In November 2025, Empact organised a six-day, five-night expedition to Shanghai and Hangzhou, China. The Singapore delegation which comprise of several key agencies and Empact team members visited various tech companies, foundations, social organisations, and educational institutions to observe China's boundary-breaking practices in both the commercial and social sectors.
Key Objectives. Primary objective of this expedition was to explore the practical adoption of AI in China's social sector and unveil how these technologies actively transform service delivery for vulnerable populations. Beyond mere observation, Empact aimed to serve as a bridge for cross-border social innovation, enabling the bilateral flow of social impact experiences between Singapore and China. The ultimate goal was to foster mutual cultural understanding and turn this single visit into a foundational starting point for long-term co-creation in the "AI for Good" space.
Key Outcomes and Observations. Throughout the journey, the delegation witnessed vivid examples of "technology's kindness" touching the ground, solving social pain points, and empowering nonprofits across several key domains:
- Elderly Care & Digital Inclusion: The delegation explored future pathways for smart elderly care at the Fudan University Institute on Aging. At the community level, they observed Dayu Community utilising intergenerational projects to help seniors master AI tools, effectively bridging the digital divide.
- Disability Inclusion & Vocational Empowerment: The journey highlighted how AI breaks both physical and cognitive limitations.
- Physical: BrainCo demonstrated AI-powered bionic hands and prosthetics that offer users new possibilities for life and development.
- Neurodivergent & Cognitive: The Hangzhou Yang Lingzi School showcased new career pathways for special needs students, training them in AI music, drone and robot dog operation, and data labelling skills. Additionally, Alibaba demonstrated how AI voice tools empower students with autism to read and understand picture books.
- Youth Mental Health: The Rici Charity Foundation presented their use of AI to construct a "smart protective shield" for adolescent emotional health, which includes building teacher support systems and designing mental health literacy activities.
- Organisational Capacity Building & Scale: A critical outcome of the trip was understanding how AI injects vitality into the operational capacity of nonprofits.
- Organisations like A Better Community and NPI unpacked AI adoption trends and provided capacity building for agency heads.
- The Boke Foundation showcased immense scaling power, utilising AI to run a UN SDG education program across 54 countries with a team of only seven people.
- A visit to Leqee explored how AI live streaming and new media content tools can expand a non profit organisation's communication and service boundaries.
- Tech giants like Tencent and Alibaba demonstrated how their AI tools can solve social problems at a massive scale.
Conclusion The learning journey provided concrete answers and visible proof of AI's potential to empower vulnerable groups and optimise nonprofit operations. By witnessing these vivid practices firsthand, the groundwork has been laid for future cross-border innovation and long-term co-creation with those who believe in leveraging AI for social good