East Tech West is an invite-only retreat held in Nansha, Guangzhou. Part of the Greater Bay Area, which is aiming to develop into a global hub of technological innovation, the event brought together those at the cutting edge of the technology industry and leading investors from across the world.

CNBC’s award winning reporters hosted panels, fire-side chats and workshops addressing how the world of technology is evolving.

Exploring everything from Artificial Intelligence to Blockchain, and much like our other headline events, such as Delivering Alpha, we broadcast live from the event and provide immersive reporting digitally on CNBC.com.

The guest list at East Tech West is curated to ensure the three day event is not only a catalyst for thought provoking debate and discussion, but also a fantastic networking opportunity.

Speakers

Pavel Bains

Pavel Bains is the CEO of Bluzelle - the decentralized database for the new internet. Pavel is an expert in digital media having worked with Disney, Microsoft, Warners Bros, DreamWorks. Pavel is also a frequent contributor to Forbes, Huffington Post and Fast Company, writing articles in the areas of finance and digital media. In less than one year Pavel led Bluzelle to doing projects with the world’s biggest banks to being named Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum to becoming one of the most influential blockchain projects in the world.

Jim Breyer

Jim is the Founder and CEO of Breyer Capital, a global venture capital firm based in Menlo Park, CA. Jim has been an investor in over 40 consumer internet/technology companies that have completed successful public offerings or mergers, including Facebook, Etsy, Legendary, Datalogix and Marvel Entertainment. As a lead investor and/or board member, Jim has assisted teams at over a dozen companies complete IPOs. Several of his investments have returned to investors over 100 times their cost, and over a dozen more have returned over 25 times cost.

Over the past several years, Jim has developed a deep personal and investment interest in long-term oriented entrepreneurs and teams working in artificial intelligence (AI) and human assisted intelligence (HAI) and he has made numerous investments in this space.

Jim also has a long track record of investing in China and partnering with Chinese entrepreneurs, including through Breyer Capital’s major limited partnership with IDG Capital, a premier technology venture capital firm based in Beijing. Jim has been actively involved with IDG China for well over a decade and currently plays the leading outside strategic advisory role for the firm. IDG’s investments in China include Xiaomi, Baidu and Tencent, among others.

Jim currently serves on the board of directors of Blackstone and 21st Century Fox, where he is Chairman of the Compensation Committee and a member of the Nominating Committee. Jim served on Facebook’s board from 2005 to 2013 after leading the company’s Series A funding round. He served on Etsy’s board from 2008 to 2016 and was the company’s largest outside shareholder at the time of its IPO in 2015. Notably, Etsy is one of the first B Corporations to successfully go public and continue to grow significantly post-offering.

Jim was the lead investor for Legendary Entertainment’s first funding round and served as a board member until its acquisition by Dalian Wanda in March 2016. He was also an investor and board member of Marvel Entertainment through its acquisition by Disney in 2009. Jim’s other board memberships include Wal-Mart, where he served for
over a decade and was the lead independent director until his retirement in 2013, and Dell Inc., where he was a director through the company’s $24 billion take-private in 2013.

Jim is passionate about philanthropy and applying venture philanthropy and innovation models to areas such as education, the arts, and environmental sustainability. Jim is a Fellow of Harvard Corporation, Harvard’s senior governing board; a member of Harvard Business School’s Board of Dean’s Advisors since 2001; a member of Harvard University’s Global Advisory Council since inception; a founding member of the Dean’s Advisory Board at Stanford’s School of Engineering; Chairman of the Stanford Engineering Venture Fund; and Chairman of the Advisory Board at the Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management. He is passionate about the Breyer Center at Stanford-in-Florence and is a former Trustee of Menlo School (a grade 6-12 school in Atherton, CA).

In addition, Jim is a long-time Trustee of SFMOMA, The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the American Film Institute (AFI) in Los Angeles. He is actively involved in The Environmental Defense Fund and Stanford’s Center for Philanthropy and Civil Society (PACS).

Jim began his career at Accel, where he was a partner for nearly three decades and served as Managing Partner.

He also co-founded AKKR, a joint venture between Accel and KKR in 2000. Jim graduated from Stanford University with a BS degree, and from Harvard University with an MBA, where he was named a Baker Scholar.

Catherine Cai

Catherine Cai is the Chairman of UBS's Greater China investment banking arm.

