​Singapore Maritime Week 2026

The SMU Maritime Thought Leadership 
session is held under the SMRC x MTEC/ICMASS Conference 2026
 

Themed "Smart Ships. Secure Seas. Sustainable Futures.", the SMRC x MTEC/ICMASS Conference 2026 will be held in Singapore from 22 to 23 April 2026 at Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre.

SMU will convene a maritime thought leadership session on 23 April, Thursday from 8am to 12.30pm on Stakeholder Integration - towards a future maritime ecosystem empowered by AI.

Register your seat here!

Stakeholder Integration - Towards a Future Maritime Ecosystem Empowered by AI

The integration of maritime stakeholders through digitalization has taken place for the last 15-20 years - but in an accelerating pace. It is notable how for instance vessels have been connected to shore through low orbit satellites including the StarLink and the OneWeb network in the last 2-3 years. In this conference we discuss the consequences of the increasing stakeholder integration through digitalization with a specific focus in the discussion: AI.

AI change the bar for implementation of digital solutions because in principle any decisions can be empowered instantly by massive data generation at relatively low costs (Lambrou, 2025). What we face with AI in the maritime sector is ultimately the integration of past (collective) experiences into present (individual) decisions (Iversen, 2025).

Our main purpose of this conference is to investigate the consequences of new AI-driven transactions in shipping. We look at internal processes in the maritime companies as well as on the relations between maritime companies and customers or between public authorities and private actors.

The overall question is to what extent AI changes the fundamental logics of the maritime ecosystem – and in cases where it does, what implications does it have for the stakeholders of our industry.

The SMU Maritime Thought Leadership Conference will invite two keynote speakers and further explore the topics in-depth in two themes:

Key-note: Towards a New Maritime Ecosystem

Theme 1: AI Driven Transformations

Theme 2: Changing Transactions Through AI

Agenda:

8.00 AM - 9.00 AM - SMU Breakfast Networking (with SMRC x MTEC/ICMASS Conference delegates)

8.30 AM - Registration (Seating on first-come-first-serve basis)

9.00 AM - Welcome Address

Professor Marcus Ang, Academic Director and Track Coordinator, International Trading Institute, Singapore Management University

9.05 AM - Opening Note
Ambassador Jakob Brix Tange, Embassy of Denmark in Singapore

9.10 AM - Introduction to the session and motivation of the theme "Stakeholder Integration - Towards a Future Maritime Ecosystem Empowered by AI"

MPA Professor Martin Jes Iversen, MPA Professor in Maritime Business, Singapore Management University, and Associate Professor, Copenhagen Business School

9.25 AM - Keynote: Towards a New Maritime Ecosystem

Mr. Kenneth Lim, Board Member, Singapore Maritime Institute, and Ministry Chief Information Officer, Ministry of National Development Singapore

Mr. Ng Yi Han, Director (Innovation, Technology and Talent Development / Chief Transformation Officer), Maritime & Port Authority of Singapore

Questions & Answer Session (10-minutes)

Break (10-minutes)

10.20 AM - Theme 1: AI Driven Transformations

Ms. Sakura Kuma, Executive Officer, Mitsui O.S.K.Line Ltd and Managing Director, MOL (Asia Oceania)

Mr. Jan Simon, Vice President IT and Digital, Hafnia

Panel Debate and Q&A (10-minutes)

11.10 AM - Theme 2: Changing Transactions Through AI

Associate Professor Ms. Agnieszka Nowinska, Aalborg University Business School, Denmark

Dr. Ms. Maria Lambrou, Professor, University of the Aegean, Department of Shipping, Trade and Transport, Chios Island, Greece

Dr. Hyerim Bae, Dean, Graduate School of Data Science, Pusan National University, South Korea

Panel Debate and Q&A (15-minutes)

12.30 PM - Networking lunch (with SMRC x MTEC/ICMASS Conference delegates)

Register for your seat here

For enquiries, email iti@smu.edu.sg or call +65 6828 0430