 Announced as Industry & Energy 2025 Takes Center Stage in Bizkaia

By , in conferences Spain on November 8, 2025 . Tagged width: entrepreneurship platform , expansion , South Summit

South Summit continues its ambitious global expansion strategy with two major announcements that underscore CEO Nacho Mateo’s vision of creating a worldwide circuit for innovation and entrepreneurship.

Following the record-breaking South Summit Brazil 2025 in Porto Alegre – which attracted over 23,000 attendees from 62 countries – the organisation has confirmed the dates for South Summit Brazil 2026 while simultaneously preparing for South Summit Industry & Energy 2025 in Bizkaia, Spain.

South Summit Brazil 2026: Porto Alegre Solidifies Its Position as Latin America’s Innovation Hub

The fifth edition of South Summit Brazil will return to Porto Alegre from March 25 to 27, 2026, at Cais Mauá. Co-organised with the Government of the State of Rio Grande do Sul and IE University, the event represents a long-term commitment to establishing Brazil as South Summit’s flagship headquarters in Latin America – a key component of Mateo’s strategy to position the organisation as “the global connector in different regions worldwide.”

$33 Million Economic Impact Validates South Summit’s Model

A comprehensive study conducted in partnership with Alvarez & Marsal reveals the substantial impact of South Summit Brazil 2025:

$33+ million USD in economic impact generated
Nearly 4,400 jobs created
More than 12,000 people benefited through social initiatives

These figures validate what Mateo described in a recent interview with StartupReporter: “The synergies between connecting global ecosystems was the key to our growth and success.”

New Initiatives for 2026: Social Impact and Female Entrepreneurship

Building on the “Beyond Resilience” theme from 2025, the 2026 edition introduces several innovations designed to deepen South Summit’s impact:

Social Impact Committee: A new structure dedicated to promoting innovation with purpose, ensuring that entrepreneurship drives meaningful societal change beyond pure economic metrics.

New Networking Areas: Enhanced spaces designed to facilitate the business connections that Mateo emphasizes as South Summit’s core value proposition: “We don’t consider ourselves an event – we’re a business platform.”

Women’s by South Summit Brazil: An initiative specifically promoting greater female participation in entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystems, addressing the gender gap that remains prevalent in tech and startup communities across Latin America.

Governor Eduardo Leite of Rio Grande do Sul, who has already confirmed the 2027 edition, emphasized the collaborative nature of the initiative: “South Summit Brazil belongs to all of us and exists thanks to the collaboration, hard work, and energy of those who build, not those who destroy.”

Rio Grande do Sul: From Regional Player to Global Innovation Benchmark

Porto Alegre and Rio Grande do Sul are now benchmarks in Brazil and Latin America because they have understood that innovation is much more than creating technology – it’s about generating impact, improving lives, and building the future.

José Renato Hopf, President of South Summit Brazil, highlighted the transformation of the region’s innovation ecosystem

The event will continue to attract dozens of authorities, strategic partners, and leaders from the innovation ecosystem, with expectations to match or exceed the 2025 edition’s impressive numbers: 3,000 startups, 900 investors with portfolios worth €215 billion, and nine unicorn founders including Pedro Conrade from Neon and representatives from across Latin America’s thriving entrepreneurial landscape.

South Summit Industry & Energy 2025: Driving Industrial Transformation in Bizkaia

While Brazil represents South Summit’s Latin American expansion, the organization maintains its commitment to specialized vertical events that address specific industry challenges. South Summit Industry & Energy 2025, taking place November 26-27 at the B Accelerator Tower in Bizkaia, marks the fourth edition of this focused conference co-organized with the Provincial Council of Bizkaia.

Four Critical Themes Shaping Industrial Innovation

The two-day agenda addresses the most pressing challenges facing industrial and energy sectors:

Energy Transition: As Europe accelerates its move toward renewable energy and decarbonization, the conference will explore practical pathways for traditional industries to transform their energy models without compromising competitiveness.

Sustainable Mobility: With transportation accounting for a significant portion of global emissions, sessions will focus on technological solutions that enable efficient, connected, and people-centered mobility models.

Industrial Transformation & Digitalization: The evolution toward Industry 4.0 requires not just new technologies but fundamental shifts in how companies operate, collaborate, and innovate.

Innovation as a Driver of Sustainable Growth: Moving beyond the rhetoric of “innovation theater,” the conference emphasizes practical applications where innovation delivers measurable environmental and economic benefits.

The program features international speakers alongside Building Sessions specifically designed to foster collaboration among key stakeholders – a format that aligns with South Summit’s core philosophy of creating business platforms rather than traditional conferences.

Speakers Bridging Technology, Social Impact, and Business Transformation

Mateo Salvatto (Argentina): At just 26 years old, Salvatto represents a new generation of entrepreneurs who embed social purpose into their business models from day one. Recognised by MIT as a humanitarian innovator, his app has been used by more than half a million people with disabilities. His session will explore how technology can transform traditional sectors while generating tangible social value – a topic that resonates strongly with South Summit’s emphasis on “innovation with purpose.”

