Leap & Lead in Asia @Singapore as Strategic Gateway
Leap and Lead in Asia: Singapore as Asia's Strategic Gateway
A Breakfast Talk I World AI Summit Amsterdam Side Event
📍 Amsterdam · 🗓️ Thursday, October 8, 2026 · ☕ Breakfast Talk
As Europe and Asia deepen collaboration on AI innovation, Singapore stands out as the strategic gateway connecting Southeast Asia, China, and the wider region to global AI ecosystems. Join the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB)& AI Club Asia (ACA) for an intimate breakfast conversation bringing together leaders from government, industry, and academia to explore how Singapore, as a strategic gateway to Asia and, more broadly, the region, is shaping the next wave of AI innovation, and how European partners can plug in.
Over coffee and conversation, we'll hear diverse perspectives: from economic development strategy, to enterprise AI infrastructure, to the Dutch AI innovation landscape to research and internationalisation collaboration between Europe and Asia.
Agenda
08:00 – 08:30 | Reception & Check-In (Breakfast Networking)
08:30 – 08:35 | Opening Remarks
GAO Bo, Founder & CEO of AI Club Asia
08:35 – 08:50 | Keynote: Singapore as Asia's Strategic Gateway for AI
Maisarah RAZAK, Regional Director (Benelux & Portugal), EDB
08:50 – 9:30 | Panel Discussion: Leap and Lead in Asia: Unlocking Cross-Border Alliances, Investment, and Enterprise AI Scale
Prof Simon SEE (NVIDIA) · Maisarah RAZAK (EDB) · Ronald Jan Schuurs (Antler). Patrycja WISNIEWSKA (Discai)
Moderated by Bo GAO, Founder & CEO, AI Club Asia
09:30 – 09:45 | Audience Q&A
09:45 – 10:00 | Closing Remarks
Hosted by Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) & AI Club Asia (ACA), bridging Europe and Asia across AI, Robotics, life sciences, and innovation ecosystems.
Speakers Introduction:
Maisarah Razak
Regional Director, Benelux and Portugal, International Operations, Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB)
Maisarah was appointed Regional Director (Benelux and Portugal) of the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) on 1 August 2024. She is based in Amsterdam. Since joining the Economic Development Board (EDB) in January 2019, Maisarah had taken on various roles in the organisation.
She started off in EDB in a policy and planning role, as part of the Human Capital Division, to develop manpower initiatives and tools for companies across a broad range of sectors. She then moved on to the Energy and Renewables team in EDB. In this role, she worked closely with companies in the energy & chemicals sector, helping them transform their operations in Singapore, in line with Singapore’s net-zero ambitions, while capturing new opportunities in the green economy. Prior to joining EDB, Maisarah worked with JTC, a government agency under Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry.
Maisarah graduated from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration (Honours).
Prof Simon SEE
Senior Director, Chief Solution Architect and Global Head, NVIDIA AI Technology Center and AI Nation NVIDIA Corporation. Honorary Professor, Macquarie University Professor, Wuhan Univeristy Shanghai Jiao Tong University; Professor (Adjunct) NTU (Singapore) and Universitas Indonesia (UI), SUTD (Singapore), Surrey, Coventry, Newcastle
Professor Simon See is the Solution Architecture and Engineering Director, Chief Solution Architect, and Global Head of the NVIDIA AI Technology Centre (NVAITC), AI Nation, at NVIDIA Corporation. He also holds adjunct professorships at Nanyang Technological University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, the University of Surrey, Coventry University, Universitas Indonesia, and Newcastle University in Singapore. He is a Distinguished Fellow at Fudan University and an elected Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET).
Professor See leads numerous international AI, high-performance computing (HPC), and computational science initiatives, and plays a key role in advancing AI ecosystems across the Asia-Pacific region. His research interests include HPC, artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data, computational science, applied mathematics, and simulation methodologies. He has published over 200 technical papers and received multiple awards for his contributions to the field.
He serves on numerous international advisory boards and conference committees, including as a Steering Committee member of Supercomputing Asia (SCA). Prior to joining NVIDIA, Professor See held senior technical and leadership positions at SGI, IBM, Oracle, Sun Microsystems, DSO National Laboratories, and other technology organizations, and continues to advise national research institutes and supercomputing centres worldwide.
Ronald Jan Schuurs
Ronald is a Partner at Antler, based in Amsterdam. He has a decade-long track record of starting and scaling tech giants. A versatile operator and investor, he previously served as CEO of Delivery Hero Germany and CFO of Zava, following high-impact roles at Rocket Internet. With a decade-long foundation in strategy consulting (Booz & Co) and investment banking (ABN Amro), Ronald Jan bridges the gap between financial rigor and entrepreneurial execution. He holds degrees from INSEAD and Leiden University.
Patrycja Wisniewska
Patrycja Wisniewska is a technology and financial services executive with nearly 20 years of experience driving innovation, digital transformation and commercial growth across Europe and Asia-Pacific.
She is currently Commercial Director and a member of the Executive Committee at Discai, where she works at the intersection of AI, financial crime compliance and financial services, helping banks adopt explainable AI and machine learning to improve transaction monitoring, detect complex financial crime patterns and strengthen compliance controls.
Previously, Patrycja held leadership roles at ING, working across digital banking, payments and large-scale transformation programmes. She also co-founded Blacksmith KYC, a RegTech company focused on digital KYC and financial crime compliance, which was successfully scaled and acquired in 2023. Most recently, she led AML RightSource’s APAC business, driving market expansion and strategic partnerships across the region.
Having spent several years working and living in Singapore, Patrycja brings extensive experience of both Asian and European markets. She previously served as a Board Member of the Belgian-Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce in Singapore, supporting business and economic cooperation between Singapore and Belgium and Luxembourg.
Now based in Belgium, she continues to work at the intersection of AI, financial services, innovation and international business, with a particular interest in how AI can be adopted responsibly while creating tangible value for organisations and society.