- Major collaborations inked with OpenAI, NVIDIA, Google and industry leaders to drive effective, responsible AI deployment across Singapore’s key industries
- Singapore government-industry partnership to establish living testbed and innovation launchpad for robotics and smart digital infrastructure
At ATxSummit 2026, the flagship event of Asia Tech x Singapore (ATxSG), Singapore Minister for Digital Development and Information Mrs Josephine Teo unveiled new global partnerships and initiatives to strengthen Singapore’s position as a leading AI hub.
The announcements mark a shift from exploring AI tools to taking action, and follow Economic Strategic Review committee recommendations around Singapore becoming a trusted AI hub. As Singapore continues to grow its AI ecosystem, the initiatives are expected to help strengthen the country's position as a trusted global AI hub where businesses, researchers and governments can develop, test and deploy AI solutions at scale.
Physical AI testbed
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| Punggol Digital District will be the site of a living testbed for autonomous robots. |
In a push to bring physical AI to the real world, the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), JTC and the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) are embarking on new collaborations with eight leading industry leaders at the Punggol Digital District (PDD).
As announced by Singapore's PM Lawrence Wong in September 2025, IMDA, JTC and SIT will be setting up a living testbed for autonomous robots at PDD together with other government agencies and industry partners. This testbed, to be launched later in 2026 to research, test and deploy physical AI, will be Singapore's first testbed to enable multi use-case and multi-operator deployments at-scale, in a mixed-use public area.
The testbed will provide a real-world environment where robots and AI systems are continuously tested and refined in areas like safety, use cases, potential regulatory challenges, and infrastructure development. Certis, DHL, Grab and QuikBot will be among the first companies to co-design, deploy, test and validate commercially viable robotics services in public spaces.
Such services will include food and parcel delivery as well as cleaning and security patrolling, to complement existing human operations. The testbed is facilitated in collaboration with the Land Transport Authority (LTA), through a precinct-level exemption framework under the Active Mobility Act.
To strengthen Singapore’s embodied AI (EAI) capabilities, IMDA, together with National Robotics Programme (NRP), will work with knowledge partners such as FieldAI and Thoughtworks, who bring deep expertise in digital workflows, data platforms, and AI systems. They will also collaborate with companies such as Slamtec, Unitree, and QuikBot, which specialise in automation, AI, and mobility, developing and trialling EAI use cases through SIT's new Centre for Intelligent Robotics at PDD.
According to IMDA, robotics and EAI mark a major shift in
AI development moving beyond screen-based tools to physical systems that
can perceive, reason, and act in the real world. This evolution is seen
as AI's next frontier.
Strengthening Singapore’s AI research capabilities
To sharpen Singapore’s manufacturing advantage, NVIDIA is launching an AI research lab focused on advancing embodied and efficient AI in collaboration with university researchers, industry partners, and government agencies. The lab is NVIDIA’s Singapore hub and second research presence in Asia Pacific.
The lab will focus on two strategic domains that have numerous potential applications in manufacturing: EAI, which enables intelligent systems to perceive, reason and act in the physical world, and efficient AI computing, which focuses on optimising models and infrastructure to reduce compute costs, improve energy efficiency and support scalable AI deployment.
AI for good
The Singapore Ministry of Digital Development and Information (MDDI) and Google announced an expansion of Google's collaboration with the Singapore government through a new National AI Partnership. The partnership aims to harness frontier AI as a force for good – including deploying AI to solve society's challenges, fostering an AI-ready workforce in Singapore, and creating a secure and trusted ecosystem.
MDDI also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with OpenAI to collaborate on a new OpenAI for Singapore initiative, which strengthens Singapore's position as a leading hub for applied AI innovation. The agreement comprises three pillars of collaboration:
- Advancing applied AI innovation
- Building AI talent
- Making AI accessible to citizens, enterprises and the public sector
The partnership represents a commitment of more than S$300 M by OpenAI to strengthen Singapore’s AI ecosystem.
(For more details, please refer to Annex D for the joint release by MDDI and OpenAI, and Annex E for OpenAI press release)
Trusted, scalable AI
Beyond sector-specific deployments, Singapore is advancing ecosystem-wide initiatives to support AI adoption, particularly in high-trust sectors like finance and the public sector, where reliability, governance and safety are critical for real-world deployment.
Temus, a Temasek-established AI and digital transformation firm, will launch an AI Foundry to help enterprises deploy AI solutions at scale and develop talent pipelines. Supported by Digital Industry Singapore (DISG), the Foundry will hire 50 professionals across roles such as AI architects, data scientists, AI/machine learning (ML) engineers, product owners, and full-stack, DevOps and user experience (UX) engineers. This team will be deployed on live enterprise projects in high-value sectors such as financial services and precision health.
Separately, Temus will sign a MoU with AI Singapore (AISG) to explore joint prototypes, reuseable delivery frameworks and enterprise deployments that bring nationally developed AI capabilities into real world operating environments.
A*STAR Institute for Infocomm Research (A*STAR I2R) announced at the event that it is updating the MERaLiON (Multimodal Empathetic Reasoning and Learning in One Network) AI model to advance capabilities, drive real-world use cases, and scale adoption – especially in environments where understanding tone, intent and context are critical for decision-making.
The updated MERaLiON AudioLLM v3 will deliver paralinguistic intelligence across Southeast Asian languages, including speech and non-speech understanding. MERaLiON will be made available through cloud hosting and API access, as well as edge computing environments, including on devices with Apple silicon such as Mac and iPad, enabling scalable and privacy-preserving applications across healthcare, field operations and emergency response.
Governance that keeps pace with AI
Rather than taking a top-down regulatory approach, Singapore has gone for a practical, risk-based approach: working hand-in-hand with industry partners, researchers, and other stakeholders to co-create governance frameworks and assurance tools that are fit for purpose. The goal is an ecosystem where organisations can innovate, knowing that the guardrails are in place.
Two initiatives reflecting this approach were announced at ATXSummit. The Updated Model AI Governance Framework for Agentic AI, launched at the World Economic Forum in January 2026, has been updated to include real-world case studies and new best practices. The update drew on feedback and contributions from over 50 organisations – including AWS, DBS, Google, and Salesforce, reflecting broad industry input into the framework's development.
The update also includes over 10 new case studies from contributors such as Ant International, CDL, CyberSierra, Dayos, GovTech Singapore, Google, Knovel, OCBC, PwC, Stability Protocol, Tencent, Terminal 3, and Workday. These show how the framework’s recommendations can be applied in real-world agentic deployments across a range of sectors and contexts.
When it comes to AI agents, lessons from Google's work with CSA, GovTech Singapore, and IMDA to explore how AI agents can be safely and effectively used in the real world are now publicly available.
Through a joint AI Agents Sandbox, launched in August 2025, the partners tested how computer use agents behave in practice and compiled the findings into a white paper. The document offers a practical roadmap for governments around the world looking to harness AI agents for public good.
This first-of-its-kind public-private partnership also shows that industry and government can work hand in hand to responsibly shape the future of AI.
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