From devices to objectives, Asia-Pacific is main the MICE tech shift

Across Asia-Pacific, enterprise occasions are getting into a brand new period: one the place know-how shouldn’t be the headline act, however an enabler of one thing greater.

The days of flashy devices and spectacular shows are giving method to instruments that bridge connections, help inclusion, and depart lasting legacies in host communities.

At BestCities Global Alliance, we’ve all the time believed that innovation ought to make occasions extra significant for delegates, locations, and communities. With the tech revolution accelerating, our 13 companion cities – together with Singapore, Tokyo, and Melbourne – are utilizing synthetic intelligence (AI) and immersive tech to remodel occasions into intentional, inclusive, and impact-driven experiences.

BestCities: Tech with objective
For 25 years, BestCities has advocated for enterprise occasions that depart constructive legacies. Our Global Forum embodies this mission. At the 2025 occasion in Dublin, for instance, we launched AI-powered translation, sustainability monitoring, and social affect initiatives.

Through our new collaboration with Snapsight, attendees achieve real-time, personalised insights from AI evaluation of stay discussions – making engagement smarter and extra impactful. And by means of Engage for Good, each delegate interplay helps native causes, just like the Solas Project in Dublin. It’s tech and affect, working hand in hand.

Singapore: AI as a delegate ally
Singapore is breaking new floor as the primary vacation spot in Asia to partner with OpenAI, embedding generative AI into tourism and occasions. For delegates, this implies multilingual help, immersive storytelling, and extra intuitive and inclusive convention experiences.

At GITEX Asia 2025, over 1,000 improvements debuted – 75 per cent of them for the primary time in Asia-Pacific – displaying Singapore’s function as a testbed for enterprise occasions tech. Events just like the Singapore FinTech Festival use AI for sensible matchmaking, taking networking to a different stage.

Supporting this innovation ecosystem are organizations just like the VR/AR Association and Plug-In@Blk71, alongside nationwide management by means of the Digital Education Council, which ensures accountable AI adoption.

Tokyo: Tech with empathy
Tech meets empathy in Tokyo with occasions similar to SusHi Tech Tokyo and WebX, the place attendees don’t simply observe – they work together, function robots, and step into digital environments throughout metropolis infrastructure, healthcare, and WEB3.

With backing from collaborations like Microsoft Research Asia – Tokyo, which focuses on “societal AI” for wellbeing and neuroscience, Tokyo proves that experiential storytelling may be significant and human-centre, not merely spectacle.

Melbourne: Innovation with objective
Recognised as Australia’s hub for moral innovation, Melbourne hosted The Economist’s Progress 2023 Summit – its first-ever occasion in Australia – attracting over 400 international leaders.

The metropolis’s dedication is obvious within the Australian Centre for Artificial Intelligence in Medical Innovation, the world’s first college innovation centre advancing vaccines, immunotherapy, and medical breakthroughs with AI. In parallel, Monash University and companions are growing MAVERIC, Australia’s first AI supercomputer, designed to resolve a few of humanity’s most urgent challenges.

Looking forward: Purpose as precedence
In Singapore, Tokyo, and Melbourne, enterprise occasions tech is evolving – shifting from what tech can do, to what tech may help us obtain.

At BestCities, we’re proud to assist lead this transformation – from devices to objectives, from passive participation to lasting affect.

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Loren Christie brings greater than 25 years of expertise in Tourism & Hospitality to his function as Managing Director of the BestCities Global Alliance.

He held numerous management positions with Starwood Hotels & Resorts throughout his 17 yr profession. From 2017 to 2020, he moved to Destination Toronto, the Destination Management Organization for Canada’s largest metropolis, the place he led the International Congress and Canadian gross sales groups.

For the final three years he has been working his personal consulting and undertaking administration firm working with quite a lot of purchasers together with IAPCO – as school, #Meet4IMpact and the Global Destination Sustainability Movement instructing their masterclass on Legacy and Impact. He lately wrapped up two years because the vice-chair of the Global Business Travel Association’s conferences & occasions committee for Canada.