From August 17 to 21, Startup Valencia was in Medellín with a clear goal: to revive and strengthen the relationship between the innovation ecosystems of Medellín and Valencia. Over four days, the agenda combined participation in CONEXIÓN 2026 with working meetings alongside key institutions and organizations in the Colombian city, exploring new avenues for collaboration in entrepreneurship, internationalization, investment, smart cities and digital transformation.
The visit builds on work that began in April 2025, when Startup Valencia and València Innovation Capital launched an alliance with players in Medellín’s ecosystem to help Valencian startups access the Latin American market and generate new business, technology and investment connections.
A year later, the goal has been to pick up those conversations, learn about Medellín’s current priorities and identify areas where it makes sense to move forward together. The intention is for the relationship not to stay purely institutional, but to generate concrete opportunities for startups, investors, corporations, universities and other players in both ecosystems.
The next phase now involves connecting the conversations started in Colombia with the relevant counterparts in Valencia, including València Innovation Capital and the innovation strategy of the Ajuntament de València, across areas related to city, innovation, technology and entrepreneurship.
Medellín and Valencia resume a shared agenda
On August 20 and 21, Startup Valencia held working meetings with representatives from the Alcaldía de Medellín, Ruta N, ACI Medellín, On.going at Universidad EAFIT, and CREAME Incubadora de Empresas.
On behalf of the Alcaldía de Medellín, attendees included Santiago Restrepo Arroyave, Secretary of Digital Innovation; Diana María Ochoa Henao, Deputy Secretary of Smart City; and Juan José Sánchez Salas, advisor to the Secretaría de Innovación Digital. Also taking part were Sandra Inés Monsalve Muñoz, program lead for UDD – Science, Technology and Innovation at the Secretaría de Desarrollo Económico, and Diana Carolina Bermúdez, from the Secretaría de Desarrollo Económico.
The conversations covered areas such as digital transformation, urban innovation, economic development, and science and technology, as well as some of the initiatives driving Medellín’s smart city model. The Secretaría de Innovación Digital is specifically tasked with leading the Distrito’s digital transformation and helping consolidate Medellín as a smart city.
The agenda continued with Simón Arango Velásquez, Smart Cities lead at Ruta N, exploring possible connections in technology, innovation and smart cities.
On the investment and internationalization front, Startup Valencia met with Nicolás Rodríguez Aristizábal, Investment Director at ACI Medellín, to discuss opportunities to connect companies, projects and investors between Medellín and Valencia, as well as ways to facilitate access to new markets. ACI Medellín works precisely on attracting investment and driving internationalization for Medellín and its metropolitan area.
University and entrepreneurship were central to the meeting with Tomás Ríos Múnera, director of On.going – Centro de Emprendimiento de Impacto at Universidad EAFIT, where the discussion covered possible connections between the entrepreneurial communities of both cities, talent and academia.
Startup Valencia also held a meeting with Juan Manuel Higuita Palacio, executive director of CREAME Incubadora de Empresas, focused on entrepreneurship, incubation, internationalization and access to new markets.
Bringing together leaders in government, innovation, investment, academia and incubation on the same agenda made it possible to approach the Medellín–Valencia relationship from different angles and identify promising areas to keep working on:
– Startup internationalization and connections between investors and companies.
– Smart cities and digital transformation.
– Knowledge exchange and best practices.
– Collaboration between universities and entrepreneurial ecosystems.
– Cross-participation in programs, initiatives and events.
The goal now is to prioritize the areas with a real opportunity for collaboration and to carry forward the work started in Medellín from Valencia.
CONEXIÓN 2026 and an international network connecting with itself
The first part of the trip took place on August 18 and 19 during CONEXIÓN 2026, held at Plaza Mayor Medellín. The event brought together entrepreneurs, startups, corporations, investors, universities, institutions and organizations from the Colombian ecosystem around business, investment and innovation opportunities.
During CONEXIÓN, Startup Valencia accompanied the Gobierno de Estonia and e-Residency on their agenda in Medellín, facilitating connections with different local players.
This part of the agenda also reflects one of Startup Valencia’s international lines of work: connecting ecosystems and organizations that already have a relationship with each other.
The Estonia–Valencia–Medellín sequence is a good example. Startup Valencia maintains an established relationship with Estonia and e-Residency, and has also been working since 2025 on the connection with Medellín. Bringing those relationships together allows the international network to move beyond purely bilateral ties and generate new connections among its own members.
This is also one of the goals Startup Valencia has set for 2026: building an international network that gives Valencian founders access to new markets, investment, talent and business opportunities. The organization closed 2025 with active alliances with Medellín, Copenhagen, Lisbon and Tallinn, adding to connections previously developed with other international ecosystems.
Valencia as a bridge between Europe and Latin America
The relationship with Medellín is part of a broader strategy to strengthen the international profile of Valencia’s tech ecosystem and help its startups and scaleups grow beyond their home market.
Latin America plays an important role in that strategy. Medellín offers a connection point to one of the most active tech ecosystems in the region and opens up collaboration opportunities in areas that are also priorities for Valencia: entrepreneurship, investment, talent, urban innovation and digital transformation.
At the same time, Valencia can act as a gateway to Europe for Latin American startups, investors and organizations looking to connect with the European market. That connection between markets is also present at VDS, organized by Startup Valencia and designed as a meeting point for startups, corporations and international investors, with a connection that is especially relevant between Europe, Latin America and the United States.
The trip to Medellín leaves work ahead: connecting counterparts from both cities, choosing the areas with the greatest potential, and turning the conversations that began there into projects and concrete opportunities.
That will be the next step in continuing to build a Medellín–Valencia relationship with continuity and value for both ecosystems.