Vicente Pascual (Spain/Latin America): As co-founder of Cabify – one of South Summit Madrid’s notable alumni success stories – and current Vice President of its Logistics division, Pascual brings extensive operational experience from building one of Latin America’s leading mobility platforms. His session will focus on developing technological solutions that drive efficient and decarbonized mobility in urban transport while building responsible, connected, and people-centered mobility models.

Additional confirmed speakers include:

Ikela Kachiwu: Director of Machine Learning & AI Training, bringing insights on how artificial intelligence can accelerate industrial transformation
Verónica Bermúdez: Founder and CEO of Berbetbin and Cleantech innovation expert, focusing on climate technologies’ role in industrial sustainability
Fernando Casado: CEO of Ibil, offering perspectives on electric vehicle infrastructure and energy distribution
Inés Anitua: Director of Impact Climate Technologies, examining how climate tech can scale within traditional industrial frameworks

Enhanced Networking and Regional Showcase

On November 26, attendees will participate in a guided tour designed to strengthen connections among participants while showcasing Bizkaia’s capabilities as an innovation hub. The region, one of Spain’s most industrialized areas, has been actively transforming its economy from traditional manufacturing toward high-tech industries and sustainable practices.

This networking component reflects Mateo’s emphasis on empathy and personal connection in business relationships: “Personal relationships and communication are so important… Empathy, communication, and human values are the best tools for a leader.”

Strategic Context: South Summit’s Global Expansion Blueprint

These two events – Brazil 2026 and Industry & Energy 2025 – represent different but complementary aspects of South Summit’s expansion strategy that Mateo outlined in his recent interview:

“My vision is that South Summit has all the potential to be the global connector in different regions worldwide… We would have Madrid as the flagship event in Europe, Brazil as the flagship in Latin America, and editions in other regions—like a Formula One circuit with stops every month.”

Building Bridges Between Ecosystems

The 2025 international agenda includes stops across Latin America, Europe, and Africa, with a particular focus on reinforcing Brazil and Rio Grande do Sul as long-term innovation hubs.

What we learned is that the best way to foster any ecosystem – in Europe, Latin America, or anywhere – is by building bridges between those ecosystems and making global connections.

Mateo explained the philosophy

This approach has already proven successful. Following editions across Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Chile, and Argentina, South Summit Brazil has emerged as the organization’s second major headquarters. The organization is now exploring similar flagship operations in Asia (building on a pilot edition in Seoul, South Korea), the Middle East, Africa, and potentially North America.

The Risk of Ambitious Growth

Mateo acknowledges the challenges ahead: “It’s an ambitious and risky plan. We’re now in a comfort zone with our editions in Madrid and Brazil because we know the market, we have partners, we have the audience, we have the brand. Growing in markets where we don’t have expertise or local teams is risky, but we need to take risks if we want to keep growing.”

The vertical events like Industry & Energy 2025 serve a different strategic purpose – they allow South Summit to deepen its expertise in specific sectors while maintaining its core value proposition of connecting startups, investors, corporations, and institutions around shared challenges.

What Makes South Summit Different: More Than Just Another Conference

As Mateo emphasized repeatedly in discussing South Summit’s mission: “We don’t consider ourselves an event—we’re a business platform. Of course, the conference and speakers are important and attractive to the international community, but the core of South Summit is creating a platform where startups, investors, corporations, institutions, and universities can make critical connections to grow together.”

This philosophy manifests in several ways:

Startup Competitions with Real Impact: South Summit Madrid’s startup competition alumni include nine unicorns (Cabify, Factorial, JobandTalent among them), with finalist startups collectively achieving nearly 90% survival rates, raising over €17 billion, and creating nearly 60,000 jobs.

Institutional and Corporate Partnerships: Both events benefit from strong institutional backing – Brazil 2026 through state government partnership, and Industry & Energy 2025 through collaboration with the Provincial Council of Bizkaia – ensuring that connections made at South Summit can translate into concrete business outcomes.

Focus on Practical Outcomes: Rather than generic “innovation theater,” South Summit structures its programming around specific challenges and opportunities, whether that’s connecting Latin American startups with European investors or helping traditional industries navigate energy transition.

Looking Ahead: The Countdown Begins

With South Summit Industry & Energy 2025 just weeks away and South Summit Brazil 2026 now firmly scheduled, the innovation ecosystem has clear milestones to anticipate. For entrepreneurs, investors, and corporate innovation leaders, these events represent more than networking opportunities – they’re strategic platforms for navigating the complex challenges of scaling innovation across borders, sectors, and cultures.

As South Summit continues executing Mateo’s vision of becoming a global circuit for innovation, the organisation remains grounded in the values that co-founder María Benjumea instilled from the beginning: “The values of South Summit are exactly the values of María – always putting people first, always humanity, always being kind.”

In an ecosystem often criticized for prioritizing growth metrics over human impact, this commitment to connecting people and building bridges between ecosystems may prove to be South Summit’s most sustainable competitive advantage.

For more information:

South Summit official website: southsummit.io
South Summit Industry & Energy 2025: November 26-27, B Accelerator Tower, Bizkaia
South Summit Brazil 2026: March 25-27, Cais Mauá, Porto Alegre