In 2026, the AI industry is undergoing a fundamental cyclical shift.

Over the past three years, the prevailing narrative was "the bigger the model, the stronger." Parameter counts increased, context windows expanded, multimodal capabilities stacked up—every few months, new leaderboards and benchmark scores would reset industry perceptions. But this year, the wind has turned completely. At the justconcluded World AI Conference 2026, vendors no longer competed over model parameters or rankings; the industry's focus has shifted entirely to "what can the model do, can it make money, and how to deploy it."

Clients no longer ask "how large is this model," but rather "can this product solve my real problem and deliver real results." The threeyear boom in LLM text generation is receding, and competition has fully moved toward AI Agents that can interface with realworld scenarios and autonomously complete longchain, complex tasks. AI is no longer limited to singleturn conversations of a few seconds; longchain autonomous tasks and multistep complex planning have become the core yardsticks of capability.

From "eloquent talk" to "real work"—AI has entered its "grunt work" year.

On September 17–18, 2026, at Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre in Singapore, Global Connect Singapore, hosted by Baijing Chuhai, will be grandly held. During the event, three thematic summits will focus on AI technology development and AI application deployment, while the leading Global Growth Summit is equally worth anticipating.

AI+ Application Summit: Scenarios Are the Real Foundation, Pain Points Are the True Drivers

On the afternoon of September 17, the AI+ Application Summit will open as scheduled. This is a closeddoorstyle sharing session designed for technical decisionmakers, product heads, and investors—no concepts, only implementation. 

At this event, David Wang, Global VP of Distribution at FizzDragon, will deliver a keynote titled "From 'Generating Videos' to 'Orchestrating Creativity': The Next Decade of AI in Film and Television." FizzDragon produced the world's first fulllength Chineselanguage theatrical feature film generated entirely by AI, Zheng Yisao, the Sea Queen, which has received approval from the Singaporean and Malaysian governments for theatrical release.

In addition, multiple prominent guests have confirmed their participation, including Yang Tong, CEO of Agnes AI; Gao Yi, CEO of Arros AI; and Steve, Cofounder of SoTALab. Their speech topics will be announced in subsequent reports.

The summit's roundtable forum, "Innovative Breakthroughs in AI Globalisation Practice," features three painpointfocused topics: How to break down "technology silos" under geopolitical and data compliance constraints? What are the real "pitfalls" and avoidance guides for globalising AIpowered apps? How will AI reshape the gaming and entertainment industries over the next 35 years?

Bintang Hidayanto, Cofounder of GANI.AI, and Mao Hua, CEO of 2nd Brain, will join the roundtable discussion.

AI Technology Development Summit: An Engineering Roadmap for Technical DecisionMakers

If the AI+ Application Summit answers "what to do," then the Technology Summit answers "how to do it."

On the morning of September 18, the AI Technology Development Summit is designed exclusively for CTOs, technical leads, and team managers. The agenda covers the full chain of AI engineering deployment: from LLM technology evolution to AI Agent production environment deployment, from technology selection to workflow construction. 

Xu Wen—CEO of OPENVERSE LTD.—will deliver a keynote titled "AI for Longevity – Affordable Longevity Technology for Everyone." Xu Wen has 10 years of IP legal experience and 10 years of venture and entrepreneurial experience in both China and the US, and previously served as the head of Alibaba DAMO Academy's AI digital human business. From IP lawyer to game producer to entrepreneur in AI and the metaverse, her crossdisciplinary perspective brings unique industry insights. In this talk, she will share how AI lowers the barrier to access cuttingedge technology—not as a lab concept, but as affordable technology for everyone.

Queenie Wu—Founder of vibethon.ai—will present "Redefining Hackathons in the Age of Ambient Programming." This is not a tutorial on tools, but a rethinking of "ways of creating." When AI changes the programming barrier from "knowing how to write code" to "knowing how to ask questions," the meaning of hackathons transforms—it becomes not just an arena for geeks, but a testing ground for anyone with an idea to validate their creativity.

Roundtable: "Building a Collaborative Ecosystem for Trustworthy AI"

Moderated by Zhao Xiaochun, Cofounder of SmallWOD.

Weng Wei—former CTO of OlaChat. He is a highly pragmatic technical manager who has always "coded on the front line," with over 10 years of technical management experience and having built R&D teams from scratch across various industries in Shanghai, Singapore, and elsewhere. His perspective represents the real dilemmas of frontline technical decisionmakers: how to maintain engineering quality amid rapid iteration?

Wang Xiaoyu—Founder and CEO of Guru Network. Facing competition from giants, she has driven Guru Network's transformation from a single platform to a multiproduct matrix, now covering over 175 countries with more than 50 products across digital media and AI. Her experience answers a key question: how can an AI product avoid being just a flash in the pan and truly achieve global scale?

Hu Chengchen—CEO of ClariPpi. His company is building a new generation of hybrid AGI infrastructure, with its core product ClarippiOS being a hardware and softwareagnostic AI orchestration platform that supports flexible deployment across cloud, edge devices, and onpremise data centres. From a bigtech technical executive to an AI infrastructure entrepreneur, he has deep insight into technology selection and architectural decisions for AI engineering deployment.