Derek Chang

As CEO of NBA China, Derek Chang oversees all of the league’s basketball and business development in China, including television, digital media, marketing partnerships, social responsibility, events, communications and new initiatives.  He leads a staff based in the NBA's Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei and Hong Kong offices.
Chang and his team work on continuing to expand the NBA’s presence in China and establishing it as the preeminent sports league in the country.  The league’s 32-year partnership with China Central Television (CCTV), groundbreaking collaboration with Tencent – the NBA’s largest international digital partnership – and basketball development work with the Chinese Basketball Association and the Chinese Ministry of Education have all fueled the growth of the NBA throughout the country. 

Chang was appointed to the position in April 2018 by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver after leading and managing global media brands for more than 20 years.  He was most recently the Head of International Lifestyle Channels at Scripps Networks Interactive based first in Singapore and then London, where he directed the international expansion of Scripps’ lifestyle brands.

Prior to Scripps, Chang was Executive Vice President of Content Strategy and Development at DIRECTV, where he oversaw all content acquisition and production. He previously held senior executive positions with Charter Communications, the YES Network and TCI Communications.  He also served on the board of directors of Starz after its public spin-off in 2013.

Chang holds an MBA from Stanford University and a bachelor’s degree in history from Yale University.  He was named one of Cablefax Magazine’s “Top 100 Executives in Cable” and one of the “50 Most Influential People in Sports Business” by Sports Business Journal.

Chang and his wife, Katherine, have two daughters.

Xiaodong Chen

Mr. Xiaodong Chen has been the Chief Executive Officer of Intime Retail (Group) Company Limited, since January 6, 2009. Mr. Chen has been the President of Intime Retail (Group) Company Limited since January 2009. He is responsible for the overall management of Intime Retail (Group) Company Limited. He has been an Executive Director at Intime Retail (Group) Company Limited since June 7, 2011. He served as Chief Operating Officer of Intime Retail (Group) Company Limited from July 2007 to January 2009 and served as its Vice President since February 2007. Mr. Chen has extensive experience in the department store industry, financial management and capital markets. He served as Chief Financial Officer of Intime Retail (Group) Company Limited since February 2007.

Mr. Chen served as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Intime Retail (Group) Company Limited since November 2006. He has more than ten years of experience in financial management and capital markets. He served as President of Science City Development Public Co., Ltd. from October 2004 to November 2008. He served as an Assistant General Manager of the Investment Management Department of China Everbright Holdings Company Limited from May 2001 to August 2004. He served as Vice Chairman of Science City Development Public Co., Ltd. from October 2004 to November 2008. Mr. Chen serves as a Director of Wenling Intime Properties Limited. He served as a Director of Baida Group Company Limited from May 2008 to May 2011. Mr. Chen has a Bachelor degree in Economics from Zhongshan University and a Master degree in Business Administration from Murdoch University, Australia.

Alain Crozier

Alain Crozier is corporate vice-president, chairman and chief executive officer of Microsoft Greater China Region (GCR).

Crozier is responsible for the strategic and operational leadership covering all of Microsoft’s product, service and support offerings across Greater China and continuing the company’s transformation into the leading productivity and platform company for the mobile-first, cloud-first era.

Since joining Microsoft in 1994, Crozier has held a variety of business leadership roles in the Sales, Marketing and Services Group (SMSG) organization including president of Microsoft France, Finance & Administration director of the France subsidiary, regional controller for the Americas and South Pacific region, and worldwide sales controller before being promoted to SMSG CFO.

As corporate vice-president and chief financial officer (CFO) of the Sales, Marketing and Services Group at Microsoft, Crozier was responsible for the financial leadership of a worldwide organization of 46,000 employees located in over 100 countries, which included overseeing financial and strategic planning, reporting and analysis, controls and compliance, and financial and business performance management.

Prior to joining Microsoft, Crozier was Finance, Planning & Analysis manager at Lesieur Alimentaire, a subsidiary of Eridania Beghin Say in Paris. He also held several audit and finance positions within Lesieur Alimentaire. Crozier started his career at Peat Marwick Consultants in Paris, where he specialized in planning process design, functional reorganizations and process reengineering.

Crozier graduated from University Claude Bernard with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and social sciences, and from the Institut Superieur de Gestion in Paris with a Business Administration degree.

Crozier is married and has twins. In his spare time, he enjoys photography, traveling with his family, skiing, soccer and discovering new wines from around the world.

