MEDELLÍN, Colombia — Following several years of collaborative economic development work with partners in Colombia and across South America, the Enterprise Innovation Institute (EI2) opened its Medellín Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center (GTMC) in March of 2023.
In just two years, the center has fostered a growing tech innovation ecosystem that was recognized with a 2025 StartupBlink Ecosystem Award for Best Two-year Ecosystem Growth in South America. The award recognized Medellín’s phenomenal 43-spot climb from 2022 to 2024, making it the South American innovation ecosystem with the highest global momentum.
The momentum stems in part from GTMC’s work in the community. The center has introduced new programs, strengthened existing ones, and remains committed to fostering a vibrant innovation ecosystem. GTMC’s impact extends to enhancing corporate engagement, fostering mentoring programs, fundraising guidance, facilitating startup pitching, and growing networking capabilities.
“Our efforts have taken a capacity-building approach. We are focused on increasing tech startups, encouraging university-led entrepreneurship, offering entrepreneurship training, and promoting collaboration,” said Juli Golemi, director of EI2 Global, where GTMC is housed. “We’re thrilled that the hard work of GTMC has been recognized with this award.”
GTMC serves as a conduit to Georgia Tech programs such as CREATE-X, an initiative to instill entrepreneurial confidence in undergraduate students and nurture their startups. Since 2023, CREATE-X in Medellín has trained 95 mentors, 202 students, and seen 42 new student entrepreneurial projects created.
“CREATE-X is so important in helping students hone their presentation skills, understand the importance of customer discovery, and receive feedback on their business plans and more,” Viviana Montenegro, program manager for EI2 Global, said.
Other programs GTMC offers to entrepreneurs have shown similar success. The 100 STEPS—For Startups program equips aspiring entrepreneurs with the knowledge and tools to scale their businesses and succeed in the competitive startup landscape. Since 2023, 100 STEPS has worked with 196 entrepreneurs on 126 startups primarily in the health tech, AgTech, FinTech, AI, and CleanTech sectors.
Lab to Market (L2M) supports university researchers and faculty interested in entrepreneurial education and mentoring, with the goal of reducing the time it takes to bring technologies from the lab to the marketplace.
“L2M supports four urgent entrepreneurial goals in Colombia,” Golemi said. “First is training an entrepreneurial academic workforce; second is bringing cutting-edge technologies to market; third is enabling positive economic impact; and fourth is fostering a stronger innovation ecosystem.”
In 2023, 90 people from universities, corporations, and related institutions across Medellín participated in L2M workshops. In 2024, 43 professors and researchers from academia and the corporate sector were trained in L2M programs that focused on a roadmap for commercialization.
Finally, the Mentor Network Pilot Program launched with an interactive workshop designed to provide a platform for attendees to discuss mentoring best practices. The goal of the program is to cultivate a culture of collaboration in the ecosystem, while fostering mentor-mentee relationships that will last long beyond the program. In 2024, 49 mentors enrolled in the program.
“We have facilitated many connections that positively impact the ecosystem including bringing institutions to talks for the first time to discuss potential collaborations and/or challenges,” Montenegro said. “Entrepreneurs also get introduced to meaningful connections and programs in the United States.”
Overall, GTMC has made a significant impact by enhancing Medellín startups’ access to prestigious programs, facilitating strategic partnerships, providing soft-landing support, and enabling market expansion in the U.S. “GTMC is an excellent example of the important work EI2 does to foster entrepreneurialism and economic development around the world,” David Bridges, vice president of EI2, said. “The numbers and this recognition from StartupBlink underscore the more important story of the work the team is doing to change lives and communities in Medellín.”