3rd edition of the Learning Expedition ShanghAI by Instinct

• The future is not announced. It is visited.

Instinct takes Portuguese business leaders to the heart of the artificial intelligence revolution: the 3rd edition of the Learning Expedition ShanghAI takes place from 30 November to 4 December 2026.

Cascais, 28 July 2026 – There are moments in history when the future stops being a prediction and becomes a place. A place with an address. Today, that address is Shanghai — and Instinct.pt is going back there, for the third time, with an exclusive group of Portuguese executives and entrepreneurs.

Most European companies talk about artificial intelligence. In Shanghai, it is already working: driving autonomous taxis in Pudong, delivering meals by drone, operating factories where robots learn while they produce, and managing the digital lives of over a billion people through SuperApps. It is not a conference about tomorrow. It is tomorrow, during office hours.

An immersion, not a trip.

During five intense days, participants step inside the companies defining the next global standard — NIO (the future of the automobile, from product to service), Meituan (the revolution of on-demand services and delivery by robots and drones), AgiBot (humanoid robotics that learn), ABB Robotics (industrial automation at scale), Tencent (the 360° ecosystem of the WeChat SuperApp) and United Imaging (large-scale precision healthcare), among others. 

The choice of city is not accidental. Shanghai's AI industry grew from 18 billion dollars in 2018 to 63 billion in 2025, concentrating more than a thousand large companies in the sector and a pool of 250,000 specialists — a third of all China's AI talent —, supported by a 3.1 billion dollar public fund for chips, software and robotics.

"We don't sell a trip. We sell a change of perspective," says Nuno Ribeiro, from Instinct. "A leader can read every report on Artificial Intelligence. Or they can come with us and shake the hands of those who make them obsolete, even before they are published. It is that difference — between knowing and seeing — that changes how decisions are made. Shanghai is not testing the future. It is building it. And we are going there again, for the third time."

Those who went will not forget it.

The testimonials from previous editions need no adjectives. "The LX to Shanghai allowed me to understand a reality that was beyond my reach. It made clear the urgency of digital transformation as a strategy and broke taboos regarding China," summarises Florence Ricou, CEO of Insula Capital.

For Salvador Bourbon-Ribeiro, CEO of Bauer Media, it was "a true plunge into the best that is being done in AI across several sectors. China is a serious case. We changed our perspective."

For those who decide.

The Learning Expedition ShanghAI is designed for leaders, executives and entrepreneurs with responsibility for digital and AI strategy — from the financial sector to telecommunications, from retail to mobility, from healthcare to industry.