• IGEM 2026

September-October. 2026 | @ green 23

� IGEM 2026 in Kuala Lumpur unites global green tech, products, and ideas to accelerate the transition to net-zero.

�Showcases sustainable lifestyles, mobility innovations, green jobs, and connects businesses with investors and partners for real action.

�Offers a holistic net-zero journey integrating technology, skills, investment, and collaboration for impactful sustainable progress.

The bigger test for the International Greentech & Eco Products Exhibition and Conference Malaysia( IGEM) is what happens after the exhibition lights go out. Whether technologies find buyers, green businesses secure investment, partnerships take shape, and ideas make the difficult leap from exhibition floor to commercial reality.

That is the direction IGEM 2026 is taking when it returns to the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre from Oct 7-9.

Held under the theme“ Race Towards Net Zero: Action Beyond Boundaries”, the event is expected to attract more than 60,000 visitors, around 450 exhibitors and participants from over 50 countries.

The numbers underline IGEM’ s reach. But its evolution may be the more important story.

As the organisers put it:“ IGEM aims to evolve from a technology showcase into a marketplace that connects solutions with buyers, investors and partners.”

It marks a shift in emphasis. The green transition no longer suffers from a shortage of ideas or technologies. Increasingly, the challenge is getting them adopted, financed and deployed.

MAKING THE CONNECTION

That commercial imperative runs through much of this year’ s programme.

The Investor Lounge and business networking activities are intended to connect green businesses directly with investors, financial institutions and prospective partners.

In collaboration with the Malaysian Investment Development Authority

TOGETHER FOR A GREENER FUTURE: IGEM 2026 sets the stage for collaboration, innovation and sustainable action.

( MIDA) and Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation( MATRADE), the Business Matching and Networking programme will also pursue investment, export and strategic partnership opportunities.

The objective is straightforward: move conversations beyond sustainability ambitions towards deals and deployment.

It also reflects a wider reality confronting the green economy. Technology can provide solutions, but without financing, customers, skills and viable markets, even promising innovations can struggle to move beyond demonstration.

IGEM 2026 is bringing those pieces together.

FOLLOWING THE JOURNEY

The Journey to Net Zero Hall illustrates that approach by connecting decarbonisation technologies and innovation with financing, partnerships and the systems needed to put them into practice.

Mobility provides another example.

Rather than focusing solely on electric vehicles, the Sustainable Mobility Showcase includes charging infrastructure, battery technologies, smart-energy integration and emerging mobility solutions.

The broader proposition is that the transport transition cannot happen in isolation. Vehicles, energy systems, infrastructure and digital technologies increasingly have to work together.

But the green economy is not only about large infrastructure and industrial technology.

For the first time, IGEM is introducing a Sustainable Lifestyle Showcase, taking sustainability into everyday consumer choices.

Personal care, fashion, food and beauty will feature alongside companies and brands including L’ Oréal Groupe, The Body Shop, Fujifilm, Touch’ n Go, Remadesia and Siti Khadijah.

A fashion show on Oct 8 will explore how the industry can become more sustainable and responsible.

Its inclusion widens the conversation. Net zero may be driven by major changes in energy, transport and industry, but consumption patterns and everyday products are also part of the equation.

PEOPLE BEHIND THE TRANSITION

Another requirement that technology and investment alone cannot address is people.

As green industries expand, new skills and jobs will be needed to support them.

IGEM 2026 will highlight emerging green roles and career pathways, bringing the human-capital dimension into a conversation often dominated by technology and emissions.

Visitors will also have access to policymakers, industry leaders, academics, innovators and sustainability specialists through Pocket Talks, Fireside Chats, Partner Forums and conferences examining developments shaping the green economy.

Taken individually, these are familiar components of a major sustainability exhibition.

Together, however, they point to what IGEM is becoming.

Technology needs financing. Investment needs viable businesses. Businesses need customers and markets. New industries require skills. And all of them require partnerships that can take projects beyond discussion.

That is where IGEM’ s evolution matters.

After 17 editions, its challenge is no longer to demonstrate what a greener future could look like.

It is to help turn that future into business. – @ green