SWITCH Singapore 2025: Asia’s Deep-Tech Powerhouse Returns — AI, Quantum, and Breakthroughs Leading the Way

SWITCH Singapore 2025 brings together global innovators, investors, and startups to explore AI, quantum, and deep-tech breakthroughs. From immersive programs and startup pitches to hands-on masterclasses and international collaborations, the event showcases the technologies and ideas that are shaping Asia’s innovation landscape.

As Singapore marks 60 years of nationhood, the Singapore Week of Innovation & Technology (SWITCH 2025) returns to Marina Bay Sands from 29–31 October 2025, celebrating its 10th edition. Organised by Enterprise Singapore (EnterpriseSG) and supported by the National Research Foundation (NRF) under the Prime Minister’s Office, SWITCH has grown into an annual platform where research, capital and corporate demand meet — a practical marketplace aimed at converting science into products, pilots and trade.

This year’s theme, “Powering Innovation, Creating Our Future,” frames a programme that foregrounds deep tech — embodied AI, quantum, advanced materials and bio/health — while keeping a crucial focus on market access, procurement-led pilots and cross-border scale. SWITCH 2025 will stage plenaries and panels across multiple stages, technical masterclasses under SWITCH Beyond, and the SLINGSHOT startup competition; the trade floor will host hundreds of exhibitors and national pavilions.

Why SWITCH Matters: Singapore’s National Innovation Strategy

SWITCH was launched to address a specific policy challenge: how to accelerate the translation of publicly funded R&D into commercially viable products and companies. The festival fits within Singapore’s Research, Innovation and Enterprise (RIE 2025) framework, which commits consistent public funding and a systems approach to link research, enterprise support and international market access. That long-term funding and strategic alignment — coordinated by NRF — is why Singapore can stage a convening that attracts lab-level researchers and strategic corporate buyers to the same floor.

This is deliberately not a conference for its own sake. EnterpriseSG positions SWITCH as a delivery vehicle: a place to surface technology needs from industry, curate potential suppliers (startups and research spinouts), and de-risk pilots through grant support, procurement pathways and curated corporate introductions. In short, SWITCH is an instrument of policy as much as it is a showcase.

A decade of tangible milestones

Since its 2016 launch, SWITCH has steadily broadened in scale and scope. The event’s expansion captures two linked ambitions: to surface deeper technical conversations (quantum, AI for materials, embodied AI) and to convert those conversations into deals and pilots.

These milestones reflect SWITCH’s dual function: signalling Singapore’s priorities and delivering measurable pathways for startups — from grant wins to pilot contracts and international market introductions.

Enterprise Singapore — the practical engine

If SWITCH is the public face, Enterprise Singapore is the engine that turns the platform into outcomes. The agency’s role is both strategic (aligning SWITCH to national priorities) and operational (running programmes that convert meetings into contracts). Three practical mechanisms are especially important:

1. Startup SG and grant/acceleration programmes. These provide early funding, capability building and curated introductions that reduce the pilot risk for corporates and investors.
   
2. Global Innovation Alliance (GIA). GIA creates repeatable market-entry channels — physical nodes and recurring programming in cities such as Seoul, Tokyo and Berlin — allowing startups to test and scale beyond Singapore.
   
3. Corporate-startup procurement and matching. EnterpriseSG curates problem statements with corporates and runs Open Innovation Challenges (OICs) that funnel selected startups toward pilots and procurement trials.
   

These interventions matter because deep tech rarely scales through organic discovery alone: it needs curated demand, patient capital and regulatory bridges. EnterpriseSG’s instruments are designed to provide exactly that — and SWITCH is the moment where those instruments meet users: startups pitch, corporates issue challenges, and research institutions surface technologies.

“SWITCH has been catalysing important conversations on technology and its potential to drive positive global impact. The event has played a pivotal role in connecting global and innovation partners to explore cross-border collaborations, advance the development of new technologies, and deepen support and infrastructure for startups.” — Enterprise Singapore. 

