Atlas report
AI researchers in Singapore
National University of Singapore is the largest, with 2 775 indexed researchers, barely ahead of Nanyang Technological University at 2 509. No single place dominates here.
The short answer
Singapore is the 16th country by indexed AI researchers, 7 580 of them.
Singapore counts 1285 indexed AI researchers per million inhabitants, 14.5 times the world rate of 89.
1.0% of the AI researchers indexed in Singapore sit in a company rather than a university, 12% of the world share of 8.9%.
What stands out
With 0.1% of the world's people and 1.1% of its indexed AI researchers, Singapore runs at 14.5 times its demographic weight.
Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) is the subject newcomers in Singapore pick up fastest: 69 started on it between 2023 and 2025, and its share of new entrants is 2.2 times its share in the previous window.
The subject where Singapore weighs most against the rest of the world is Adversarial Robustness in Machine Learning: 3.2% of its subject assignments work on it, 1.7 times the world share of 1.9%.
Subjects
The single most common subject is Topic Modeling, on which 8.6% of Singapore's subject assignments fall.
Subject reports: Multimodal Machine Learning Applications, Natural Language Processing Techniques, Generative Adversarial Networks and Image Synthesis, Adversarial Robustness in Machine Learning, Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI).
| Subject | Researchers | Share here | Share worldwide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Topic Modeling | 1 486 | 8.6% | 7.9% |
| Multimodal Machine Learning Applications | 1 031 | 6.0% | 3.9% |
| Advanced Neural Network Applications | 753 | 4.4% | 4.4% |
| Natural Language Processing Techniques | 736 | 4.3% | 4.3% |
| Generative Adversarial Networks and Image Synthesis | 659 | 3.8% | 2.6% |
| Adversarial Robustness in Machine Learning | 552 | 3.2% | 1.9% |
| Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) | 302 | 1.8% | 1.5% |
| Speech Recognition and Synthesis | 241 | 1.4% | 1.3% |
Newcomers by year
Singapore gained 1 004 new researchers between 2023 and 2025, 1.2 times the 861 of the three years before; the world ratio is 1.1.
The 2025 intake for Singapore was 0.9 times the average of the three previous years, against 0.8 worldwide.
| First publication | New in Singapore | Share of the world's newcomers |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 210 | 1.1% |
| 2020 | 238 | 1.1% |
| 2021 | 242 | 1.0% |
| 2022 | 381 | 1.1% |
| 2023 | 351 | 1.2% |
| 2024 | 341 | 1.1% |
| 2025 | 312 | 1.2% |
Institutions
79% of the country's researchers sit in three institutions, led by National University of Singapore.
National University of Singapore is the largest, with 2 775 indexed researchers, barely ahead of Nanyang Technological University at 2 509. No single place dominates here.
| Institution | Researchers | Share of the country |
|---|---|---|
| National University of Singapore | 2 775 | 37% |
| Nanyang Technological University | 2 509 | 33% |
| Agency for Science, Technology and Research | 673 | 8.9% |
Compared with its peers
Read against Netherlands and Switzerland, the two nearest countries by headcount, the differences are in the rates, not the totals. The gap that stands out is the share working in a company: 1.0% here, below the 9.3% of those two. Reports: AI researchers in Netherlands, AI researchers in Switzerland.
| Singapore | Netherlands | Switzerland | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Researchers | 7 580 | 7 903 | 8 541 |
| Per million inhabitants | 1285 | 442 | 960 |
| In a company | 1.0% | 6.0% | 13% |
| Early career | 58% | 51% | 55% |
| Newcomers, recent against previous window | 1.2 | 1.1 | 1.0 |
Common questions
- How many AI researchers are there in Singapore?
- As of October 2026, the index holds 7 580 researchers whose institution sits in Singapore, 1.1% of everyone with a known country.
- Where do you find AI researchers in Singapore?
- National University of Singapore, 2 775, Nanyang Technological University, 2 509, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, 673. Together they hold 79% of the country's indexed researchers.
- What is Singapore strongest in?
- Adversarial Robustness in Machine Learning, at 1.7 times the world share.
- Is the pool of AI researchers in Singapore growing?
- Yes, at the world's pace. Between 2023 and 2025, 1 004 people in Singapore published for the first time, against 861 over the three years before, a ratio of 1.2 where the world sits at 1.1.
The names behind the numbers
Every count on this page is a list in the index.
Search it by subject and country, and get an alert before they come free.