The 2026 GIFTS-ADEFT Summit brings together leading researchers, scholars, industry practitioners and policymakers to explore emerging questions at the intersection of artificial intelligence, finance, digital platforms, big data, technology, innovation and entrepreneurship, and the society. Organised by GIFTS as part of its global engagement and community building agenda, the Summit features a series of interconnected conferences, workshops, competitions and research training programs, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and advancing research on AI, Digital Economics, and Financial Technology (ADEFT).
The Summit involves collaborations with the AI and Big Data in Finance Research (ABFR) Forum, Crypto and Blockchain Economics Research (CBER) Research Forum, Global Finance and Technology Network (GFTN), Journal of Investment Management (JOIM), the FinTech Division at the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Nanyang Business School (NBS), and features the NBS Conference on AI for Finance, NTU Academy on AI for Business and Social Science Research, ABFR Inaugural Workshop and Doctoral Symposium, SimuWorld and InferenceNet Challenges, the JOIM Conference, and Tokenomics: 7th International Conference on Blockchain Economics, Security and Protocols, and joint sessions with the Singapore FinTech Festival.
Summit Events
The Annual Global Gathering of Policy, Finance & Technology
Date: 18 – 20 November 2026
Location: Singapore EXPO
Organiser: MAS & GFTN (Global Finance & Technology Network, in collaboration with ABS (Association of Banks Singapore)
Summit participants are cordially invited to join the FinTech Festival.
SimuWorld is proposed as an AI Agent competition and simulation platform for DeFi strategy and economic security. The first edition should not attempt to cover the entire DeFi ecosystem. Instead, it should focus on a limited number of representative, leading protocols and center around two core categories of real-world problems: Autonomous DeFi Strategy Agents and DeFi Protocol Risk & Economic Security Agents. All official submissions must be delivered in the form of continuously operable AI Agents. All protocol simulations, market stress tests, risk parameter experiments, and adversarial scenario validations must be conducted through HoloBit as the standardized simulation infrastructure.
Date: 19 November 2026
Location: Singapore EXPO (Singapore FinTech Festival)
Organiser: Prof. Yunbo Lu (Tongji University), Guangyan Gan (GIFTS), and Wilfried Ariel Mulyawan (GIFTS)
The InferenceNet Challenge focuses on evaluating how effectively AI models and agents can perform empirical research and reproduce published findings. The project's research paper describes a dataset of 2,644 tasks from 36 journals across economics, finance, accounting, management, operations research and information systems, combining task descriptions, data and author-provided replication code. The benchmark evaluates whether generated analysis code runs successfully and reproduces statistical results, including coefficients, standard errors and p-values. MetricsAI, a specialised econometrics agent, is presented in the paper as a potential baseline. Building on this research foundation, the challenge aims to encourage more reliable AI-assisted empirical analysis and collaboration across social science and AI.
Date: 19 November 2026
Location: Singapore EXPO (Singapore FinTech Festival)
Organiser: Prof. Ye Luo (HKU Business School), Yichen Guo (GIFTS), and Zhimin Zheng (GIFTS)
Following the success of the inaugural NTU Summer School and Conference on AI for Finance in 2025, the newly established Global Institute of Finance, Technology, and Society (GIFTS) and Nanyang Business School will co-host the NTU Academy of AI for Business and Social Science Research, and the NBS Conference on AI for Finance (jointly with the AI and Big Data in Finance Research (ABFR) Workshop), as parts of the GIFTS-ADEFT Summit, forming an integrated event that brings together leading researchers at the intersection of artificial intelligence, data and social sciences, and business decision-making.
Date: 20 – 21 November 2026
Location: Nanyang Technological University
Organiser: GIFTS, NBS Research & PhD Office
Following the success of the inaugural NTU Summer School and Conference on AI for Finance in 2025, the newly established Global Institute of Finance, Technology, and Society (GIFTS) and Nanyang Business School will co-host the NTU Academy of AI for Business and Social Science Research, and the NBS Conference on AI for Finance (jointly with the AI and Big Data in Finance Research (ABFR) Workshop), as parts of the GIFTS-ADEFT Summit, forming an integrated event that brings together leading researchers at the intersection of artificial intelligence, data and social sciences, and business decision-making.
Date: 21 – 23 November 2026
Location: Nanyang Executive Centre, Nanyang Technological University
Organiser: GIFTS, NBS Research & PhD Office
The JOIM Singapore Conference showcases academic excellence with practical solution and direction for the profession. The conference is co-organized by the Journal of Investment Management (JOIM), Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and the University of California, Berkeley. It brings together academic researchers, industry practitioners, and regulators in a structured dialogue format: academic speakers present research papers followed by industry discussants, and industry and agency participants lead dedicated panel sessions. The conference mandate encompasses both rigorous academic research and practitioner-oriented research, reflecting JOIM’s long-standing commitment to bridging theory and practice. Artificial intelligence in finance is a central theme of the 2026 program.
Date: 22 – 24 November 2026
Location: Nanyang Technological University, South Spine Auditorium
Organiser: Journal of Investment Management (JOIM), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), the University of California, Berkeley & GIFTS
CBER-Tokenomics 2026, the 7th International Conference on Blockchain Economics, Security and Protocols, is a leading interdisciplinary forum focusing on the theory, design, analysis, implementation, and applications of blockchain economics, decentralized systems, and digital platforms. The conference brings together economists, computer scientists, finance researchers, and industry practitioners working at the frontier of digital assets and emerging technologies. Original interdisciplinary research connecting economic incentives and market design with distributed systems, networks, and system security is particularly encouraged.
Relevant topics include token and protocol design, decentralized finance, stablecoins and digital payments, DAOs and decentralized governance, tokenized real-world assets, prediction markets, AI agents and decentralized AI, as well as economic world models and applications of large language models to macroeconomic, financial, and economy-wide modelling. The program offers opportunities to engage with distinguished invited speakers and selected academic presentations. Full-length working papers from both the Economics and Computer Science tracks were invited for consideration for the main conference.
Date: 23 November 2026
Location: Nanyang Technological University, North Spine Auditorium
Organiser: Andreas Park (University of Toronto), Te Bao (Nanyang Technological University), Will Cong (Nanyang Technological University), Ruizhe Jia (Stanford University), Julian Prat (Ecole Polytechnique)
Keynote Speakers: Christine Parlour (UC Berkeley Hass Business School), Ayo Akinyele (RippleX Engineering)
Recommended Accommodation
Nanyang Executive Centre
Address: 60 Nanyang View
Singapore 639673
Booking Email: nec-rsvn@ntu.edu.sg
Booking Code: NTUCA26
Map: https://maps.app.goo.gl/aDfNE8x1FcNWMfhG7
Park Avenue Rochester
Address: 31 Rochester Dr, Singapore 138637
Booking Link: TBA
Rating: 4-star hotel
Map: https://maps.app.goo.gl/4wHsMrt8zdxLVcjZA