Guy Diedrich

Guy Diedrich 博士是思科系统副总裁兼全球创新官,也是全球国家数字加速计划负责人。目前,他正与欧洲、中东、亚洲与美洲多国的政府领导与行业领袖开展合作,共同推进公私有领域数字化进程,致力于增加GDP、创造数百万个就业机会以及进一步发展可持续创新生态系统。在加入思科系统前,Guy Diedrich 博士是得克萨斯州A&M大学副校长,负责研究、商业化、联邦政府关系、州政府关系与战略计划等多项工作。
 
而在此之前,Diedrich 博士曾联合创办了一家软件开发与咨询公司 GRA Inc.,并在其中任总裁兼CEO 职务,带领公司从新兴初创企业逐步发展为麾下拥有逾 130 位专业员工的优质企业。该公司如今已为一家公开交易类科技公司收购。

Duo Yuan

Mr. Duo Yuan is the founder and chairman of Blue Stone Asset Management, one of the largest private equity fund companies in China. The company focuses on fixed income investments and absolute income products. Its business covers bond investment and sales transactions, trust investment plans, commodity futures, hedge funds and other frontier areas. The total asset under its management is above 20 billion RMB, making it a top-tier player in this industry.

Mr. Duo Yuan is the core founder of CICC's investment trading business and one of the founders of BOC's fixed income business. He has established the overall investment transaction business of CICC FICC, localized the Wall Street investment system and concept, and constantly explored the path of sustainable investment with beyond-the-market returns.

In terms of investment strategy, the team led by Mr. Duo count on macro research and corporate credit research to pursue long-term and steady investment returns; the team also demonstrate great strength in market analysis and forecasting, especially in areas such as macro economy, interest rate trend, capital supply and demand, credit risk status, and securities market trends.

Mr. Duo Yuan has won many awards such as The China Bond Club Outstanding Person Award in Ten Years and China's Best Private Equity Investment Fund Manager.

Mr. Duo Yuan holds a master's degree from School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University, and a bachelor's degree from School of Management, Fudan University.

Ziyang Fan

Ziyang Fan is an attorney and policy-maker with over a decade of experience from both the public and private sectors, with a focus in the Asia Pacific region. Expert in digital trade, e-commerce, cross-border data flows, sharing economy, and TradeTech. Former positions include Senior Legal Counsel, Airbnb; Assistant General Counsel, US Trade and Development Agency; and Corporate Associate, law firm of Shearman & Sterling.

Currently runs the Digital Trade programme at the World Economic Forum Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution in San Francisco. Undergraduate degree, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Juris Doctor degree, George Washington University Law School. Speaks fluent Chinese.

Discus Fish

Discus Fish is the CEO and co-founder of Cobo, one of the first secure wallets in the world to offer Proof-of-Stake and masternode rewards on user holdings. At Cobo, he heads corporate strategy, product design, and marketing.

One of China’s earliest cryptocurrency pioneers, Discus wrote the very first Chinese-language mining tutorial and led the development of the 24-hour settlement protocol. He also co-founded F2Pool, now the world’s largest mining pool of integrated digital currencies, and also directed the development of the Silver Fish Scrypt ASIC Miner. Having played a significant role in establishing China’s mining presence on the world stage, Discus continues to be a thought leader for China’s cryptocurrency entrepreneurs.

Jixun Foo

Jixun has over 20 years experience in venture capital investing and has worked with many successful entrepreneurs. He led GGV’s investments in Qunar (NASDAQ:QUNR), Youku-Tudou (NYSE:YOKU), UCWeb, Didi Chuxing, Mogujie-Meilishuo, MediaV, and currently serves on the boards of Aiwujiwu, GrabTaxi, Tujia, Douguo and Diandian Yangche. Jixun also played a critical role in many key strategic M&As, such as Youku-Tudou (first ever multibillion-dollar tech merger in China), Baidu/Qunar, Ctrip/Qunar, and Mogujie/Meilishuo.

