This article is part of the GEW Series on “Ecosystem Building in Latin America” produced by the Global Entrepreneurship Network, in collaboration with the Latin American Group of Intelligent Ecosystems (GEIAL). Each story spotlights the people, the organizations, and the ecosystems that support entrepreneurial dynamics—amplifying the lessons and leadership shaping the future of entrepreneurship worldwide. See the previous story in this series, here.
Over three years, nearly 30 entrepreneurial ecosystems across Latin America have taken part in a coordinated effort to better understand, measure, and strengthen the conditions that enable dynamic, high-performing entrepreneurship. Today, the Latin American Group of Intelligent Ecosystems (GEIAL) has announced that its 2025 International Brief is now publicly available for the globe's English-speaking audience.
Developed by Professors Hugo Kantis and Juan Federico, the Brief summarizes the GEIAL 2025 report — the most comprehensive analysis to date of ecosystem performance across the region’s cities. From Montevideo to Monterrey, a total of 27 cities participated in the joint effort to elaborate a comparable and actionable picture of where their ecosystems stand today and where the most significant opportunities lie to build stronger foundations for innovation-driven entrepreneurship.
The brief includes a comprehensive list of GEIAL’s lead organizations across the region, as well as visibility into the institutions driving change on the ground. Of those organizations, this series highlighted those that received the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and GEIAL 2025 Awards (see the winners and runner-ups for the Entrepreneur Support category, here; and the winners and finalists for the Ecosystem Development category, here).
Insights from the GEIAL 2025 measurements include:
- A 7x performance gap exists between the highest- and lowest-performing ecosystems—underscoring the need for differentiated strategies across cities.
- Large cities often lead, with São Paulo, Brazil and Santiago, Chile reaching the highest scores, but several mid-sized cities show strong conditions, including Colombia's Manizales, Chile's Concepción (63), and Argentina's Villa María.
- Financing remains the region’s biggest bottleneck, with private capital availability far below what growing ventures require.
- Entrepreneurial human capital is uneven—many cities struggle to retain talent, and gender gaps in access to networks and financing persist.
- Open innovation is gaining ground, with notable progress in cities like Monterrey, São Paulo, Santiago, and Manizales.
- Governance maturity varies widely, and only a handful of ecosystems have consolidated shared agendas that align local actors and resources, namely Manizales in Colombia, Concepción in Chile, Córdoba in Argentina, Querétaro in Mexico.
“This Report on dynamic entrepreneurship reflects the state-of-the art thinking and engagement in building an entrepreneurial ecosystem and informing thought leaders in policy and business exactly where they currently stand and where they need to go to create world-class entrepreneurial ecosystems”, said David B. Audretsch, Distinguished Professor and Director of the Institute for Development Strategies at Indiana University, in his column for the GEIAL 2025 comparative report.
“The GEIAL 2025 Report makes an important contribution to the global conversation on entrepreneurial ecosystems by giving Latin America its own map, built around its realities rather than imported templates," highlighted Dr. Giulio Buciuni, Associate Professor at Trinity College Dublin in his column for the report.
Download the full Latin American brief here:
Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) congratulates the entrepreneur-support organizations in 27 cities that contributed to this rigorous data collection and benchmarking effort. The events to launch and discuss their city-level GEIAL reports over the past month show their commitment to transforming entrepreneurship in their cities. To learn more about GEW and get involved, visit www.gew.co.