Speakers

Moderator's Profile:

Grace is a seasoned writer, author and industry observer. She was the key tech writer for Singapore’s morning daily, The Straits Times, for more than 3 decades, allowing her to closely observe the country’s ICT and startup development. She is also the Editor and Co-Curator of Intelligent Island: The Untold Story of Singapore’s Tech Journey, a book which highlights Singapore’s experience in national ICT development. She co-founded and edited Computer Times - which later became Digital Life – a weekly ICT magazine distributed with The Straits Times. She helmed this publication, which became the de facto national IT magazine, for nearly 19 years. Invitations for her to moderate panels on ICT and Smart Nation and judge startup pitching contents come from organisations and public sector agencies in Singapore, Hong Kong, Seoul and London. She has wide experience setting up and managing content teams in Singapore and the Asia-Pacific and covering major global events in the ICT industry.

Speakers

Speaker's Profile:

Joanna Boquist is the newly appointed Innovation Counsellor at the Embassy of Sweden in Singapore. Joanna’s mission is to connect the Swedish and Singaporean innovation ecosystems. The purpose is to create more innovation collaborations and enhance innovation capabilities amongst key stakeholders, capabilities that are needed for a green, resilient and digital future. Joanna has 15+ years of experience of promoting international collaborations with Sweden. Prior to her current role she has held positions in public organizations and private corporates. Six years ago Joanna found a passion in promoting sustainable and inclusive innovation at Vinnova, the Swedish Innovation Authority. Joanna has professional experience from Israel, Poland, India, China and Hong Kong. She holds a Engineering Degree in Physics from Lund University and a Master of Business and Administration from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

Speaker's Profile:

Elina Puszkarzewicz is an expert in internationalization and sustainable business, currently leading the Decarbonized Cities Program at Business Finland, the Finnish innovation funding and trade promotion organization. The program aims to enhance Finland’s competitiveness and boost exports by developing solutions for global carbon-neutrality challenges. Elina’s work focuses on establishing long-term partnerships with cities like Singapore, Los Angeles, and Madrid to address issues related to the built environment, energy, and traffic. A key goal is to activate Finnish companies for global growth and innovation while fostering cross-industrial networks.

Speaker's Profile:

Annabelle Chiong is working with amazing technical founders and helping them in their journey of growing their companies.

Speaker's Profile:

Ms Yang Mingjin is the Deputy Director for Europe and Central Asia at Enterprise Singapore, where he plays a pivotal role in driving Singapore’s economic engagement and business collaborations across the region. With extensive experience in international trade and investment, Yang oversees efforts to promote Singaporean enterprises, foster strategic partnerships, and explore new market opportunities in Europe and Central Asia. His expertise spans cross-border market development, government relations, and supporting businesses in navigating complex regulatory environments to expand globally.

Speakers

Speaker's Profile:

Ksenia is Head of International Expansion of German startup, fobizz, seeking to expand their startup to Southeast Asia with the help of the German Accelerator Southeast Asia Market Access program. fobizz is Germany's leading provider of online teacher training and AI tools (300K+ users). It focuses on digital transformation in schools, and brings AI as a topic and learning technology into the classroom.

Speaker's Profile:

Thorsten Neumann is the Ventures Technology Lead at SC Ventures, seeking to drive technology innovation, deliver disruptive business models and rewire the DNA of banking.

Moderator's Profile:

Rotem is Program Director of German Accelerator's programs which take high-potential companies on a fast-paced learning journey to understand, discover, and access the leading innovation hubs in Asia. Through highly-customized programs, mentoring from dedicated experts, as well as access to our vast network of business partners and investors, we help startups from all stages and across various industries on their way to international success. German Accelerator is run by German Entrepreneurship GmbH and is proudly financed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK). In addition, Rotem is Head of the Climate Tech Competence Center, Asia at Start2 Group.

Speakers

Speaker's Profile:

Tianyu is a Singapore-based generative AI practitioner, and he guides organizations in AI skills acquisition and adoption. With a decade-long background in market research, measurement and advertising at companies like Twitter and Fonterra, Tianyu transitioned his expertise to generative AI, where he has accumulated 1,000+ hours mastering AI tools (including generating 30k+ images and 8k+ videos). He is known for his popular LinkedIn AI tutorials, bestselling DALL-E course, and co-authored book on ChatGPT. Tianyu champions human-AI collaboration and responsible AI as Chairman of the GenAI Risk Chapter at RIMAS.

Moderator's Profile:

A Singaporean by birth, JQ has been a digital nomad-traveller during recent times, where his clientele has him hovering between the Asia Pacific and the Americas. After completing his military service in Singapore, JQ ventured into the defence industry and was involved with marketing and client services for defence-related projects. Upon conclusion of a landmark deal with the US Marines Corps, JQ left for the States to complete an executive-postgraduate program at Harvard Kennedy School. He later joined Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs and was involved with the angel investing community with AngelCentral. Pursued mass communications for his undergraduate studies, JQ is a member of the Asian American Journalists Association and Society of Professional Journalists. JQ also has a keen eye for street photography, especially subjects related to Singapore’s rich culture.

