Horasis Global Summit 2026: Medellín becomes the meeting point for 1,000 global leaders

For the third consecutive year, Latin America is hosting one of the most influential leadership, business, and innovation gatherings on the planet, and this time it is Medellín's turn. Following its editions in Vitória and São Paulo (Brazil), the Horasis Global Summit lands in Colombia for the first time, from November 10 to 13, 2026, with more than a thousand panelists and guests from 53 countries: business leaders, investors, academics, and government representatives.

Horasis was founded in Switzerland by Frank-Jürgen Richter after his time at the World Economic Forum and is compared to Davos today. Its gatherings have featured figures such as António Guterres, King Felipe VI of Spain, and Richard Branson. The main venue for the academic agenda is the Universidad de Medellín, with the support of the Mayor's Office —Science, Technology, and Innovation District—, Comfama, Grupo Argos, and the Corporación Fenalco Solidario, among others.

This year's motto, “Building Tomorrow,” articulates a broad agenda: artificial intelligence and human-machine collaboration, technology governance, economic resilience, democracy and geopolitics, trust between countries, inclusion, climate change, biodiversity, and health. Richter puts it bluntly: “We do not shy away from difficult topics”; there will be panels on Venezuela, the United States elections, Ukraine, Russia, and Iran.

Diversity is part of the method: bringing people from different backgrounds, generations, and countries to the same table. In the São Paulo edition, nearly 45% of the speakers were women, and there were participants from more than 40 countries, including Africa, China, and India.

Horasis functions more like an economic diplomacy forum than a startup fair: investment funds and family offices looking for opportunities in the region, ministers and government officials, multilateral organizations, and growth-stage entrepreneurs. For local founders, it means access to international capital without leaving the region, along with conversations on partnerships, innovation policies, and market access.

Richter is optimistic: Latin America has a creative way of solving problems, more flexibility than Europe, and the potential to leapfrog stages to move straight into services, AI, and digital transformation. What is still lacking, he says, is greater unity and collaboration between countries.

Álvaro Abril, founder of Sistemas Geniales, CEO of Geniales.co, and director of KingNews.online, is participating as a speaker on the panel “Building a Technological Renaissance for Human Flourishing.” The session stems from one core idea: emerging technologies expand our ability to solve challenges in healthcare, knowledge, and environmental stewardship, but building a prosperous tomorrow depends on guiding that progress through humanistic values that prioritize shared well-being over the concentration of power.

The questions that will guide the conversation: how can societies ensure that transformative technologies strengthen human dignity and collective well-being? What philosophical and institutional changes are needed to align technological progress with long-term human flourishing?

Álvaro Abril will be joined by prominent figures from the business and technology world:

That a summit of this caliber chooses Medellín confirms what KingNews.online has been reporting: the future of technology is also being written from Latin America. The question is no longer whether artificial intelligence will transform businesses and societies, but how to ensure it does so for the benefit of people. That is precisely the conversation in which Medellín—and Colombia—have a seat at the table today.