Freeman Hui Shen

Mr. Freeman Hui Shen is the Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman at WM Motor Technology Co., Ltd. He served as Corporate Vice President at Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., Ltd. since December 1, 2009. Mr. Shen served as the Head of China Operations of Volvo Car Corporation since January 1, 2011. He served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Geely Zhaoyuan International where he played a role in Geely's acquisition and integration of the Volvo Car Corp. He served as Senior Vice President of China Operations at Volvo Cars NV. He served as Senior Vice President of China Operations at Volvo Car UK Limited until March 2013. Prior to joining Geely Group, he served as the Chief Executive Officer of Fiat Powertrain Technologies China. He served as Vice President of Fiat Group China. He held the topest position as a Chinese in Fiat Group history. He served as President of BorgWarner China at BorgWarner Inc. since December 2004. He served as Country Manager of China and Incharge of Shanghai office of Borgwarner Inc.

Before joining Fiat Group, Mr. Shen worked for Global 500 Companies from North America and Europe, including TXU Group, Eaton Corporation and BorgWarner Inc. The executive positions include Project Manager in US headquarters, Deputy Plant Manager in US manufacturing plant, managing director of JV companies and wholly-owned companies in China, General Manager of Asia for business unit, President for China and board members for several JV and wholly-owned companies etc. During his tenure with Fiat Group, he has contributed significantly to the rapid growth of Fiat Group in China. Previously, he served as Director of Operations - Asia for BorgWarner Emissions/Thermal Systems in Ningbo, China. Mr. Shen served as Chairman or board member for Fiat Group's JV or wholly owned companies in Chongqing, Hangzhou and Shanghai. He has been a Member of Asian Advisory Board at Pinnacle Engines, Inc., since May 2014. He serves as a Director of Volvo Car Corporation. Mr. Shen served as a Director of Fiat Group China. He also was the member of Steering Committee of Fiat global organization. Mr. Shen was one of the very few Chinese returnees who worked in overseas as senior executives, not just engineers or technology management.

He spent long time in working for European companies or the European division of US companies. He started his managerial career in US and he developed a very rich experience in many functions, especially for cross culture management, international operations and business development. Being a very active and well-known member of the community and the industry. Mr. Shen also received many awards, such as Zhejiang Province Camellia Award, the Honorary Citizenship of Ningbo Municipal, Zhejiang Province, Ten Outstanding Youth of Ningbo Municipal etc. He was also elected as one of the runners for 2008 Beijing Olympic Torch Relay. Mr. Shen holds a Bachelor Degree and a Master Degree in Engineering Mechanics and Structural Engineering from the South China University of Technology and from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) respectively and a Master Degree in Business Administration from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota in US.

Ben Harburg

Ben Harburg is a Managing Partner of MSA Capital, a Beijing based venture capital firm with over $1.5b under management. The firm focuses on investments in the consumer internet, mobility, and life sciences sectors. Notable portfolio companies include Meituan (3690.HK), NIO (NYSE:NIO), BGI (300676.SZ), Pintec, Zhaogang, Mobike (Acq: Meituan), Raven Tech (Acq: Baidu), Xiao Zhu, Kanzhun, and Uber.   

Prior to MSA, he co-founded one of Asia’s largest physical energy trading companies and worked for The Boston Consulting Group.

He was a Fulbright Scholar at Freie University Berlin. He was a Neubauer Scholar at Tufts University and sits on the Board of Advisors of the School of Arts & Sciences.

Mikkel Hippe Brun

Mikkel Hippe Brun is Co-Founder of Tradeshift, and he has a long and extensive experience with the Chinese market. He became Tradeshift's Senior Vice President of APAC and GM for its local research & development centre in Suzhou in 2013. Since then, he has been leading the fast-growing team and traveling to China multiple times a year to expand the customer and partner network Tradeshift has in China. Prior to Tradeshift, he was the Chief Consultant and IT-architect at the Division for IT-Infrastructure and Implementation at the Danish IT and Telecom Agency. Here he was appointed the Technical Director of the PEPPOL-project (Pan European Public Procurement Online) with responsibility for the development and specification of the PEPPOL infrastructure.

Hu Wen

As COO, Harry oversees strategy and operations including business development, public relations, and investor relations. Prior to joining Pony.ai, Harry was the TMT team lead of ICBC International, the investment arm of ICBC. He has also served as CFO and VP of QKM Robotics (DJI’s sister company). Harry began his career in finance, working in capital markets at both Merrill Lynch and UBS. Harry currently sits on the board of several robotics and AI-powered companies, and serves as a mentor for the MIT Innovation Initiative in Hong Kong.

Harry holds an MS from MIT Sloan School of Management.