Speakers

Speaker's Profile:

Stephen Ibaraki, a serial entrepreneur | futurist, has shaped the future of technology with leadership roles in over 100 organizations worldwide, with more than 300 recognitions, 3000+ engagements annually impacting $100 Trillion in sustainable investments. Founder of the UN ITU AI FOR GOOD initiative, his efforts reach over 3 billion globally, fostering AI innovations across the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Stephen's extensive network includes engagements with over a million CEOs, investors, scientists/experts contributing significantly to transformative innovations and investments. His accolades include 22 Microsoft Global Awards including 7 in AI and founding roles in influential tech initiatives since the 1970s. Stephen’s visionary approach and dedication position him as a pivotal leader in global technology, innovations, investments, startups, and entrepreneurship.

Moderator's Profile:

Christine Amour-Levar is a passionate environmental advocate, social entrepreneur, and co-founder of Investors for Climate, a platform that mobilises capital toward climate tech startups and sustainable ventures. With a career that spans impact investing, sustainability, and public-private partnerships, Christine has been at the forefront of efforts to drive climate innovation and advance the global transition to clean energy and smart cities. As a thought leader in the intersection of finance, sustainability, and innovation, Christine has collaborated with governments, non-profits, and corporations to align capital with climate goals. She champions the role of early-stage investments in clean energy solutions, climate technology, and urban innovations, advocating for cross-sector collaboration to build resilient, future-ready cities.

Moderator's Profile:

Joanne is General Partner of REDDS Capital, a Californian-based VC firm investing in global early-stage & seed-level IT startups. She has worked with IBM, HP, SAP, and Cisco in multiple technical, market development, and strategic investment positions. She is a mentor/advisor for multiple startups. Wong has co-founded a health startup, providing a unified data and project management platform for life science researchers. She was the executive director of a healthcare charity startup, providing free green access to high-performance computational resources for cancer researchers. She has had startups in 3D simulations for learning.

Moderator's Profile:

Dr.Suresh Nair, an alumnus of the Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Bombay has spent his initial career at TIFR and subsequently at SAMEER, R&D Lab of Ministry of Information Technology, Government of India. Later he was with NeST, as Global Chief Technology Officer heading the technology strategies. Under his leadership, designed and developed many novel products in Healthcare, Communication domains and many are finding excellent market acceptance globally. Dr.Suresh Nair is presently the Chief Technology Advisor to Foundation for Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship, an initiative of Tata Trust, and also the founder of two companies, Design Alpha and Biophoton Technologies. Dr.Suresh has more than 120 publications, 18 patents, co-authored three books, and more than 200 technical reports to his credit.

Moderator's Profile:

Rafiq Jumabhoy brings years of startup experience as an innovator in the RE industry, where a strong customer bias led him to introduce the then new asset class of serviced apartments with his brand "The Ascott" and more regionally, centrally managed malls and food courts. After the sale of The Ascott, he has been engaged in numerous turnaround situations as consultant and active driver. The advent of internet based marketing made it clear to him that asset viability in the future lies in an omnichannel approach to customer engagement. Mentorship of numerous tech related startups have solidified this view and surfaced the need for sustainability as a core value of that process. He brings a strong hands-on business perspective to our event.

Speaker's Profile:

Ravikiran Annaswamy is the Co-founder and CEO of Numocity Technologies. He is very passionate about clean mobility and is contributing to accelerating Electric Mobility in India and world market. His strategy is on using IOT, Analytics and Deep Learning to accelerate adoption of Electric vehicles and innovate through new business models of Energy as a service. He has over 29 years of experience; as a serial entrepreneur and as a business leader at Nokia and Siemens. He was instrumental in launching and scaling, frugal and innovative solutions like Mobile Prepaid, Data Charging, and various VAS solutions in India and global markets. He championed Intrapreneurship by working as the Innovation head for Bangalore site of Nokia Siemens Networks. He is a serial entrepreneur and passionate to incubate new start-ups.

Moderator's Profile:

Bernard Lim is currently the Vice President, Director and co-founder of Appscard Group AS and Appscard Global Research & Innovation Center, a technology startup company working on biometric smartcard with R&D and Operation facility based out of Bayan Lepas, Penang. He has held various senior management roles in manufacturing in different industry that includes General Manager SAM E&E and Operations Manager in Jabil Circuit. He has also been involved as co-founder in multiple technology startup companies. He obtained his bachelor’s degree (B. Eng (Hons) In Electrical & Electronics) at Nottingham Trent University, United Kingdom and is currently pursuing his Doctorate in Business Administration in Wawasan Open University. He is a Professional Engineer and Fellow of Institution of Engineers, Malaysia, a senior member of IEEE and an Associate Fellow of ASEAN Academy of Engineering and Technology (AAET).

Moderator's Profile:

Andy Chen is a partner of REDDS Venture Investment partners which empower disruptive start-ups that scale worldwide and have billion dollars plus potential through team building, global business development, financing, mentoring, and strategy. Andy is the President & CEO of a global consulting firm. The firm’s principle business is to provide consulting services for utility industry worldwide. Andy is a senior business advisor for several leading global consulting firms and enterprise software vendors. Andy held the position of the Chief Technology Officer and Vice President, Enterprise Strategy and Architecture of the largest Canadian-based electricity generator. He also served as the chair of ABB International User Board of Directors.