THE PLATFORM'S ANNUAL LEADERSHIP CONVENING
ASIA BIOLOGICALS SUMMIT 2026
Where Asia's biologicals agenda takes shape.
26 October 2026 · CHIJMES Hall, Singapore · 09:00 to 18:00
Built through partnership.
STRATEGIC SUMMIT PARTNER
SCIENCE & INSTITUTIONAL PARTNERS
CROP DEPLOYMENT PARTERS
GLOBAL LEARNING
The Platform draws on international deployment experience, adapted for the realities of Asian agriculture.
ONE DAY
ONE ROOM
ONE CONVERSATION
The convening point of the Asia Biologicals Platform, a regional institution in the making.
A continuous conversation that builds through the day. The morning asks what is changing and what matters. The afternoon gets closer to the field: real problems, real solutions, and what it takes for adoption to follow. What is surfaced here shapes what the Platform builds next.
PROVOCATIVE THINKING
DEFINING PRIORITIES
REAL-WORLD ACTION
THE PROGRAMME
ACT 1
PROVOCATIVE THINKING.
Go beyond the headlines and understand what is changing, what matters, and the questions shaping what comes next.
09:00
DOORS OPEN & REGISTRATION
Meet fellow delegates and discover biological solutions showcased around CHIJMES Hall.
09:30
WELCOME & sUMMIT FORMALITIES
09:40
OPENING ADDRESS
Loh Qiu Yi, Vice President, Environmental Sustainability, Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB)
10:00 · KEYNOTE ADDRESS
THE AMBITION FOR ASIAN AGRICULTURE: THE NEXT CHAPTER
What should better-performing agricultural systems actually deliver?
Dr William Dar
Former Secretary of Agriculture, Republic of the Philippines
Senior Adviser, ASEAN Business Advisory Council Philippines
Former Director General, ICRISAT
10:20 · PROVOCATION 01
WHAT ARE WE ACTUALLY TRYING TO FIX?
What outcomes should biologicals help deliver, for whom, and how should we judge progress?
Marion Martinez, Senior Vice President Biologicals, Yara | Italy
Dr Yvonne Pinto, Director General, International Rice Research Institute | Philippines
Irini Schoeman-Giziakis, Open Innovation Manager, Danone | Netherlands
11:00 · PROVOCATION 02
WHO DO WE TRUST TO TELL US A BIOLOGICAL SOLUTION WORKS?
How local does evidence need to be before it becomes useful, and how regional can it become before it loses meaning?
Gek Hoon Khoo, Director, AGRI Centre, Republic Polytechnic | Singapore
Dr Ulrich Kuhlmann, Chief Scientist & Executive Director, Global Operations, CABI | Switzerland · Video contribution
Siang Hee Tan, Executive Director, CropLife Asia | Singapore
Alihan Tjohjono, CEO, Prima Agro Tech | Indonesia
11:50 · PROVOCATION 03
WHO PAYS FOR THE RISK BETWEEN DISCOVERY AND ADOPTION?
Who carries the risk of transition, who pays for it, and when does adoption become financeable?
Neil Falconer, Head of Innovation Banking, HSBC | Singapore
Dr Darian McBain, Venture Partner, The Yield Lab Asia Pacific | Singapore
Pranav Sethaputra, Sustainability Lead, Asia Pacific, BASF | Singapore
12:30
LUNCH & CONNECT
Meet biological companies around the Hall and connect with fellow delegates.
ACT 2
APPLY & ADVANCE.
Move beyond what's possible and explore what it actually takes to make biological innovation work in the field.
14:00 · ASIA BIOLOGICALS PLATFORM
ONE YEAR ON: FROM DIALOGUE TO DEPLOYMENT
An overview of the Platform and its progress: what has advanced, what we've learned, and where the work goes next.
Joshua Soo, Convenor, Asia Biologicals Platform and Co-founder, Agrifood Futures
14:20 · ASIA BIOLOGICALS PLATFORM
THREE PROBLEMS WORTH SOLVING
RICE · CASSAVA · COCOA
Three agricultural systems. Different deployment environments. One question: what will it take to move biological innovation into trusted, real-world deployment?
The Platform shares how its first crop deployment programmes are being built: the approach, the partners already at the table, and how biological companies, industry and capital will be invited in as the programmes take shape.
Perspectives from Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Cambodia.
15:00 · FIRESIDE CONVERSATION
BIOLOGICALS AREN'T NEW TO ASIA. SO WHAT EXACTLY IS NEW?
Biological agriculture has deep roots in Asia. What's changing is the science, industry and ecosystem emerging around it.
Prof Paul Teng, Visiting Senior Fellow, ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute | Singapore
Peter Wren-Hilton, Founder & CEO, Wharf42 | New Zealand
15:30
DEPLOYMENT SHOWCASE
SOLUTIONS & DEPLOYMENT LEARNINGS
Six companies. Their solutions. Their deployment learnings.
Selected companies from Asia and around the world share what they have built, where it has been deployed, and what they have learned taking it into real agricultural systems.
16:30
IT WORKS. SO WHY ISN'T IT BEING USED?
THE SCIENCE & ADOPTION REALITY
Evidence alone doesn't create adoption. What does?
The “Hot” Seat: practical perspectives from science · production · distribution · market demand.
16:45
WHAT DID WE LEARN? WHAT NEXT?
What emerged, where we agreed, what remains unresolved, and what the Platform takes forward.
Joshua Soo, Co-founder, Agrifood Futures
Peter Wren-Hilton, Founder & CEO, Wharf42
17:00
NETWORKING
Continue the conversation. Reconnect with speakers and delegates, and meet biological companies around the Hall. Until 18:00.
WHO'S IN THE ROOM?
Because who you meet matters as much as what you hear.
DEMAND & PRODUCTION
Growers · Producers · Processors · Buyers
SOLUTIONS & SUPPLY
Biological Companies · Technology Providers · Distributors
SCIENCE, VALIDATION & POLICY
Research · Regulators · Standards · Scientific Institutions
CAPITAL & ECOSYSTEM
Investors · Finance · Government · Ecosystem Partners
The people developing, validating, deploying, financing and using biologicals, in one room.
Around 85% of delegates hold leadership, decision-making or senior technical roles: CEOs and founders, directors, senior government officials, principal scientists and investors. Based on 2025 registrations.
Plus, meet up to 12 biological companies around the Hall throughout the day and discover the solutions they are bringing to market.
FROM CONVERSATION TO DEPLOYMENT
The Summit is one day. The Platform is what happens on the other 364.
The Asia Biologicals Platform is building the evidence, confidence and pathways that take biological innovation from trial to farm across Asia. It is now moving into deployment, beginning with programmes across rice, cassava and cocoa.
BE PART OF
THE CONVERSATION.
PROVOCATIVE THINKING · DEFINING PRIORITIES · REAL-WORLD ACTION
26 October 2026
CHIJMES Hall, 30 Victoria Street, Singapore 187996
09:00 to 18:00