The roundtable will focus on three core questions:

First, how can we ensure AI safety and data compliance while leaving flexible room for technological innovation and industrial deployment? This is not an issue that can be bypassed. As global regulatory frameworks for AI gradually take shape, how can technical teams maintain innovation speed under the "tightening noose" of compliance?

Second, under the wave of opensource models, how can we pool resources across Southeast Asian countries to build a collaborative, lowcost developer ecosystem? Open source lowers technical barriers but also brings a new dilemma of "too many choices, nowhere to start." Southeast Asia has a vast developer community and a rapidly growing digital economy—how to connect scattered resources into an ecosystem is a question every globalising tech team is pondering.

Third, in areas such as R&D, talent development, and generative AI copyright protection, what core opportunities and practical pathways exist? Copyright, talent, R&D investment—these seemingly familiar issues have taken on new meaning in the AI era. The copyright ownership of generative AI remains unresolved, the battle for AI talent intensifies, and the ROI of R&D spending becomes harder to calculate. The roundtable guests will bring real answers from frontline practice.

Software Globalization Summit & AI Project Roadshow: From Code to Market – The Global Combat of AI Products

If the first two summits answer "how to build AI technology" and "how to use AI products," then the Software Globalization Summit & AI Project Roadshow on the afternoon of September 18 answers "how to sell AI products globally." 

Qian Jinkai, Cofounder and CEO of Linkloud, will deliver a keynote titled "Linkloud Community Observations: How to Dive into the Ocean of AI Agents." Linkloud is one of the most influential communities for Chinese AI going global; its cofounder previously worked at Hillhouse Ventures and leads dozens of AI founders and executives on study tours to Silicon Valley and Japan each quarter, serving as a key bridge for AI exchange between China and the US tech communities. His talk will bring firsthand observations from the forefront of the AI Agent track.

Yang Ling, Founder and CEO of ShipLinker, will share "AI Agent Empowers the Globalisation of the Shipping Industry: From Data Tools to Intelligent DecisionMaking." ShipLinker, headquartered in Singapore, is an AIdriven shipping chartering and delivery platform. With over 25 years of experience in the logistics industry, Yang Ling will dissect how AI Agents evolve from "data tools" to "intelligent decision engines" from a vertical industry perspective.

The roundtable "How AI Empowers Software Globalisation" will be moderated by Leonie Xu, Cofounder of SmallWOD, with Cai Li, Cofounder and CEO of DataRaccoon, among other guests. Three equally sharp topics will be discussed:

First, is the impact of AI (LLMs, AI Agents) on the software industry a "displacement" or an "upgrade"? Which links will be restructured by AI, and which remain irreplaceable?

Second, how can AI help software products achieve "differentiated growth" (avoiding price wars)? What are some success stories?

Third, how to balance AI efficiency and data privacy to stay compliant?

Following the roundtable, the summit will feature an AI project roadshow, offering innovative projects a stage to present—if you are building an AI product, this is your chance to be seen by investors, partners, and potential clients at once.

Beyond the Three Summits: Global Growth Summit, Brand Exhibition Zone, Study Tour – One Trip, Full Harvest

In addition to the AI+ Application Summit, AI Technology Development Summit, and Software Globalization Summit & AI Project Roadshow, the Global Growth Summit will take place on the morning of September 17. 

Bandari Wei, Founder and CEO of Baijing Chuhai, will deliver the opening address. The Associate Dean of NTU Nanyang Business School will share insights on Singapore's digital economy development and new opportunities for going global. James Tan, Managing Partner at Quest Ventures, will decode Singapore's startup and innovation ecosystem. The roundtable "Surviving the Great Global Divergence: Brand Survival and 'Hyperlocalisation' Reconstruction in a Multipolar Era" will revolve around three key questions: What was the biggest "illusion" about going global over the past year? Which underestimated regions or sectors are the real "profit pools"? Is AI breaking down cultural barriers or accelerating brand homogenisation?

Over two days and four summits, more than 30 frontline entrepreneurs, investors, and technical experts will take the stage. Attendees come from over 20 countries and regions, with more than 60% holding senior executive positions. During the summit, the brand exhibition zone offers participating companies direct opportunities to engage with business decisionmakers from Singapore, China, and around the world—with 28 freetrade agreements already in effect, every effective connection in the exhibition zone could lead to tangible benefits in tariff reductions and market access.

Additionally, from September 14 to 16, the second Lion City Study Tour will kick off in advance, led by Bandari Wei, Founder of Baijing Chuhai, and Leon, Founder of Halo Tech Media, with indepth visits to top local enterprises and institutions in Singapore. Participants can achieve a fullchain harvest—from cognitive upgrading to resource networking—through the combined studytourplussummit experience. 

September in Singapore: An Event That AI Practitioners Should Not Miss

In 2026, the AI industry is completing a critical transition from "model competition" to "value delivery." Going global is no longer simply about technology export, but a systemic competition involving products, scenarios, and localisation capabilities.

Those on stage shape the direction of technology; those in the audience are reshaping the global business landscape.

September 17–18, Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre, Singapore.

Come to listen—and more importantly, come to be seen.

Apply for an invitation ticket (reviewbased) or purchase your pass to secure your seat.

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