17-18 August 2026NUS Singapore

From Labs to Impact

The Architecture of Intelligence

A 6-week AI Challenge and 2-day Symposium uniting 1000+ researchers, engineers, and students from all 6 Singapore Universities.

Attend the SymposiumPartner With Us
National University of Singapore

The Problem

The gap between AI research and real-world deployment is widening.

Demand for AI talent is at an all-time high, but graduates lack exposure to true, enterprise-level challenges. Universities produce graduates who can train models in Jupyter notebooks, but the industry is starved for engineers who understand end-to-end product lifecycles, scalable architectures, and production constraints.

“The biggest hurdle in AI today isn’t training models; it’s deploying them efficiently. The missing piece isn’t AI theory — it’s production fluency.”

Two Pillars, One Mission

Bridging the gap between academic theory and industrial reality.

6 Jul - 18 Aug
6-Week AI Challenge

Industry-sponsored tracks with real datasets and real engineering constraints. Teams tackle unsolved problems drawn directly from partner R&D pipelines.

6

Tracks

100+

Teams

Real

Datasets

17 - 18 Aug
2-Day Symposium

Workshops, panels, fireside chats, and a career fest. Theoretical intuition meets networking with industry leaders and faculty from across Singapore.

6

Themes

20-30

Booths

1000+

Attendees

Key Numbers

1000+

Expected Attendees

6

Universities

20-30

Exhibition Booths

6

Symposium Themes

6 Weeks

AI Challenge

2 Days

Symposium

The Challenge

AI Challenge Architecture

Real problems. Real timelines. Real engineering.

Industry partners co-author challenges drawn from their own R&D pipelines. 4 phases over 6 weeks.

Phase 129 Jun - 24 Jul

Preliminary Round

Team formation and development. Industry partners provide video briefings on the problem and its context.

Phase 225 Jul - 31 Jul

Technical Judging

Expert judging panels evaluate submissions. Top 2 teams per track are announced.

Phase 31 Aug - 17 Aug

Preparations Week

Finalists receive direct mentorship from track authors to refine their solutions and prepare for presentation.

Phase 418 Aug

Grand Finale

Live presentations at the AI Symposium to judges, industry leaders, and 1000+ attendees.

Sample Track Architectures

Retrieval Systems

Intelligent Knowledge Concierge

Building a complex knowledge system that can accurately query and synthesise enterprise documents without hallucination.

Computer Vision

Multi-Layered CV on Edge Devices

Train computer vision models to detect unsafe acts in home environments, deployed on edge hardware.

Your Company’s Track

Sponsor a challenge track with your real-world dataset and engineering problem.

Learn More

1 - 17 August 2026

Preparations Week

Where talent meets opportunity.

Top 2 teams per track receive direct mentorship from track authors to refine their solutions.

For Teams

Direct mentorship from track authors

Refactor messy prototypes into robust solutions

Iterative feedback sessions with industry engineers

For Sponsors

Hands-on observation of top talent working under pressure

Early access to high-performing candidates

Evaluate enterprise skills: abstraction, encapsulation, scalable design

Contrast a standard 15-minute career fair chat with the ability to watch a student build, iterate, and present over 6 weeks.

Become a Track Partner

17-18 August 2026

Symposium Themes

6 themes across 2 days of workshops, panels, and fireside chats.

01

The Intentional AI Framework

When not to use an LLM. Identifying use cases where stochastic reasoning beats deterministic logic, and building the decision frameworks that production teams actually need.

LLM SelectionSystem DesignDecision Frameworks
02

Data Engineering & Scarcity

Moving beyond pre-packaged datasets. Tackling live data ingestion, scraping strategies, and cleaning unstructured inputs for real-world AI systems.

Data PipelinesWeb ScrapingData Quality
03

Memory & State Management

The mechanics of continual learning and keeping models technically fluid and factually accurate in production environments.

Continual LearningRAGState Machines
National University of Singapore

Why Partner With Us

Your brand in front of Singapore’s best AI talent

Tailored value for every type of partner.

Track Co-Authors

Crowdsource Your Open Problems

Have 100+ top student teams stress-test your proprietary APIs, SDKs, or internal engineering challenges over a month.

  • Co-author a challenge track from your R&D pipeline
  • Direct access to top-performing finalists
  • Evaluate candidates through real engineering work
  • Shape curriculum-relevant problem statements

Sponsors & Recruiters

Deep-Funnel Talent Acquisition

Go beyond a 15-minute career fair chat. Watch students build, iterate, and present over 6 weeks.

  • Curated talent headhunting sessions
  • Access to pre-filtered technical candidates
  • Exhibition booth at high-traffic venue
  • Guaranteed internship/job interview pipeline

Speakers & Panelists

Shape the Next Generation

A premier thought-leadership platform to an audience that already possesses deep technical literacy.

  • Keynote or panel slot to 1000+ attendees
  • Engage with top CS talent from 6 universities
  • Network with industry leaders and faculty
  • Elevate your personal and company brand

Cloud & Infrastructure

Build on Your Platform

Ensure that when 1000+ future engineers build scalable architectures, they build natively on your infrastructure.

  • Default platform for challenge participants
  • Showcase product capabilities in live workloads
  • Drive ecosystem adoption among future engineers
  • High-fidelity talent acquisition from power users

Investment

Sponsorship Tiers

Bronze

$1,000

Brand visibility and presence

  • Logo on event website & materials
  • 1 exhibition booth pass
  • Social media mention
  • Access to attendee networking sessions
Get Started
Most Popular
Silver

$2,500

Enhanced engagement and recruitment

  • Everything in Bronze
  • Panel discussion seat
  • Branded materials in attendee packs
  • 3 exhibition booth passes
  • Priority logo placement
  • Access to talent headhunting sessions
Get Started
Gold

$5,000

Maximum impact and thought leadership

  • Everything in Silver
  • Keynote or workshop speaking slot
  • AI Challenge track co-authorship
  • Premium exhibition booth
  • 6 booth passes
  • Logo on all printed & digital materials
  • Dedicated talent recruitment session
  • Post-event attendee analytics report
Get Started

Custom packages available. Contact us at symposium@acacia-ai.org

Organised By

NUS SoC AI SocietyNUS SoC AI Society
Acacia AI SocietyAcacia AI Society
StartITStartIT

17-18 August 2026 · NUS Singapore

Be Part of The Architecture of Intelligence

Attend the SymposiumPartner With UsRegister Your Team
symposium@acacia-ai.org

© 2026 Acacia AI Society. All rights reserved.