Jay Li

Jay Li was born and raised in Shanghai, China and educated in the United States. Jay joined WWE as Vice President and Greater China GM in April of 2016. Prior to WWE, Jay was the Greater China GM for Skullcandy Inc for four years where he helped launch the brand in China.  Jay also worked for the Chinese sporting goods giant Li Ning, as the General Manager of International Division, head of Footwear as well as head of Li Ning’s Global Innovation Center.  Jay also served as a board member of the World Federation of Sporting Good Industries (WFSGI).  Previously, Jay was a management consultant and his prior employers included IBM Business Consulting Services, Price Waterhouse and Coopers Consulting, and Accenture.  He has worked extensively in both China and in the US.  Jay received his Bachelor of Arts degree in International Politics and Economics from Middlebury College. 

Jun Yang

Mr. Jun Yang is the co-founder and has served as the Company’s Chief Technology Officer since its inception and a director since the IPO. Mr. Yang is responsible for Dada’s technology, products, data, and corporate strategies. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Yang served as the head of growth engineering team at Square Inc. from 2014 to 2015, where he was responsible for user growth strategy and implementation. Prior to that, he was engineering manager at Facebook from 2010 to 2014, where he worked on user growth and ads optimization, and was an engineer at Google from 2008 to 2009. Mr. Yang received B.S. in computer science from Zhejiang University, and M.S. and Ph.D degree in computer science from Carnegie Mellon University.

Dada Group is a leading platform of local on-demand retail and delivery in China. It operates JDDJ, one of China's largest local on-demand retail platforms for retailers and brand owners, and Dada Now, a leading local on-demand delivery platform open to merchants and individual senders across various industries and product categories. The Company's two platforms are inter-connected and mutually beneficial. The Dada Now platform enables an improved delivery experience for participants on the JDDJ platform through its readily accessible fulfilment solutions and strong on-demand delivery infrastructure. Meanwhile, the vast volume of on-demand delivery orders from the JDDJ platform increases order volume and density for the Dada Now platform. In June 2020, Dada Group began trading on the Nasdaq Global Market, under the ticker symbol "DADA."

Imran Khan

Imran Khan is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Verishop, an e-commerce company built with the mission to help its brand partners thrive. Prior to that, Imran served as Snap Inc.’s Chief Strategy Officer, where he oversaw the company’s corporate strategy, revenue generation, business operations and partnerships. Under his leadership, Snap’s annual revenue run rate increased to $1.2 billion from zero in less than four years.

Previously, Imran was a Managing Director and Head of Global Internet Investment Banking at Credit Suisse where he advised on more than $45 billion-worth of Internet M&A and financing transactions. Before joining Credit Suisse, Imran held the role of Managing Director and Head of Global Internet Research at JPMorgan Chase.

Henry Liu

Dr. Henry Liu is DiDi’s VP and Chief Scientist on Smart Transportation, in charge of DiDi’s Urban Transportation Business Unit. He is also a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Dr. Liu received his Ph.D. degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 2000 and his Bachelor degree in Automotive Engineering from Tsinghua University (China) in 1993.

Dr. Liu’s research interests focus on transportation network monitoring, modeling, and control, as well as mobility and safety applications with connected and automated vehicles. On these topics, he has published more than 80 refereed journal articles.

Dr. Liu is the managing editor of Journal of Intelligent Transportation Systems, and an associate editor of Transportation Research Part C, Network and Spatial Economics, and Transportmetrica Part B.

Leo Gang Liu

Mr. Leo Liu is Vice President of SenseTime and General Manager of SenseTime’s Shenzhen Office. He is responsible for SenseTime’s overall business operations including business development, sales activities, partnership management and technical support.

Leo held various senior management positions in several big technology companies, overseeing businesses in China. Prior to joining SenseTime, Leo was Chief Executive Officer of Maoye Communications Networks Company. During 2004 to 2015, he served as Director of Business Development at Oracle, Vice President of Sales at SAP and General Manager at Microsoft Regional Strategic Business Unit.

Leo holds an EMBA degree from Tsinghua University, a master’s degree from University of International Business and Economics and a bachelor’s degree from Beijing Industrial and Business University.

