Singapore has announced a series of new international collaborations aimed at accelerating the deployment and governance of artificial intelligence, with initiatives spanning robotics testbeds and frontier AI research.
The announcements were made at ATxSummit 2026, part of Asia Tech x Singapore (ATxSG), by Minister for Digital Development and Information Mrs Josephine Teo. The government said the initiatives reflect a move from exploring AI tools towards building and deploying AI systems intended for real-world use, aligning with recent recommendations from the Economic Strategic Review committee for Singapore to become a “trusted hub” to develop, test and deploy AI solutions at scale.
In one of the key initiatives, the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), JTC and the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) said they will collaborate with eight companies at Punggol Digital District (PDD) to research, test and deploy “physical AI” in a mixed-use public environment. The testbed is scheduled to launch later in 2026 and is intended to support multi use-case, multi-operator deployments in public areas.
Certis, DHL, Grab and QuikBot are listed among the first participants, with planned trials including food and parcel delivery, cleaning and security patrolling, positioned as complementing existing human operations. The testbed is being facilitated with the Land Transport Authority (LTA) through a precinct-level exemption framework under the Active Mobility Act.
IMDA also said it will work with the National Robotics Programme (NRP) and a set of “knowledge partners” and companies to develop embodied AI (EAI) use cases through SIT’s new Centre for Intelligent Robotics at PDD. Partners named include FieldAI and Thoughtworks, and companies Slamtec, Unitree and QuikBot. The agencies said the testbed will be used to continuously test and refine robotics and AI systems, including work on safety, potential regulatory issues and infrastructure needs.
On the research side, NVIDIA is launching an AI research lab in Singapore focused on embodied AI and efficient AI computing, in collaboration with university researchers, industry partners and government agencies. The government said the lab will be NVIDIA’s Singapore hub and the company’s second research presence in the Asia-Pacific region. The lab is expected to focus on manufacturing-relevant applications, including systems that can act in the physical world and approaches to reduce compute costs and improve energy efficiency for scalable deployment.
