Keynote Abstract

Opening Address 

PROFESSOR YEO KIAT SENG
Associate Provost, Research and International Relations, Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD)

Professor Yeo Kiat Seng received the BEng (EE) in 1993, and PhD (EE) in 1996 both from Nanyang Technological University (NTU). Associate Provost for Research and International Relations at Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), Professor Yeo is a widely known authority in low-power RF/mm-wave IC design and a recognised expert in CMOS technology. Before his appointment at SUTD, he was Associate Chair (Research), Head of Division of Circuits and Systems, Sub-Dean (Student Affairs) and Founding Director of VIRTUS, IC Design Centre of Excellence at the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, NTU.

He has published 9 books, 7 book chapters, over 600 international top-tier refereed journal and conference papers and holds 38 patents. Professor Yeo holds/held key positions in many international conferences as Advisor, General Chair, Co-General Chair and Technical Chair. He was awarded the Public Administration Medal (Bronze) on National Day 2009 by the President of the Republic of Singapore and the Nanyang Alumni Achievement Award in 2009 for his outstanding contributions to the university and society. Professor Yeo is an IEEE Fellow for his contributions to low-power integrated circuit design.

Building SCM Resilience in the De-Globalisation Age

• Evolution of Globalisation
• Consequence of US-China Trade War: De-Coupling & De-Centralised
• Strategy Response to Globalisation 3.0

MR CHANEY HO
Co-Founder and Executive Director of Board of Advantech Co. Ltd
and
Advisor, Singapore Mentorship Committee (SMC)

As the co-founder and executive director of the board of Advantech, Chaney Ho is in charge of the company’s global sales and marketing strategies. He is also leading the company in its new branding mission toward “Enabling an Intelligent Planet". As a result of his leadership, Advantech has received recognition through the years from the prestigious brand-consulting firm Interbrand as one of the Top 5 Taiwan Global Brands in 2018.

Through his long experience in the company, Chaney has built a reputation as a leader in sales and marketing strategies, and in building global brand recognition. While leading Advantech Greater China, Chaney devised a deep penetration marketing strategy for the Chinese market, and achieved double-digit growth year after year. Now the greater Chinese market (including China and Taiwan) accounts for 30% of Advantech’s revenue. In 2010, after Chaney took over the Advantech president’s role, he participated in the planning of Advantech's current vision for "Enabling an Intelligent Planet" which sped up Advantech's entry into the Internet of Things (IoT) era. Chaney also led the Sector-Lead transformation of Advantech’s organisation so as to help it transform from a product-oriented to an industry-oriented business.

Chaney was born in 1954 and graduated from Tatung University in Taiwan, landing his first job with HP Taiwan. He started off as an engineer, and worked his way up to become a manager. Prior to Advantech, he worked as the general manager of Inalways Corporation. Under his management, Inalways successfully made its IPO on the OTC market in 1999, and was awarded the National Small & Medium Enterprise Award by the government. Chaney later won personal recognition, receiving the Small & Medium Enterprise (SME) Professional – General Manager Award, for his management performance with Inalways.

Chaney believes that talent is an enterprise’s most valuable asset, and he likens himself to a coach for young and upcoming talent. He hopes to continue to guide newer employees, sharing insights gained from thirty years of experience. He also makes speeches in EMBA programs and university courses to bring business management knowledge and experience to the campus, where he hopes his senior management experience can become a role model for future campus course design.

Reimagining Unicorns of the Future

The emergence of big-name unicorns like Carousell, Grab, Lazada, Razer, MoneySmart and Trax have undoubtedly played a critical node in the new economy. As innovation enablers, they have pushed the frontiers of entrepreneurism and discovery in diverse fields. Today’s startups are quite different, not from what it was ten, but even five years ago. They are literally global as soon as they are born and the sky is the limit.

Join in this talk as Dr David Ong shares his insights into the success factors to nurture a new generation of innovators to catalyse the growth of a vibrant startup ecosystem in close partnership with universities. This will set a stronger footing to grow the startups of today to become unicorns of tomorrow.


DR DAVID ONG
Senior Partner, Naef Group Spiele AG
and
Chairman, Singapore Mentorship Committee (SMC)

An ecosystem builder with over 30 years of global academic, professional, and business acumen gained over an illustrious career, Dr David Ong leverages his deep understanding of the mechanics behind the Asian region to guide startups and SMEs’ expansion plans into new markets.
 
Dr Ong is also a strategic advisor and investor at various companies across environmental treatment, semiconductor manufacturing, Smart City, education, and information technologies. He holds several leadership positions in the public and private sectors, such as Chairman of SingCham Mentorship Committee (SMC), Vice-Chair at the Singapore Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China and Director of SICC's Board of Directors.
 
With his rich expertise in the China market, Dr Ong is a renowned guest speaker at international forums, summits and corporate seminars in global companies including US, North Asia, and Israel as well as educational institutions and organisations on doing business effectively in China and Southeast Asia.
 
Dr Ong received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering (Robotics) from Texas A&M University and an Executive Masters in Finance from the City University of New York. In 2009, he completed the Advanced Research Program of Chinese Philosophy from Beijing University.

The Rise of Self-Reconfigurable Maintenance Robots

Self-reconfigurable robots are intelligent machines capable of autonomously changing their kinematic morphologies to overcome complexities in the traversing environment or task being handled. Their promise of a high degree of versatility, robustness, and modularity is set to open up a wide range of new applications for robots. However, developing these robots are highly challenging. While some progress has been achieved, there are still many open issues.

In this talk, I will share our ongoing efforts at the Singapore University of Technology and Design towards the design, development and deployment of self-reconfigurable robots using a well-defined set of deployment use cases in the maintenance domain. I will also provide an insight into our concerted efforts being a catalyst to inspire an ecosystem of Singapore based robotic startups in non-conflicting and niche domains.


ASSISTANT PROFESSOR MOHAN RAJESH ELARA
Engineering Product Development, Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD)

Mohan is currently an Assistant Professor with the Engineering Product Development Pillar at Singapore University of Technology and Design. He received his PhD and MSc degrees from the Nanyang Technological University. His research interests are in robotics with an emphasis on self-reconfigurable platforms as well as research problems related to robot ergonomics and autonomous systems. He has published more than 150 papers in leading journals, books, and conferences. Mohan is currently serving as an Associate Editor of the IEEE Robotics & Automation Letters and IEEE Nanotechnology Magazine. He is the recipient of the SG Mark Design, ASEE Best of Design in Engineering Award, Tan Kah Kee Young Inventors’ Award and A’ Design award. He is the co-founder of Lionsbot and Oceania Robotics, robotics companies that develop a wide range of autonomous robots for specialised niche industries. He is also a visiting faculty member of the International Design Institute at Zhejiang University, China. He has served in various positions of organising and technical committees of several international competitions and conferences.