Ten Years On, Youth Co:Lab Summit 2026 Brings Together Asia-Pacific's Boldest Young Innovators in Bangkok

May 29, 2026

From 29-30 June 2026, some of the most inspiring young entrepreneurs, investors, and policymakers from across Asia and the Pacific will gather in Bangkok for the Youth Co:Lab Summit 2026.

Now in its tenth year, Youth Co:Lab, co-led by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Citi Foundation, has proved a powerful idea that young people are not waiting to inherit the world's problems. They are already solving them.

A decade of proof

Youth Co:Lab is working across 28 countries and territories in Asia and the Pacific, reaching over 390,000 participants through national dialogues, regional summits, and social innovation challenges. More than 48,000 young entrepreneurs have been supported, and over 3,900 youth-led social enterprises have been launched or strengthened.

The numbers tell part of the story. The people behind them tell the rest.

In the Philippines, AI4GOV built an AI chatbot adopted by the national Department of Health that handled over seven million citizen interactions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In Pakistan, DeafTawk created an on-demand sign language platform now serving more than 68,000 users across five countries, with 3,200 interpreters employed.
In Indonesia, GAWIREA has trained Indigenous women in solar technology, boosting their incomes by up to 40 percent and inspiring the provincial government to replicate the model.

These achievements are the result of a deliberate, sustained investment in young people, and they are exactly why the Summit matters.

This year, the event is co-organized by UNDP and Citi Foundation, in partnership with ESCAP, the Commonwealth Secretariat, CVC Capital Partners, Microsoft, and the Islamic Development Bank.

Why we gather

Every year, the Youth Co:Lab Summit brings together a curated group of youth entrepreneurs, ecosystem partners, investors, and policymakers to take stock of what has worked, share what still needs to change, and commit to the next chapter together.

This year's gathering, themed "A Moonshot for Youth-led Leadership, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship," marks a milestone moment of Youth Co:Lab and asks a defining question: how can we expand pathways for youth-led innovation at scale?

The Summit will feature young entrepreneurs pitching their solutions at a Regional Demo Day, honest conversations about failure and resilience, and high-level dialogue on what governments, investors, and ecosystem partners need to do to build entrepreneurship systems that truly work for young people across the region.

It will also precede the Ninth Session of the Committee on Environment and Development (CED9), convened by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) in Bangkok from 1-3 July, creating a direct bridge from youth-led innovation to intergovernmental policy discussions.

With one in five young people in the region still not in employment, education, or training, the work is far from finished. But with ten years of learning, a growing network of partners, and a generation of young innovators ready to lead, the foundations have never been stronger.

The Youth Co:Lab Summit 2026 is an invitation-only event. For media enquiries, please contact kate.garcia@undp.org or sithasa.kanchanavijaya@undp.org

Co-created in 2017 by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Citi Foundation, Youth Co:Lab aims to establish a common agenda for countries in the Asia-Pacific region to empower and invest in youth so that they can accelerate the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through leadership, social innovation and entrepreneurship.