5th Annual Hawaii AI and Cloud Innovation Summit

The 5th Hawaiʻi AI & Cloud Innovation Summit is where the people who can move the state forward sit in the same room. For five years, this Summit has built the awareness, the capacity, and the solidarity to take AI seriously in our islands. This year we take up the harder question: how do you actually put it to work? The morning main stage lays out where Hawaiʻi’s economy is heading and why AI self-reliance matters, which in practice means locally governed AI: infrastructure, data, and decisions we control. The afternoon hands leaders the playbooks to act on it, from moving pilots into production, to building the governance foundations that make AI durable, to growing AI-ready talent in a way that honors how we work here.

The Summit is convened by TRUE Initiative in partnership with DBEDT/HTDC and the Hawaiʻi Executive Collaborative, and it is built around a table where government, industry, academia, and philanthropy sit as equals. Every session is measured against a single question: does this help Hawaiʻi build a stronger economy and create jobs here at home? Our partners are co-creators in that work. Done the Hawaiʻi way, AI self-reliance means using these tools to help people accomplish more and to create new work. Proven here, it becomes a model other places can follow.

When: Full Day Event, 8:00 AM – 4:30 PM
Where: Hilton Waikiki Beach Resort
Investment: $95 General Admission
Includes: Lunch and coffee breaks

This Summit is built for the people who can commit an organization to a direction.

• Business and technology leaders setting AI strategy and accountable for making it work

• State and county leaders shaping the policy, procurement, and programs that set Hawaiʻi’s pace

• Academic and philanthropic leaders building the talent pipeline and deciding where capital goes

• Workforce and HR leaders responsible for hiring, reskilling, and growing AI-ready teams

You will leave with a use case to pursue, a governance habit to adopt, a 90-day skills plan, and the relationships to carry them out.

Morning Keynotes & General Sessions

A Front-Row Seat to the World’s AI Economies.
A firsthand account of how other economies built durable, locally governed AI, and how those lessons map onto what Hawaiʻi is building now.

Fireside · MIT PATH & the Hawaiʻi AI Center in Action. What a world-class academic partnership looks like when it is put to work in service of a state strategy.

Panel · AI Self-Reliance & Locally Governed AI. Governance, data, and the practical foundations of keeping decision-making and value rooted in Hawaiʻi.

Afternoon Specialized Tracks

Round 1 · Practitioner Playbooks
The how-to, straight from the people doing the work. Pick the session that matches your hardest problem.

• From Experimentation to Production
• Foundations First: Data, Security & Governance
• Responsible AI in Practice
• The Real Cost of AI Agents: Budgeting, FinOps, and Total Cost of Ownership

Round 2 · The Strategy Applied: Sector Tracks
The same strategy, seen through your industry, led by the agencies and partners who can help you act.

• Resilience: Food, Agriculture & Energy
• Small Business & Startups
• Creative Industries
• Innovation & Industry: Advanced Manufacturing, Aerospace & Life Sciences

Round 3 · Hands-On Working Sessions
Stop listening, start building. Small-group and applied.

• Build Your Governance Starter Kit
• Write Your Responsible AI Ground Rules
• Design Your 90-Day Skills Plan, Mapped to Your First Use Case
• Model Your Agent’s Total Cost of Ownership