Inside The Global Innovation Forum 2026: Judging the World’s Promising Startups

Attending the Global Innovation Forum at CES 2026 gave me a rare, concentrated look at how innovation is taking shape across the world’s leading startup ecosystems. This year again, I participated as one of the judges for the forum’s international pitching competition.

Like last year’s edition, the overall quality of the startups stood out immediately. That was no accident. Rather than an open call, each participating country selected a small number of standout companies to represent its national ecosystem.

The result was a tightly curated lineup of startups drawn from: South Korea, Taiwan, Switzerland, Israel, Japan, Canada and France.

This country-led selection model created a level playing field and ensured that every pitch reflected not only a company’s individual vision, but also the strengths of its broader innovation environment.

Diverse Industries, Complementary Perspectives

What made the forum particularly compelling was the variety of industries represented. From enterprise software and deep tech to consumer-facing platforms and spatial computing, the startups approached innovation from markedly different angles.

As a judge, this diversity made comparisons more nuanced: companies were not competing within a single vertical, but across visions of how technology can reshape markets, workflows, and everyday life.

This cross-industry mix reinforced one of the forum’s core ideas: innovation does not move forward along a single track. It advances simultaneously through infrastructure, software, user experience, and entirely new categories that blur traditional boundaries.

Award Winners: Innovation with Global Ambition

At the conclusion of the pitching sessions, three companies emerged as award recipients:

1. Firsthabit, represented by the Seoul Business Agency (SBA), received the Grand Award. Firsthabit impressed the jury with a clear product vision and a strong understanding of how to scale beyond its home market. The company described the recognition as a turning point for accelerating its U.S. market ambitions.
2. Hua Tech, represented by Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA), earned the Scale-up Award.
   The company’s focus on commercial readiness and global scalability resonated strongly with both media and venture capital judges.
3. CubicSpace, represented by the Quebec Government Office, received the Impact Award. CubicSpace stood out for its broader societal and ecosystem impact, highlighting how innovation can extend beyond pure market metrics.

The networking session that followed the competition was notably active, with startups, investors, media, and national pavilion representatives exchanging insights well beyond formal introductions. Short one-minute PR pitches gave additional startups the chance to surface ideas that might otherwise have gone unnoticed in the crowded CES environment.

In the context of CES where scale can sometimes overshadow substance, the Global Innovation Forum succeeds by doing the opposite. It narrows the field, raises the bar, and creates meaningful cross-border connections rooted in trust between national ecosystems.

As both a judge and an attendee, I enjoyed how international startup collaboration can work efficiently, credibly, and with tangible outcomes for companies looking to expand globally.

Filed in General. Read more about Awards, CES, CES 2026, Innovation and Startups.