SMS Tan Kiat How’s Keynote Address at the Asia New Vision Forum Innovation 2026

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

Good afternoon. It is a pleasure to join you at the Asia New Vision Forum. Thank you for inviting me to speak on Singapore’s National AI Strategy.

We meet at a remarkable moment for innovation. AI is becoming more capable. Autonomous systems are moving into the physical world. Advances in biology are changing how medicines are discovered and produced. AI agents are beginning not only to answer questions, but also to act, negotiate, and transact.

Technology is also increasingly part of the strategic conversation among the world's largest economies. The recent meeting between President Trump and President Xi is another reminder of that. The two sides agreed to establish a dialogue on AI, including its risks and benefits. So, AI is no longer just a technology matter, it is becoming an integral part of the economy, and certainly when the leaders of the world’s two largest economies meet.

But businesses cannot wait for every geopolitical question to be settled. They still have to innovate, invest, serve customers, enter new markets, and make decisions about where the next decade of growth will come from.

So, for the founders, CEOs, investors, and policymakers here – and for many companies watching from China – there is a more immediate question: How do we turn technology into value, and value into scalable businesses?

In Chinese, we often talk about “赛道”, or the racetrack. Much of the attention today is on one race: who can build the most capable AI. Better models. More compute. More advanced chips. More energy. More talent. That race matters, and it will continue.

But for most companies, there is another race that matters just as much: who can turn rapidly-advancing technology into real economic value – repeatedly, reliably, and at scale?