AI Salon Singapore x SGInnovate Tech Talk (25 September 2026)
Let’s Get Real About AI
AI is moving fast, but beneath the headlines, bigger questions are beginning to emerge.
Where is meaningful value actually being created? What are investors betting on now? How are founders building defensible companies when the technology changes every few months? And what does it really take for enterprises to move from experimentation to adoption at scale?
For the September edition of AI Salon Singapore, we are partnering with SGInnovate (as part of its Let’s TECH It series) to bring together three distinct perspectives: a venture investor, a startup founder and a corporate leader. Expect an honest, wide-ranging conversation about what is happening across the AI landscape, what is being overhyped, and what deserves more attention.
We’ll explore some of the most pressing ideas shaping the industry today, from one-person companies and Forward Deployed Engineers to AI business models, enterprise adoption, the race for talent and compute, and the evolving competition between the US and China.
No rehearsed predictions or surface-level talking points. Just a candid discussion about the questions on everyone’s minds, grounded in what our speakers are seeing from the front lines of investing, building and deploying AI.
Speakers and further details will be announced soon.
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AI Salon is the global community bringing together AI founders and builders, investors, operators and ecosystem partners to connect, learn and collaborate.
Decentralised and chapter-led, AI Salon has grown to 77 chapters across more than 40 countries.
After seven editions in Singapore, AI Salon Singapore returns on 25 September for another evening of fun conversations, useful insights and meaningful connections across the AI ecosystem.
Over the past salons, we have brought together hundreds of founders, investors, engineers, operators and technology leaders who are actively building, funding and deploying AI across Singapore and Southeast Asia.
This next edition continues that momentum.
AI is moving quickly. New models, agents, products and companies are emerging every week. But beneath the noise, the questions that matter remain surprisingly practical:
Where are founders finding genuine commercial traction?
What kinds of AI companies are investors backing?
How are teams moving from experimentation to deployment?
Which opportunities are real, and which are mostly hype?
What does it take to build globally relevant AI companies from Singapore?
Join us for a curated evening featuring founders, investors and technology leaders sharing what they are seeing, building and learning at the frontier of AI.
More details on the speakers and programme will be announced soon.
What We Will Explore
How AI founders can find genuine commercial traction amid the hype
What investors look for when evaluating AI startups
How companies are moving from AI experimentation to deployment
The evolving opportunities around AI agents and automation
What differentiates defensible AI companies from thin product wrappers
Tactical lessons for founders building the next generation of AI startups
Singapore’s role as a hub for AI talent, capital and company building
Who Should Attend
AI founders and startup teams
Engineers, researchers and product builders
Venture capital investors and angel investors
Corporate innovation and technology leaders
Operators exploring practical AI adoption
Ecosystem partners supporting AI companies
Anyone actively building, investing in or working with AI
Agenda
6:00 pm – Doors Open
Registration, food and drinks
6:30 pm – Welcome Address
AI Salon Singapore community update
6:40 pm – Opening Keynote
To be announced
7:00 pm – AI Builder Spotlights
Short presentations from founders building and deploying AI products
7:20 pm – Panel Discussion
Founders, investors and technology leaders unpacking what is happening in AI today and where the market is heading next
8:00 pm – Audience Q&A
8:15 pm – Networking
9:00 pm – End
Programme and timings are subject to change.
Meet the Speakers
More speaker announcements coming soon.
Expect perspectives from experienced founders, investors, builders and operators working across AI, venture capital, enterprise technology and regional expansion.
Reach out to us and connect:
Durwin Durwin Ho | LinkedIn
Raymond Raymond Doraisamy | LinkedIn
Joyce Joyce Tay | LinkedIn
Meet the Partners
AI Salon is the global community bringing together AI founders and builders, investors, and partners to connect and collaborate. We are starting new chapters in every city so join us to build the largest Global AI community.
StartupX is a global innovation partner for those building what’s next. We collaborate with corporates, governments, and startups to launch ventures, scale businesses, and drive bold transformation. Since 2018, we’ve supported startups from 110+ countries and partnered with some of the world’s most forward-thinking companies. Founded by entrepreneurs and ecosystem builders, we built StartupX to challenge the status quo of how innovation gets done in Asia.
The AIMX Network is a global community of users, AI leaders, practitioners and innovators seeking to answer the biggest question around AI today and the future: HOW.
The Network activates regional AI communities through curated events and activities around the world, to address real-world issues with emerging AI innovation while keeping the pulse on issues that impact AI for Industry.
SGInnovate is a Deep Tech ecosystem builder and investor, backed by the Singapore Government. Our expertise and approach combines investments, talent development and community-building to catalyse the translation of emerging technologies into tomorrow’s opportunities. Through our flagship Deep Tech Central platform, we connect individuals, founders and companies to specialised resources and opportunities across all technological domains and stages of growth. Our portfolio of emerging tech startups comprises some of the most promising companies leading the commercialisation of research developed from Singapore’s RIE ecosystem.
The Singapore Global Network (SGN) is an initiative by the Economic Development Board (EDB) to create a community of overseas Singaporeans and non-Singaporeans interested in Singapore. Founded in June 2019, its goal is to leverage its community to create opportunities for its members and Singapore more broadly.
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This community event is proudly brought to you by StartupX.