The 2nd Leaders Assembly convened on the morning of February 25, 2026, at the Conference Room of FYCMA, Málaga. Presided over by the GINI President and facilitated by the Secretary-General, the assembly brought together senior representatives from all six member regions to deliberate on GINI's governance, operational direction, and collective priorities for the 2026–2028 cycle. Attendees included: Sung-A Choi, Vice Mayor for Political, Economic and Science Affairs, Daejeon; Martin van der Putten, Head of International Relations, Dortmund; Alicia Izquierdo-Garcia, Deputy Mayor, Málaga; Judith Costello, Director of Economic Development, Montgomery County; Mael-Solen Picard, Director of the Québec Government Office in Barcelona, Québec Province; Josh Davis, Senior Vice President, Greater Seattle Partners, Seattle; and Kyunghwa Kim, Secretary-General, GINI Secretariat.
The assembly opened with the formal welcome of Québec Province as GINI's sixth Government Member. Mr. Picard affirmed Québec's commitment to bilateral and multilateral cooperation within GINI and expressed enthusiasm for engaging the province's universities, companies, and research organizations in the network.
The City of Daejeon was re-elected as GINI President for a second two-year term, and the City of Málaga was elected as Vice President, both by consensus. In his acceptance remarks, Vice Mayor Choi characterized the coming two years as a pivotal period of expansion and action, committing Daejeon to leading GINI as a pragmatic economic and scientific alliance and a new global standard for local diplomacy. Deputy Mayor Izquierdo affirmed that international cooperation is fundamental to Málaga's development and underscored the network's shared goal of ensuring that research is effectively commercialized and translated into real-world impact.
The assembly deliberated on a series of agenda items and adopted all resolutions by consensus, establishing the governance and operational foundations for the 2026–2028 cycle.
Eleven institutional members across all six member regions were formally approved — the first time GINI's collaboration framework has been extended beyond the government level to include universities, research institutes, and public agencies. Approved members are: Hanbat National University and National NanoFab Center (Daejeon); FH Dortmund (Dortmund); Ricardo Valle Institute of Innovation and University of Málaga (Málaga); Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation (Montgomery County); Greater Seattle Partners and University of Washington (Seattle); and PRIMA Québec, PROMPT, and CRIAQ (Québec Province).
The City of Dortmund was confirmed as host of the 2027 Working-Level Meeting and the 2028 Leaders Assembly and 4th Global Innopolis Forum. Mr. van der Putten formally accepted the designation and expressed Dortmund's commitment to hosting a forum of exceptional quality.
The City of Daejeon was permanently designated as the location of the GINI Secretariat from 2027 onward, providing institutional certainty and continuity for GINI's administrative operations.
The assembly also adopted amendments to the GINI Charter and established a new Rules of Procedure, translating the network's founding principles into concrete governance and operational mechanisms.
