Innovation and Legacy at the ICCA Latin American and Caribbean Summit

The 17th edition of the ICCA Latin American and Caribbean Summit, hosted in September in Medellín, served as a key preparatory milestone ahead of the 64th ICCA World Congress, which will take place from 9 to 12 November 2025 in Porto (Portugal) with the global ICCA community. The summit brought together association leaders, bureaux and industry experts for four days of business workshops, collaborative labs and policy dialogue. Designed as a curated platform for knowledge exchange and deal-making, it also led to the conception of several initiatives with global reach. The newly launched Global Cities Future Forum and ICCA Congress Lab are set to be rolled out in other ICCA regions, ensuring that the legacy of the Medellín edition extends beyond Latin America and the Caribbean.

Author: Jesús Guerrero Chacón

 

ICCA curated this year’s summit with a focus on innovation, bringing together international associations, identified as potential partners for the region, to match them with member destinations through highly targeted business workshops and connection spaces. The programme opened with a rooftop welcome cocktail at Hotel Binn, where ICCA, the Greater Medellín Convention Bureau (MCB) and ProColombia formally addressed participants. The evening also served as an activation moment, with ICCA members asked to meet two pre-matched associations, ensuring networking began with purpose.

 

New meeting formats were introduced, with itinerant sessions staged across three emblematic venues: the Forum of the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana (UPB), Ruta N and Parque Explora. Each setting was chosen for its symbolic connection to innovation, research or science learning, so that the space itself became part of the content. UPB offered a university-based, zero-waste certified environment; Ruta N placed digital transformation sessions in the city’s innovation district; and Parque Explora provided a science setting that underlined public engagement. An evening site inspection at Plaza Mayor, the city’s main convention and exhibition centre, preceded a Comuna 13-inspired dinner.

 

The event’s redesigned format replaced traditional lectures with interactive spaces. Business workshop rounds allowed ICCA members to rotate through short, pre-scheduled meetings with associations. Participants explored tools and strategies across four ICCA Labs: lead and congress generation, digital transformation and AI, association executives and community-building. Their focus on data, skills and collaboration reflected Medellín’s positioning as a smart and resilient destination. “Medellín is a reference model for global cities that use international events as tools for investment attraction, knowledge creation and the development of innovation ecosystems,” said Andrés Escandón, ICCA’s Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean.

 

In the Digital Transformation Lab, Juliano Lissoni, Managing Director at MCI Canada, highlighted how AI is redefining marketing, bidding and delegate engagement. “AI is changing workflows across strategy, marketing and operations,” he said. “The task is to decompose roles, analyse risks and opportunities, and then experiment with measurable pilots.” His examples, from AI-assisted bid processes to personalised delegate recommendations, underlined the need for professionals to master data literacy and ethical AI use to remain competitive.

 

One concrete outcome was the creation of the ICCA Congress Lab, launched during the Lead and Congress Generation Lab facilitated by Juan José García, Global Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at BCO Congresos. Designed as an incubator, the Congress Lab will support destinations in developing entirely new congress concepts using ICCA’s Business Intelligence platform as the foundation.

 

  

 

The Association Executives Lab highlighted Medellín’s meetings strategy, built on four pillars: business, health, leisure and medical tourism, supported by connectivity, venue capacity and university partnerships.

 

Ana María Mejía, Acting Secretary for Tourism and Entertainment of Medellín, stressed collaboration: “Our strategy aligns city, academia and industry so that events translate into skills, knowledge and responsible growth. Medellín is committed to innovation and sustainability across its venues and experiences.”

 

ProColombia, the government agency promoting international tourism and business events, presented Colombia’s collective positioning as a meetings destination. At its core is the National Network of Convention Bureaux, a unique model in Latin America that unites 11 bureaux. This framework underpins ProColombia’s Ambassador Programme, which engages academics and professionals to secure targeted events. These ambassadors help attract meetings in science, health and innovation, using intellectual capital to strengthen bids and align events with long-term priorities. “We do not measure success by event or delegate numbers alone,” said Ana María Ortiz Pinilla, ProColombia’s Meetings Industry Adviser. “We look for legacy in knowledge, public policy and community benefit, supported by ambassador programmes that connect associations with local expertise.”

The Launch Of The Global Cities Future Forum

A defining moment of this year’s Summit was the launch of the debut edition of the Global Cities Future Forum Latin America at Parque Explora. Conceived in Medellín, this new platform brought together political leaders, local and international ICCA members, association executives and meetings industry professionals to discuss opportunities and challenges for cities. The Forum explored how events can stimulate investment, increase global visibility, encourage innovation and attract talent. It will now be a regular feature at ICCA’s other regional summits, ensuring that the model piloted in Colombia is replicated worldwide.

 

    

 

For Medellín’s Mayor Federico Gutiérrez, the focus was on the wider impact of attracting the right kind of events:

 

“We welcome events that create value for the city through jobs, investment and opportunity. Business events strengthen our economy, benefit our communities and protect the environment, and this administration will continue to support them as drivers of sustainable development.”

 

ICCA’s CEO Dr Senthil Gopinath emphasised that the organisation’s role goes beyond simply bringing members together:

 

“ICCA is committed to spreading Medellín’s message of innovation and transformation around the world. It is not only our role to support meetings, but also to ensure that they generate knowledge and connect with long-term development projects.”

 

Taking a broader industry perspective, Óscar Cerezales, Global President at MCI Group, claimed that the real opportunity lies in how destinations incorporate events into their overarching economic and knowledge ecosystems. He highlighted Medellín’s industry clusters and its network of universities as assets that convention bureaux can leverage in future bids. “Events are strategic platforms for economic development and social impact. Medellín demonstrates that this is not just theory, but practice, showing how other cities in the region can use meetings to accelerate transformation.”

 

Medellín’s return as host allowed ICCA to pilot new formats focused on co-creation, data literacy and event diplomacy, while also spotlighting the city’s policy-led transformation, which will be explored in the coming pages of this edition, where Medellín’s story as an economic and social catalyst takes centre stage.

  

Juliana Cardona Quirós, Executive Director of the MCB, captures Medellín’s transformation and ambitions:

“We were delighted to welcome the ICCA Summit back to our city after 13 years. The Summit was a chance not only to strengthen ties with fellow members and buyers but also to demonstrate how Medellín has transformed into a destination that creates opportunities and memorable experiences. We work for the city and the wider region, and our goal is that every visitor leaves inspired to return and to share Medellín’s story with the world.”

Read more: Explore our destination report on Medellín to learn how the city’s transformation and knowledge-driven strategy provided the backdrop for the ICCA Latin American and Caribbean Summit.