Unlocking Global Connectivity

October 25-26, 2026 | Baku, Azerbaijan

We are at a moment of retreat from the openness that defined the last generation. Countries are turning inward, supply chains are fragmenting, and the once seamless flow of talent, capital and ideas is interrupted by new barriers.

But entrepreneurship is the greatest common denominator, and entrepreneurs are the new diplomats of our era. In a fractious world, reaching across divides to solve problems is the calling of our time.

The data is clear: ecosystems that connect outperform those that isolate. That is why global collaboration is a renewed cornerstone of GEN's strategy - not just as a value, but as a deliberate and scalable practice. GEC+Baku is where we put it to work.

GEC+Baku: Creative Industries was an official side event of the 7th World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue, organized by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan in partnership with UNESCO, ICESCO, UNAO and UN Tourism under the theme "Dialogue for a Shared Future: Building Bridges in a Fractured World". It was convened in partnership with the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Economy, Yaradici, and the Small and Medium Business Development Agency (KOBIA).

The Forum and GEC+Baku pursue the same thing by different routes: common ground between peoples that no government negotiated. The Forum pursues it through culture, creative industries, heritage and tourism. GEN pursues it through entrepreneurship. Creative and cultural entrepreneurs are where the two become the same people — businesses with the same problems of capital, market access and talent as any other, and the means by which a country becomes legible to the world.