Xing Liu

Mr. Xing Liu serves as Partner and Managing Director of Sequoia Capital China. Mr. Liu joinied Sequoia Capital China in 2007. He specializes on seed, early stage and growth stage companies in the consumer, outsourcing and internet of things sector. He has over nine years of work experience in investment banking, technology, product development and consulting at Merrill Lynch, Xerox and GlobalSight. Mr. Liu serves on the board of directors of various Sequoia Capital China portfolio companies. He has been an Independent Director of Vipshop Holdings Limited since January 2011.

He has been a Director of ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc./ZTO Express Inc. since 2013 and China Online Education Group since July 2014. He serves as a Director of Wangzhu Group. Mr. Liu holds an M.B.A. from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 2004, an M.S. in Computer Engineering from Syracuse University in 1995 and a B.S. in Management Information Systems from Fudan University in 1992.

Cindy Mi

Recognized as an educator and entrepreneur, Cindy Mi is the Founder and CEO of VIPKid, an education technology company that connects students (ages 4-12) in China with the world’s best teachers for real-time online English immersion learning.

Fast Company named VIPKid the #29 Most Innovative Company in the World 2018 and the #2 Most Innovative Company in China 2018.

Cindy was selected to join the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders Class of 2018. The SCMP named Cindy as one of the “2018 Who’s Who of Women Leaders in China’s Tech Industry.” Cindy was named by Forbes Asia as one of the “2018 Forbes Emergent 25: The Women Making Their Mark in Asia's Enterprises.”

Cindy has spoken at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco and at Y Combinator’s Startup School at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

Cindy is regularly featured in the Chinese media and has also been featured by Fast Company, CNBC, Bloomberg, Financial Times,TechCrunch and others.

Cindy was appointed as a board member of the Board of Directors of Beijing Foreign Studies University in 2017. In 2018, Cindy joined the Whittle School & Studios’ Academic Advisory Board.

Cindy earned her MBA from CKGSB.

Zhang Mo

Zhang Mo is the founder & CEO of Computer Vision Engine, Yi+AI. She previously worked at Huawei, Microsoft, and IBM. She has a Masters in software engineering, from Peking University, and a Masters in Business Innovation from Nanyang Technological University. Yi+AI was founded in Silicon Valley and Singapore in 2013, and established in China in June 2014. In 2017, Zhang Mo was named the “Top 10 Women Entrepreneurs in the World” by Global Women Entrepreneurs Conference.

Yi+ (北京陌上花科技有限公司) is leading service provider of Computer Vision, providing intelligent visual content and commercialized solutions for enterprises, focusing on “Digging the value of Visual information”.

At present, Yi+ depends on the experience of facial, object, and scene detection; recognition, searching, and recommendation technology; to distribute video media, smart TV, smart camera, broadcast television system, and many other fields.

Yi+ provides the solutions for “TV+AI”, “Camera+AI”, “Marketing+AI”, “New retail”, “Smart City”, etc, based on data structural product of visual recognition technology, to achieve intelligent analysis, interactive content and scene marketing. Moreover, Yi+ helps many top enterprises to provide service for hundreds of millions users.

Qiang Yang

Qiang Yang is a chair professor at Computer Science and Engineering Department at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). 

His research interests are artificial intelligence, machine learning, data mining and planning. He is a fellow of AAAI, ACM, IEEE, IAPR, AAAS and CAAI.  He received his PhD from the Department of Computer Science at the University of Maryland, College Park in 1989 and had been a faculty member at the University of Waterloo between 1989 and 1995. He had been the founding director of the Huawei's Noah's Ark Research Lab between 2012 and 2015 and the founding director of HKUST’s Big Data Institute. He was the head of the Computer Science and Engineering Department from 2015 to 2017. He was the founding Editor in Chief of the ACM Transactions on Intelligent Systems and Technology (ACM TIST) and the founding Editor in Chief of IEEE Transactions on Big Data (IEEE TBD). He received the ACM SIGKDD Distinguished Service Award in 2017. He is currently the President of IJCAI (2017-2019) and an executive council member of AAAI.

Xin Song

Mr. Xin Song, the Co-founder & CEO of Bottos, is dedicated to build up Bottos, the new AI ecosystem based on blockchain, which will offer brand-new imagination and original power to the future of AI industry via global quality data circulation.

As one of the pioneers applying big data and AI technology to improve traditional industries in China, Mr. Xin Song has 13-year-experience in corporate digitization strategy, operation and restructure field. When Xin worked as a consulting professional for Accenture and the head of Droege Group China, one of Germany's largest family-owned investment groups, he helped dozens of European and Chinese traditional companies to achieve their Internet and digital transformation. He also successfully led the transformation of the Internet and AI of the US personal insurance business unit of Liberty Mutual Insurance, the third largest property insurance company in the United States.