What SWITCH 2025 Will Deliver — Programmes and Depth

SWITCH 2025 is designed to deliver both strategic vision and technical depth, ensuring participants can gain insights, explore emerging technologies, and connect directly with investors, corporates, and research leaders. The event is organised across complementary pillars, each serving a distinct purpose in the innovation ecosystem:

Main & Global Stages

The Main and Global Stages serve as the event’s intellectual anchor, where policymakers, industry leaders, and global researchers set the agenda for Singapore and Asia’s innovation ecosystem. Sessions are structured to combine high-level vision with practical insights, highlighting emerging opportunities in AI, quantum computing, sustainability, and health technologies.

Key highlights include:

• Visionary Keynotes: Leaders from multinational corporations and research institutions will outline technology trends and policy directions that are shaping global industries.
  
• Industry Panels: Panels on topics such as AI-driven manufacturing, quantum-enabled materials, and the future of digital health provide actionable takeaways for investors and corporates looking to adopt new solutions.
  
• Global Market Insights: The stages spotlight opportunities for startups to scale internationally, providing market intelligence and showcasing success stories of cross-border expansion.

These sessions are designed not only to inspire but also to signal where investment, policy support, and collaboration opportunities lie, helping startups and corporates identify high-value avenues for growth.

SWITCH Beyond — Deep-Tech Masterclasses

SWITCH Beyond is the technical core of the event, offering domain-focused masterclasses and deep dives aimed at moving technologies from concept to market. These sessions are carefully structured to support startups, researchers, and corporates in navigating complex technology landscapes:

• Quantum Tech Track: Explores Singapore’s quantum strategy, including scalable algorithms, hardware development, and industry applications. Participants will hear from leading academics and corporate partners about commercialising quantum research.
  
• Embodied AI & Robotics Track: Covers humanoid robotics, autonomous systems, and AI integration in industrial processes. Discussions include robotics interoperability, global collaborations in the Robot Operating System (ROS), and the role of AI in automation.
  
• AI for Materials Track: Highlights startups using AI to accelerate materials discovery, optimize manufacturing processes, and reduce R&D timelines.
  
• Health & Biomedical Sciences Track: Includes masterclasses on precision medicine, digital diagnostics, and decentralized healthcare solutions. Fireside chats with medical researchers and startup founders provide insights into translating scientific research into scalable healthcare products.
  

By combining hands-on technical sessions with strategic guidance, SWITCH Beyond allows participants to validate ideas, explore partnerships, and accelerate pilot projects, making it one of the most action-oriented parts of the festival.

Converge (Startup) Stage & Trade Floor

The Converge Stage and trade floor are the deal-making hubs of SWITCH 2025, where innovation meets commercial reality:

• SLINGSHOT Top 60 Pitches: Selected startups from around the world present their solutions to a panel of investors, corporate partners, and government representatives, gaining exposure, mentorship, and potential funding.
  
• Curated Investor Meetings: Startups can schedule one-on-one sessions with venture capitalists, corporate venture arms, and government grant agencies.
  
• Corporate Procurement Conversations: Selected startups engage with corporations on real-world challenges, turning innovation into potential pilots or contracts.
  

The trade floor also hosts over 350 exhibitors, including national pavilions, research labs, and tech corporates, providing direct access to technologies and partnerships across multiple sectors.

Youth-Focused Innovation Track & Signature Lab Crawl

Recognizing the importance of nurturing future innovators, SWITCH 2025 introduces a youth-focused track in collaboration with the National Youth Council. This track provides students and young professionals with hands-on exposure to emerging technologies, mentorship opportunities, and insights into career pathways in deep tech.

Additionally, the Signature Lab Crawl (28 October) allows curated groups of attendees to visit research facilities, corporate innovation labs, and startup incubation centers. This initiative links theoretical discussions on the Main and Global Stages with real-world infrastructure, enabling participants to see how research, prototyping, and pilot testing are conducted in practice.

Strategic Impact

By combining these elements, SWITCH 2025 provides a 360-degree innovation experience:

• Vision and foresight through plenaries and panels
  
• Deep technical engagement in masterclasses
  
• Practical, deal-focused interactions through SLINGSHOT, trade floors, and lab visits
  

This structure ensures that participants leave with actionable insights, potential collaborations, and concrete pathways to scale their innovations regionally and globally.

