The 2025 report from the Latin American Group of Intelligent Ecosystems (GEIAL) reminds us that sustainable entrepreneurial dynamism is built on the hard foundations of people, knowledge, and governance—not just on headlines and hype. GEIAL maps the systemic drivers underneath and in an era of rapid technological and geopolitical disruption, that systemic lens can be decisive.
This clarity arrives amid historic disruption. AI and deep tech are reshaping markets at a breathtaking pace, governments are rewriting playbooks under public pressure, and deglobalization is fragmenting flows of talent, capital, and ideas. Disruption, however, is not destruction; it is the alchemy that turns uncertainty into opportunity when ecosystems are prepared to learn, collaborate, and deliver. GEIAL’s diagnostics offer that preparation, giving leaders a rigorous, comparable view of what to strengthen—and where execution must improve.
I was immediately drawn to the GEIAL’s insistence that scale is not destiny. The evidence shows both the distance still to travel and how to travel it: leaders like São Paulo and Santiago set the pace, yet mid‑sized cities such as Valparaíso can narrow gaps with disciplined investment in human capital, STI translation, and extra‑local connectivity.
That brings us to accountability. Around the world, the number of Entrepreneurial Support Organizations has exploded, yet too often, activity has stood in for impact. Funding cycles spent on reports and events do little if founders cannot access meaningful mentorship, capital, and markets. As an industry, sustained investment demands results—clear, outcome-focused metrics tied to founder success and ecosystem productivity. Much more work is needed to assess ESO performance in every ecosystem with more rigor and transparency, to identify best practices, and drive efficiency across all ecosystems.
In a fractious world, entrepreneurs are emerging as the new diplomats—builders who reach across borders to solve shared problems where trust in traditional institutions has eroded. The culture of entrepreneurship—solving, creating, sharing—can soften the pull of deglobalization by offering a common language of progress. But this “constructive rebellion” only translates into growth when matched with bold leadership and disciplined delivery: governance compacts, targeted training, and finance that rewards scaling, not process.
Cross-border collaboration is therefore not optional; it is the engine of resilience and speed. Ecosystems that connect outperform those that isolate, and GEIAL’s input–output mapping underscores why: favorable culture and institutional support will not convert into higher dynamism without external market access, specialized finance, and learning loops that cross city and country lines.
When gathering people over the past 15 years at our annual Global Entrepreneurship Congress, we have learned that it’s not sufficient to merely assemble people, we need gatherings with clear purpose and the ability to move to action collectively as a global ecosystem. Our world is increasingly fragmented so at GEN we treat the relationships within our global ecosystem as the main infrastructure needed to constantly adjust the sails to keep propelling forward as the winds change. This is the work of ecosystems.
If Latin America is to seize this moment, leaders should pair GEIAL’s systemic roadmap with three commitments: measure ESO performance and outputs, fund what works, empower the new diplomats by lowering cross-border friction for talent and ideas, and institutionalize collaboration so that midsized cities can rise alongside the known high-performing innovation capitals. GEIAL shows them where to start.