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Inaugural GIID Global Summit | April 2025

Discover what made it impactful. And memorable.

The caliber of the attendees…It was refreshing to navigate a professional environment where my fellow attendees deeply understand my work and can offer insight, partnership, and relevant support.

Summit

Participant

The speakers were genuinely interested in building connections—it felt like a real exchange, not a lecture.

Summit

Participant

I felt engaged throughout; whether by meeting incredible people or by seeing the incredible work of the Monterrey Innovation District. Everything felt meaningful and inspiring.

Summit

Participant

In April 2025, GIID convened its inaugural Global Summit at the Monterrey Innovation District in Mexico. 

Leaders of both long-established and newly emerging districts came together with changemakers and visionaries for the world’s first large-scale gathering tailored to the needs and ambitions of these distinctive urban geographies of innovation.

2025 Global Summit in numbers

330

Participants

48

Innovation Districts

19

Countries

5

Global Regions

Latin America

Bogotá Campus of Science, Technology, and Innovation

Bogotá (Colombia)

Knowledge city

Panama City (Panama)

District 100

Guayaquil (Ecuador)

distritoQRO

Santiago de Querétaro, QE (Mexico)

Guadalajara Innovation District

Guadalajara (Mexico)

Medellín Innovation District, Ruta N

Medellín (Colombia)

Monterrey Innovation District

Monterrey, NL (Mexico)

Ñuble Innovation District

Chillán (Chile)

Tlalpan Innovation District

Mexico City (Mexico)

North America

16 Tech Innovation District

Indianapolis, IN (USA)

39 North Agtech Innovation District

St. Louis, MO (USA)

195 District

Providence, RI, (USA)

BioDistrict New Orleans

New Orleans, LA (USA)

Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus

Buffalo, NY (USA)

Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus

Washington D.C. (USA)

Cincinnati Innovation District

Cincinnati, OH (USA)

Cleveland Innovation District

Cleveland, OH (USA)

Cortex Innovation District

Saint Louis, MO (USA)

Discovery Square Innovation District

Rochester, MN (USA)

Gratiot Site Innovation District

Detroit, MI (USA)

Innovation Quarter

Winston-Salem, NC (USA)

Kendall Square

Cambridge, MA (USA)

MaRS Discovery District

Toronto, Ontario, (Canada)

National Landing

Washington DC (USA)

Norfolk Innovation Corridor

Norfolk, VA (USA)

Phoenix Bioscience Core

Phoenix, AZ (USA)

Pittsburgh Innovation District

Pittsburgh, PA (USA)

Research Triangle Park

Durham, NC (USA)

St. Pete Innovation District

St. Petersburg, FL (USA)

The LinQ

Mansfield, TX (USA)

The Pearl

Charlotte, NC (USA)

The Point Innovation District

Draper, UT (USA)

Tower 22 Innovation District

Dallas, TX (USA)

Utah Tech Innovation District

St. George, UT (USA)

Europe

Bath Riverside Innovation Quarter

Bath (UK)

Birmingham Innovation Precinct

Birmingham (UK)

Central Innovation District

The Hague (Netherlands)

 

Knowledge Quarter London

London (UK)

Knowledge Quarter Zuidas

Amsterdam (Netherlands)

MIND Milano Innovation District

Milan (Italy)

Oslo Science City

Oslo (Norway)

Oceania

Gold Coast Health and Knowledge Precinct

Gold Coast, QLD (Australia)

La Trobe University City

Melbourne, VIC (Australia)

Liverpool Innovation Precinct

Liverpool, NSW (Australia)

 

Lot Fourteen

Adelaide, SA (Australia)

Melbourne Innovation Districts (City North)

Melbourne, VIC (Australia)

Monash Technology Precinct

Melbourne, VIC (Australia)

Asia

Nagaoka City Innovation District

Nagaoka (Japan)

Global Visibility

Defining Elements of the GIID Global Summit

Tailored Insights

Ten years after the release of the “Rise of Innovation Districts”, this inaugural GIID Global Summit offered empirically robust research on the evolution and key drivers of the innovation district model. The Summit detailed how, in the span of a single decade, districts are advancing their unique value proposition through new linkages with industry, R&D institutions, government, intermediaries, and others in the innovation ecosystem.

Highlights of GIID's research

Interactive Plenaries & Workshops

There were 34 interactive plenaries, workshops & networking activities over three days at the Summit. Sessions were co-created with district leaders and addressed a range of critical topics including impact indicators, how to harness and grow R&D strengths, financial and revenue models and much, much more.

Learn about the main take-aways and insights ​from each session in the Summit Summary linked below.

See the Summit Summary

Cross-sector Participants

District leaders, policymakers, and  investors joined together with industry heads, urban innovators and real estate developers for immersive, interactive learning sessions.

Speakers represented a geographically diverse range of districts as well as heads of the World Economic Forum, Science Gallery International, Fundación FEMSA, Daikin, Cemex, Corning, ZGF, Lendlease and more.

See the full speaker lineup

Global Connections

Curated opportunities for meaningful connection among district leaders, policymakers, investors, and innovators helped fostered new partnerships, collaborations, and global alliances. Networking including strategic matchmaking and curated sessions like speed dating to ensure powerful peer connections.

Check out the profiles linked below of the 48 districts–spread across 19 countries in 5 global regions–who joined in Monterrey.  ​

 

Profiles of the districts participating in the Summit

Awards Ceremony

The GIID Awards were created to recognize and celebrate bold leadership, pioneering practices, and transformative districts––both long-standing pioneers and emerging changemakers that are shaping the future of innovation around the world.​

Over 50 submissions from five global regions were reviewed by an independent jury. The winners were announced and honored during the Awards Ceremony on Friday, April 10, as part of the inaugural GIID Global Summit in Monterrey, Mexico.

Meet the winners

The Monterrey Experience

Tours and site visits showcased the Monterrey Innovation District–the first in Mexico.

The Global Summit was organized in partnership with the Monterrey Innovation District, a rising hub in Latin America which demonstrates—even at an early stage—important pathways for broadening impact, including how democratizing access to science can be a powerful tool to leverage partnerships with diverse industry leaders, advance R&D priorities and grow the unique value proposition of the district. ​

Learn more about the Monterrey Innovation District

The Global Institute on Innovation Districts acknowledges the generous contributions of our Summit Partners who made this inaugural convening a resounding success.

ORGANIZED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH

With support from

PIONEER PARTNER

Catalyst Partners