Smart AI Cities Asia 2026
Building Smart Cities with AI for a Sustainable Future
Overview
The 12th Smart AI Cities Asia 2026 builds on more than a decade of regional impact as one of Asia’s premier platform for city leaders, policymakers, technologists, AI innovators, and urban visionaries to collaborate, exchange ideas, and accelerate the evolution of future-ready cities. As Malaysia advances the Malaysia Smart City Framework, the aspirations of the 13th Malaysia Plan (RMK-13), and the national transition from Smart Cities to AI Cities, this platform has never been more important. Under the theme “Building Smart Cities with AI for a Sustainable Future,” The 12th Smart AI Cities Asia 2026 will explore how artificial intelligence is reshaping urban governance, infrastructure, mobility, sustainability, public services, cybersecurity, and climate resilience, while driving the development of intelligent, trusted, and people-centric urban ecosystems that empower governments, industries, and communities to build smarter, safer, and more sustainable cities for the future.
Registration
Registration for 12th Smart AI Cities Asia 2026
Panel Discussion
Mobility Without Drivers – Scaling AI for Autonomous, Connected and Intelligent Mobility
From autonomous transport and intelligent traffic systems to connected infrastructure and AI-powered logistics, this session explores how AI, automation and predictive technologies are enabling the next generation of urban mobility and how cities can move from pilots to reliable, connected and intelligent mobility systems.
Opening Remarks
Opening Remarks
Speaker
Selva Nagappan
Organising Chairman, 12th Smart AI Cities Asia 2026 and Managing Director, Knowledge Group of Companies
Keynote Address
From Smart Cities to Intelligent Cities – Designing the Future Around People, Technology and Innovation
Cities are evolving from smart infrastructure to intelligent, AI-enabled systems. This keynote explores how AI, data, innovation and governance can create inclusive, sustainable and people-centred cities.
Speaker
Karuna Gopal
Founder President, Foundation for Futuristic Cities, India
Break
Morning Refreshment and Tour to the Exhibition Space
Panel Discussion
The Predictive City – How AI is Transforming How Cities Think, Learn and Respond
Cities are evolving from reactive management to predictive action. This session examines how machine learning, digital twins, and Agentic AI are transforming city operations and decision-making.
Panellist
Prof. Da Sheng Lee
Director, Taipei Smart City Project Management Office, Taiwan
Dr. Jianquan Liu
Senior Director, NEC Laboratories Asia Pacific (NLAP), NEC Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Singapore
Presentation
Building Cities that Survive Tomorrow’s Climate: Resilient Design for Southeast Asia
SEA is among the world’s most climate-vulnerable regions. Urban heat, flash flooding, sea-level rise, and extreme weather are reshaping how cities must build. This session presents specific engineering frameworks, green corridor standards, and net-zero building codes being adopted by leading cities.
Presentation
Smart but Secure: Engineering Privacy-by-Design into the Sensors, Cameras and AI Platforms of the AI City
This session explores how multimedia AI systems can be engineered to anonymize data at the edge and balance real-time urban intelligence with citizen privacy, drawing on industrial experience building and commercializing large-scale data platforms.
Dr. Jianquan Liu
Senior Director, NEC Laboratories Asia Pacific (NLAP), NEC Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Singapore
Break
Networking Luncheon and Tour to the Exhibition Space
Panel Discussion
Powering the AI City – Smart Grids, Virtual Power Plants and Malaysia's Renewable Transition
AI cities consume enormous amounts of energy. Data centres alone are reshaping national grid planning. This session addresses the other side of that equation: how AI-optimised smart grids, demand response systems, virtual power plants and urban microgrids are turning cities from energy consumers into energy managers.
Panellists
Ir. Shanmugam Thoppalan
Head of Grid System Operator, Tenaga Nasional Berhad, Malaysia
Ts. Dr. Ahmad Khalid Md Khairi
Chief Technology and Innovation Officer, UZMA Berhad, Malaysia
Panel Discussion
AI Cities – Designed for People or Designed on PowerPoint?
The session explores the gap between smart city visions and ground-level delivery, challenging whether Malaysia is importing Western TOD models that ignore local climate, culture, and community realities. The forum debates equity, participation, and what “people-first” urban AI actually means in Malaysia.
Panellists
Mohd Musabri Shaharom
Director ICT Division Corporate Service Department, Perbadanan Putrajaya Malaysia
Datin TPr Noraida Saludin
Senior Director and Head of Strategic Planning, AJM-Planning and Urban Design Group, Malaysia
Presentation
Physical AI and Harness Engineering for a Smart City: Not Only Predictable but Also Controllable
Building on successful AI and IoT initiatives, Taipei is transforming into a Physical AI city where digital twins and Agentic AI enable predictive, governable, and real-world urban decision-making.
Speaker
Prof. Da Sheng Lee
Director, Taipei Smart City Project Management Office, Taiwan
Fireside Chat
Will AI Cities Create Smarter Communities or Deepen Inequality?
As cities become smarter, who truly benefits? This discussion challenges whether AI-driven urban transformation will empower communities and improve equity, or it will deepen digital divides, exclusion, and uneven access to opportunity.
Moderator
Ingo Schmittmann
Managing Director, Stanton Chase Malaysia
Panellists
Karuna Gopal
Founder President, Foundation for Futuristic Cities, India