Mr. Xin Song holds a Master of Business Administration from Georgetown University in the United States and a Bachelor of Management Information Systems from Shanghai University of Finance and Economics.

Haiyan Song

Haiyan Song has been with Splunk since 2014 and currently serves as their Senior Vice President, Security Markets. From 2012 to 2014, Ms. Song served as Vice President and General Manager of HP ArcSight, a security and compliance management company previously acquired by Hewlett-Packard Company. From 2005 to 2012, Ms. Song served as Vice President of Engineering at ArcSight. Ms. Song previously served as Vice President of Engineering at SenSage, an event data warehousing company, from 2004 to 2005. Ms. Song started her career at IBM/Informix, a database software company.

Ms. Song is one of the thought leaders of the cyber security industry in the US. Ms Song is named Top 50 most powerful women in Technology in 2016, 2017 and 2018. Ms. Song holds a M.S. from Florida Atlantic University and studied Computer Science in Tsinghua University in China.

Anselmo Teng

Mr. Teng joined the Monetary Authority of Macao (AMCM) in 1991. He was appointed as a member of the Board of Directors of AMCM in 1997. In 1999, he was appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors and had stayed in that position until his retirement in August 2017. Mr. Teng held other positions in bodies serving the community. He was previously a member of the Economic Development Committee of the Government of the Macao Special Administrative Region and a member of the Consultative Committee of Macao Pension Fund. He was also the President of the Assembly of the Institute of Financial Services of Macao, as well as the Chairman of the Audit Committee of the Institute of European Studies. Mr. Teng is also a fellow of the Hong Kong Institute of Bankers.

Jim Wang

Born in Kaohsiung, Taiwan in 1969, Jim Wang has served as Chairman and CEO of China Baodao Glasses Group since 2010. In 2012, Jim established Nova Vision Group with its mission of "Better vision, Better life", positioned as "Optometry Visual Group", and provided one stop service for preventive medicine care, diagnosis and treatment, and optical services. The Group was awarded the “Asian Top 500 Brand” by the international organization super brand in 2016. In 2017, it was awarded the “2017 Outstanding Brand Image Award” by the China Finance Summit and the “2017 China Annual Impact Brand Award” by the State Council Research Foundation. In 2018, it was awarded the "2018 China Retail Technology Innovation Award" issued by the China Chain Store & Franchise Association and the "Transformation Enterprise Award" issued by China International Big Data Industry Expo.

The Nova Vision Group owns brands including Baodao Glasses, Jingcl, MILANNO, Nova Vision Optometry, Nova Vision Centre, Nova Vision Clinic and Nova Optometric Industry Research Institute(NOIRI). Among them, Baodao Glasses has more than 1,200 stores in 200 cities in Mainland China, which has become China's largest optical retail company.

In 2013, the Group implemented the specialization strategy and trained 1,300 full-time optometrists to improve the cornerstone of optometry talents. It was invited to join the Shanghai Optical Standards Committee and participated in the formulation of several national industry standards. In addition, Jim Wang graduated from the University of California at Berkeley's Haas Business School, the University of Sydney MBA, embraced innovative business thinking, and exchanged omni-channel and new retail trends with business tycoons, which became the first in the optical industry to promote the "digital" strategy.

In 2018, the Group promoted the transformation from optical industry to the optometry medical service industry, introduced the famous AI technology company Airdoc's chronic disease identification algorithm, and matched the fundus camera to screen consumers for the risk of chronic diseases. Moreover the group co-established Baodao Glasses Optometry College with esteemed Tianjin Medical College Jim Wang is now the deputy director and expert member of the Enterprise Information Strategy and Innovation Research Center of Guanghua School of Management, Peking University, deputy director of the Chain Brand Strategy Institute of Shanghai Jiaotong University, special experts of the China Retail Technology Innovation Center of China Chain Management Association, Visiting professor of the Tianjin Medical University, School of Optometry.

Jay WenJie Xiao

Mr. Jay Wenjie Xiao is the founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of LexinFintech. Mr. Xiao has over 10 years of experience in the online finance industry. Prior to founding our company, Mr. Xiao served as product manager in the infrastructure platform department of Tenpay, a leading online payment platform in China owned by Tencent, and was responsible for product development and operations. Mr. Xiao received his bachelor's degree in design from Nanchang Hangkong University in 2005.

