The Latin American Startup Alliance (ALAS) successfully and enthusiastically closed the first Annual Leaders Summit, held on October 17 and 18, 2025 in Curitiba, Brazil, consolidating the city as one of the epicenters of innovation and sustainability in the region.
The meeting brought together more than 200 leaders from 16 countries, including representatives of governments, investment funds, development banks, accelerators, innovation hubs and impact startups, in an event that consolidated itself as the main space for articulation and integration of innovation ecosystems in Latin America.
“ALAS is reinventing the history of Latin American innovation — not as spectators of the future, but as its architects,” said Junior Rodrigues, president of ALAS, during the opening of the event.
Two days of innovation, networking and regional collaboration
The main venues for the summit were the campus of the Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná (PUCPR) and Hotmilk, its renowned innovation hub. During two intensive days, attendees participated in panels, plenaries, technical visits and cultural experiences, with the aim of strengthening regional collaboration between the different actors in the ecosystem.
Among the featured activities were visits to the MadeiraMadeira and Olist unicorns, as well as tours of the city’s main innovation hubs, promoted by the Vale do Pinhão. The nights closed with networking meetings that brought together entrepreneurs and leaders from across the region in spaces such as the Pinhão Hub and the Hard Rock Café Curitiba.
The second day had the PUCPR campus as its main headquarters. More than 10 panels were held, where relevant topics for the ecosystems of the region were debated. The day closed with a talk by Francisco Destino, a coach specialized in leadership and results, who left valuable reflections on the role of the entrepreneur in regional transformation.
The ALAS 2025 Communiqué: a roadmap for regional integration
The most symbolic moment of the meeting was the presentation of the Communiqué ALAS 2025, a collaborative document built by more than 600 leaders from 24 countries that brings together seven strategic recommendations and dozens of specific projects aimed at strengthening regional cooperation around innovation and entrepreneurship.
The plan proposes joint actions in key areas such as:
- Cross-border investment and financial integration.
- Open innovation and public policies for startups.
- Talent training and entrepreneurial mobility.
- Sustainability, diversity and social impact.
- Digital infrastructure and collaborative governance.
With this document, ALAS proposes a shared vision: transforming Latin America into an integrated innovation corridor, capable of boosting the global competitiveness of its startups and at the same time promoting sustainable, inclusive and decentralized development.
“This Summit was more than a leadership meeting: it was a historical milestone with concrete recommendations that will guide the entrepreneurial and innovative future of all of Latin America. Curitiba will go down in history as the city that witnessed this new beginning,” said Junior Rodrigues, president of ALAS.
What’s coming for ALAS
At the close of the event, it was officially announced that the second edition of the ALAS Summit, in 2026, will take place in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, a strategic city located in the Amazon region that is consolidating itself as an emerging hub of innovation, sustainability and entrepreneurship in the Andean and Pan-Amazon region.
“Santa Cruz represents the spirit of the new Latin American generation: diverse, creative, connected and deeply committed to the sustainable future of our Amazon. In 2026 we will continue together, strengthening bridges and expanding our continental impact,” highlighted Junior Rodrigues, president of ALAS.
With this edition, the ALAS Summit reaffirms itself as the main space for cooperation, leadership and collective construction for the sustainable and innovative development of Latin America, consolidating the region as a united block in the face of the challenges and opportunities of the future.
From Startups Latam, we appreciate the invitation to be part of initiatives like this, which make a lot of sense with the purpose of the company, and we know that this is the beginning of something very big. See you!
