XtalPi Partners with A*STAR under MARVEL-AI to Advance AI-Driven Materials Innovation

• XtalPi joins industry and technology partners to support MARVEL-AI's mission to connect materials discovery with industrial deployment.
• The collaboration combines XtalPi's AI and laboratory automation capabilities with A*STAR's expertise in materials science, validation, and industrial translation.

SINGAPORE, Oct. 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- XtalPi Holdings Limited ("XtalPi," HKEX: 2228), an AI- and robotics-driven drug and materials discovery company, today announced its collaboration with the Materials Accelerator for Research, Venture & Enterprise Launchpad (MARVEL-AI). Led by Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), the initiative is supported by Singapore's Ministry of Energy, Trade and Industry, Enterprise Singapore, Economic Development Board and National Research Foundation.

XtalPi joins a select group of companies signing strategic agreements at the Singapore Week of Innovation and Technology (SWITCH) 2026, which brings together startups, enterprises, investors, researchers, technology leaders and policymakers from Singapore and around the world to showcase emerging technologies and catalyse new innovation partnerships. In partnership with Enterprise Singapore, XtalPi's inaugural participation in SWITCH marks an important step towards deepening its engagements with Singapore's advanced materials ecosystem.

Anchored by the A*STAR Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (A*STAR IMRE), MARVEL-AI aims to accelerate materials innovation from discovery to industrial deployment. By integrating cross-disciplinary expertise, the initiative addresses lifecycle challenges across key classes like metal alloys, polymers, ceramics, and composites, providing a streamlined foundation to translate discovery into manufacturing process development and industrial use for sectors like semiconductors, energy, and advanced chemicals.

As a pioneer in applying scientific AI, agentic AI, and automation to new materials discovery, XtalPi builds on a strong foundation of collaboration with A*STAR. Since 2022, XtalPi has partnered with the Experimental Drug Development Centre (EDDC), Singapore's national drug discovery platform hosted by A*STAR, to advance targeted oncology therapies and automated synthesis. Today's agreement broadens this engagement into the advanced materials sector. XtalPi will contribute its core expertise in integrating computational predictions, agentic AI workflows, robotic experimentation, and experimental feedback to drive the goals of MARVEL-AI.

The expanded collaboration will encompass customized laboratory automation, joint research facilities, computational and experimental materials discovery, and strategic talent exchange to accelerate commercial translation. Combining XtalPi's ability to couple computational design and agentic AI with physical experiments and A*STAR's expertise in materials science and industrial translation allows researchers to incorporate practical development requirements earlier in the discovery phase. This intelligent feedback loop ensures that subsequent iterations are firmly guided by experimental evidence, placing XtalPi's technological engine at the center of accelerated materials translation.

Professor Loh Xian Jun, Executive Director of MARVEL-AI, said, "AI is creating unprecedented opportunities for materials discovery, but discovery alone is not enough. The next challenge is proving they can work in the real world. MARVEL-AI builds on Singapore's established strengths in materials science and connects them with AI, automated experimentation, manufacturing and industrial translation. This will help bridge the gap between discovery and deployment, enabling companies to evaluate whether promising materials can be validated, manufactured and applied in real-world settings."

"Materials science is rapidly emerging as a defining frontier for AI-driven discovery, where progress hinges on coupling high-value hypotheses with systematic validation," said Dr. Peiyu Zhang, Chief Scientific Officer at XtalPi. "We look forward to partnering with A*STAR to architect MARVEL-AI into the platform that seamlessly bridges these stages using AI and robotics. By introducing scalable engineering into the R&D loop, we aim to accelerate the development of next-generation materials for energy, sustainability, and advanced manufacturing—a shared mission that directly advances our vision of building the global infrastructure for scientific innovation."

XtalPi has long viewed Singapore as a critical hub for innovation, anchoring key collaborations across AI-enabled research and automation. Participation in MARVEL-AI extends this engagement into advanced materials and reinforces XtalPi's vision of serving as a global infrastructure for scientific innovation. By architecting computational and experimental capabilities that researchers can reuse and adapt, the collaboration establishes a scalable framework for moving successive materials discoveries from the laboratory directly to industrial application.

About XtalPi

XtalPi Holdings Limited (XtalPi, 2228.HK) was founded in 2015 by three physicists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). It is an innovative R&D platform powered by quantum physics, artificial intelligence, and robotics. By integrating first-principles calculations, AI algorithms, high-performance cloud computing, and standardized automation systems, XtalPi provides digital and intelligent R&D solutions for companies in the pharmaceutical, materials science, agricultural technology, energy, new chemicals, and cosmetics industries.

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XtalPi Partners with A*STAR under MARVEL-AI to Advance AI-Driven Materials Innovation

SHENZHEN, China, Oct. 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- A report from Chinadailyhk.com

A photo exhibition on cultural and people-to-people exchanges in Asia opened in South China's Shenzhen on Monday, ahead of the 33rd APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting, which the city is hosting next month.

Co-organized by China Daily and the Asia News Network, the Changing Asia exhibition runs through Friday at the Shenzhen Research Institute of the Chinese University of Hong Kong under the theme "Moments of Connection: Smiles and Hands Across Asia-Pacific".

In her welcoming remarks, Liu Weiling, deputy editor-in-chief of China Daily, said the exhibition is an important cultural exchange event during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation's "China Year" and aligns with this year's theme, "Building an Asia-Pacific Community to Prosper Together".

"We look forward to using the lens as a medium to capture the warm moments of Asia-Pacific people working hand-in-hand and civilizations integrating with each other, vividly showcasing the moving picture of Asia-Pacific peoples united in solidarity and embracing inclusiveness and shared prosperity," Liu said.

Warner Cheuk Wing-hing, Hong Kong's deputy chief secretary for administration, said at the opening that the photographs document the Asia-Pacific's cultural landscape and development stories without relying on words.

The exhibition highlights the core spirit of this year's APEC and offers visitors a glimpse of the region's growing mutual understanding and connection, as well as achievements in inclusive, shared development, he said.

The edition received more than 2,200 entries from 330 photographers worldwide. After a rigorous selection process, 97 works by 54 photographers from 17 countries and regions were chosen to capture the "smiles" and "hands" of Asia-Pacific people and portray a shared future of inclusive prosperity.

"Photography has the extraordinary ability to bring seemingly distant worlds closer together, creating a silent dialogue between the people portrayed and those viewing the images," Emanuele Giacomini, a documentary photographer based in Italy, told China Daily.

A set of photos Giacomini took at the 2025 Maha Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj, India, was selected for the exhibition. The festival was inscribed on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2017.

Giacomini said the exhibition's theme reflects his approach to documentary photography: seeking human connections, spontaneous gestures and emotions that transcend cultural and religious differences.

At the exhibition's launch, Bill Condon, an adviser to think tank Our Hong Kong Foundation, praised the quality and diversity of the photos. "It is really important to show and utilize the soft power of culture and art," he said. "The exhibition's Asian focus makes it so much more relevant and creates an opportunity for dialogue outside the formal meetings."

Nay Min Thu, a Myanmar student at Prince of Songkla University in Thailand, said he was impressed by the stories behind the photographs, particularly Shirkoo Mamagha's images capturing peaceful moments of nomadic communities in Iran. "I have learned that we should take photos that contain stories," said Thu, an amateur photographer.

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Changing Asia expo opens in Shenzhen