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Leaders from 19 countries and two global regions will gather next week on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus to discuss economic policy and technology-fueled growth.
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A who’s who of tech and business leaders — including Elon Musk (virtually) and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman— are set to participate in the G20 (Group of Twenty) Innovation Ministerial Tuesday and Wednesday at the Carolina Inn in downtown Chapel Hill.
The G20 is an international forum comprised of over 20 nations with advanced and emerging economies, including major U.S. trading partners Mexico, Canada and China.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, will be in attendance.
A separate meeting of the G20 finance and Central Bank deputies will be held in Asheville this weekend. The United States holds the G20 presidency through November.
The Innovation Ministerial gathering in Chapel Hill comes at a time of economic uncertainty in the world, with the rise of artificial intelligence, the wars in Iran and Ukraine, and ongoing global energy disruptions, trade conflicts, and slowing economic growth.
The G20 represents about 85% of global gross domestic product (GDP) and two-thirds of the world’s population, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
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Axios reports that Lutnick is expected to hold fireside chats in Chapel Hill with Altman and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.
In addition, former White House AI czar David Sacks and Musk, SpaceX chief executive officer and former head of Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), are expected to participate — virtually — as well as Dina Powell McCormick, president of Meta Platforms Inc. and a former deputy U.S. national security advisor during Trump’s first term, Bloomberg reports.
The gathering will help “shape the future of technology-driven growth” by identifying policies that “promote innovation in AI and other emerging technologies, accelerate scientific and technological advancement, promote economic growth and investment in manufacturing and supply chains, and strengthen public support for these technologies,” the release stated.
The town of Chapel Hill announced the event in a news release Thursday and said residents, UNC-Chapel Hill students and visitors should expect increased law enforcement and traffic around the Carolina Inn and in the downtown area. Chapel Hill police are coordinating public safety with the university, regional, state and federal agencies, town officials said.
Residents are encouraged to “stay connected to your devices,” according to the release, and to sign up for alerts from local agencies.
The public is being encouraged to sign up for emergency notifications from UNC’s Alert Carolina and Orange County’s OC Alerts system. Chapel Hill will post any updates to it chapelhillnc.gov/emergency webpage. Residents can also sign up for email alerts at this link.
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This story was originally published August 27, 2026 at 5:11 PM.