SLINGSHOT: where startups meet scale

SLINGSHOT 2025 — SWITCH’s startup competition — remains a primary pathway for early-stage deep tech to access grants, mentors and corporate pilots. SLINGSHOT 2025 saw a record number of applications (more than 6,800), contending for over S$2 million in grant prizes and opportunities to anchor operations in Singapore. The Top 60 finalists will pitch live, with finalists gaining curated access to investors and enterprise partners. For many startups, SLINGSHOT acts as a conversion funnel from exposure to contract.

Deep tech at the centre — quantum, materials, AI

SWITCH Beyond places technical themes at the centre of the agenda. Singapore’s RIE investments and NRF’s ecosystem support have created capacity to host serious quantum conversations — from algorithms to scalable hardware — alongside applied AI use cases in materials discovery and diagnostics. That technical focus is strategic: shortening R&D cycles and enabling pilot-level demonstrations makes technologies investable.

“The progress we have made is satisfying, but we must not stay still. An even more exciting phase is ahead. We must strive to both deepen our ecosystem in Singapore, and strengthen our connections with innovation nodes around the world.” — Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat, SWITCH 2024 opening remarks.

Heng’s remarks (SWITCH 202 4) underline why the state’s role remains necessary: long gestation times, high capital intensity and regulatory complexity mean that public coordination — funding, standards, talent and market-making — is central to commercial success. SWITCH is one mechanism for that coordination.

International reach and practical outcomes

SWITCH is explicitly designed as a Global-Asia node: the Global Stage and SWITCH Global programme connect delegations and trade commissioners, and the festival has become a launchpad for bilateral collaborations and market access. Examples include curated sessions on Korea–Singapore scale-up pathways (in partnership with K-Startup Center Singapore), national pavilions that signal country priorities, and direct procurement conversations that can lead to pilots and MOUs.

Measuring impact is still difficult in a single line, but SWITCH’s practical value can be tracked through: follow-on grants (via SLINGSHOT and other mechanisms), procurement pilots resulting from OICs, and placements via GIA nodes. These are the conversion metrics that matter to founders and investors more than headcounts or attendance alone.

Attendance, passes and how to engage

Participation in SWITCH is structured to encourage broad discovery while also enabling paid, high-touch engagement for deal-making.

• Attendee Pass (free): access to Main and Global stage content and the trade floor.
  
• SWITCH Beyond pass (paid, promotional SG60 rates available): access to masterclasses, curated networking and lunches.

Practical tip for attendees: prioritize sector-specific masterclasses in SWITCH Beyond (quantum, health, AI for materials) if you are a researcher or startup seeking pilot partners; procurement and corporate challenge showcases are the highest-probability routes to commercial pilots.

Why EnterpriseSG’s role matters: 

For startups, investors and corporate innovation teams across Asia, the question is simple: does SWITCH widen real pathways to market? EnterpriseSG’s combination of grants, curated delegations (GIA) and procurement-led challenges is designed to answer “yes.” By structuring SWITCH as a policy-to-market instrument, EnterpriseSG reduces discovery friction and introduces mechanisms that shorten pilot timelines — an outcome that matters to founders who must demonstrate early traction to attract patient capital.

For regional investors and corporates, the relevance is twofold: SWITCH surfaces validated technology (via SLINGSHOT winners and SWITCH Beyond case studies) and provides a single environment for testing regulatory and procurement feasibility — effectively de-risking early commercial engagement.

SWITCH as a policy instrument and marketplace

After ten years, SWITCH has moved beyond conference optics. It is now an operational node in Singapore’s innovation architecture — a place where public grant mechanisms, procurement pathways and curated international links meet startups and researchers. That practical orientation — driven by Enterprise Singapore and enabled by NRF’s investment posture — is what allows SWITCH to produce measurable outcomes for companies seeking Asia-wide scale.

“SWITCH is a platform where scientific excellence meets entrepreneurial spirit to solve global challenges.” — Enterprise Singapore.

For AsiaTechDaily readers planning attendance: approach SWITCH as you would a trade mission with a built-in technical programme — come with a pilot hypothesis, a regulatory question to resolve, and the partners you need to test it.