Global Institute of Finance, Technology, and Society

NTU Singapore's Global Institute of Finance, Technology, and Society (GIFTS) is a university-wide interdisciplinary research institute jointly founded by NTU's Nanyang Business School and College of Computing and Data Science. NTU announced its launch on 30 May 2026. GIFTS connects business, economics, finance, computing, data science and social-science research with industry and policy engagement; it is an NTU research institute, not a financial regulator, government ministry or general-purpose funding scheme (Nanyang Technological University, 30 May 2026).

Research and institutional role

GIFTS studies how artificial intelligence, data, digital platforms and financial technologies affect markets, organisations and society. NTU describes work spanning digital media and information economics, big-data infrastructure, privacy-preserving computation, agentic and on-chain economies, economic world models and AI-powered simulations. The institute is designed to connect fields that are often separated across business, computing and social-science institutions, while supporting research, education, industry collaboration and policy engagement (Nanyang Technological University, 30 May 2026).

The institute's current research profile groups this work into three broad clusters: AI and Technomics Engines, covering digital media and information economics, big-data infrastructure, privacy-preserving computation, agentic and on-chain economies, economic world models and AI-powered simulation; Society and Market Solutions, covering inclusive finance, ethics and governance, sustainability, entrepreneurship, health and wellness, and technology-powered wealth management; and the Global ADEFT Network, covering AI for social science, behavioural studies of humans and machines, digital finance and operations research, and global collaboration (NTU GIFTS, About; NTU GIFTS, Research and Innovation, accessed 30 August 2026). These are the institute's organising research clusters, not separate regulatory mandates or funding programmes.

Education, policy and industry connections

GIFTS is intended to organise working-paper series, workshops, summer schools, educational programmes and joint PhD pathways in business research and AI. Its policy- and industry-facing work includes roundtables, policy white papers, applied-research and entrepreneurship projects, and work on inclusive finance, AI ethics and safety, sustainability, health and wellness, and technology-powered wealth management. These activities make GIFTS a research-and-translation platform; the launch announcement does not promise a grant, regulatory approval or commercial outcome to participating firms (Nanyang Technological University, 30 May 2026).

Global platform and launch initiatives

NTU describes GIFTS as a global platform with more than 40 research and industry fellows and advisers at launch and as the headquarters of the AI, Digital Economics and Financial Technology (ADEFT) network. The institute's official profile identifies Lin William Cong as founding director and lists supporting partners including NTU's Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, and Graduate College, alongside overseas academic partners (NTU GIFTS, About, accessed 30 August 2026). These affiliations show the intended collaboration network; they do not establish that every listed partner jointly operates every project.

GIFTS launched with two named global research initiatives. The Economic World Models Initiative explores simulations of economies, markets, organisations and digital ecosystems for research and policy questions. The Global InferenceNet Initiative develops and evaluates AI models and agents for research in economics, finance, accounting, management, operations and information systems. The two initiatives are research programmes, not claims that the models already provide reliable professional advice or that the simulations predict actual market outcomes (Nanyang Technological University, 30 May 2026).

Relationship to Singapore's research system

GIFTS adds an NTU-led cross-college platform to Singapore's wider research and innovation ecosystem. Its subject matter overlaps with national interests in AI, fintech, digital trust and the digital economy, but the institute does not replace NRF stewardship of research plans, MAS financial regulation, A*STAR public research institutes or NTU's ordinary teaching functions. Its launch establishes the institute, research agenda and collaboration model; future projects, policy outputs, educational offerings and partnerships should be checked against later NTU or GIFTS publications rather than inferred from the announcement (Nanyang Technological University, 30 May 2026).