Edith Yeung

Selected by Inc's Magazine as one of the Silicon Valley investors you must know, Edith Yeung is the head of 500 Startups Greater China and partner of 500 Mobile Collective Fund. She invests in mobile, AI, education and blockchain startups, including Stellar, Nebulas, Hooked, DayDayCook, Silk Labs (acquired by Apple), Fleksy (acquired by Pinterest), Human (acquired by Mapbox), AISense, Penrose, Cryworks, Piper, Apptopia, Palantir and many more.

Before 500, Edith ran marketing for Dolphin Browser, a Sequoia-backed mobile browser with over 150 million installs worldwide. Edith also worked with many Fortune 500 companies such as Siebel, Oracle, AMS, AT&T Wireless and Autodesk.

Richard Young

Richard joined the NFL as Managing Director of NFL China on December 1st 2010. He has more than 25 years of experience in sports event management, sales, and marketing with a strong focus in media rights and market strategy.

His previous work experience in China includes driving a Chinese media joint venture partnership responsible for launching China’s first nationwide HD sports channel; and founding The Young Company, which provided consulting services in production, distribution and media rights in China for leading sports leagues, broadcasters and commercial sponsors.

Prior to living in China, Richard worked at ESPN STAR Sports as Vice President of the Event Management Group and Programming Development, where he managed over 100 events in 13 different countries over 8 years across Asia. His management experience also includes a number of years in Taipei managing Sports International, Entertainment Plus Ltd when it was the largest professional sports management group in Taiwan. Richard has managed over 150 professional tournaments in 10 different sports throughout his career.

Richard was a student at Beijing Normal University in 1990. After graduating Cum Laude from Boston University with a double major in International Relations and East Asian Studies, Richard earned his MBA from the University of Chicago. He speaks, reads and writes Mandarin Chinese.

A native of Sedona, Arizona, Richard currently resides in Shanghai with his wife and two children.

AGENDA

DAY 1: November 27

1:00pm - 2:00pm

Welcome Lunch

2:00pm - 3:40pm

Session 1: Setting the Scene and Tech Disruptors

As Technology has advanced, transport links have formed and the opportunity for international growth has developed. Welcome to East Tech West. Over the next three days we’ll be looking at how the world of technology is evolving and how the east is evolving into a new tech hub by exploring everything from Artificial Intelligence to Blockchain. In this section we will meet the key people behind this week’s event and the CNBC Anchors who will be guiding us through the programme.

3:40pm - 4:10pm

Coffee and Networking Break

4:10pm - 5:50pm

Session 2: Investment Outlook

We welcome some of the world’s most prolific investors and explore how the world has changed. What is the market outlook and the path ahead? Which current trends will stand the test of time and which latest innovation will provide the most significant returns?

5:50pm - 7:00pm

Poolside Welcome Drinks

7:00pm - 9:00pm

East Tech West Welcome Dinner

DAY 2: November 28

8:00am - 9:00am

Breakfast

9:00am - 10:40am

Session 3: East Meets West

The US-based company Apple cemented its dominance with a $1 trillion valuation in August. China’s Huawei, currently the world’s second-biggest smartphone producer, believes it may become the top smartphone maker by the end of 2019. Both East and West tech industries are thriving, and their success is attracting investors. However, what do investors need to know about investing in the two regions, what are the fundamental cultural differences that need to be taken into account? In the West quick launches, fast innovation and multiple products are perceived as successful. In the East, the continuous adaption of a product to be the best version of itself is considered a better investment opportunity. How do VC’S navigate these differences and where is a better investment?

10:40am - 11:10am

Coffee and Networking Break

11:10am - 1:00pm

Session 4: Tech in Society

As the population of many advanced economies age and urbanization happens faster than at any previous time in the history of mankind and cities consume three quarters of the world’s energy every year. Technology is already providing opportunities and throwing up questions on how to solve some of society’s most pressing questions. From Smart Cities to driverless cars. Technology is shaping all corners of society at a rapid pace. CNBC delves into what it knows best business and what the future of business is? Can businesses strike a healthy balance between preparing for the future, automating their processes and adequately retrain staff? What will the future of work look like and what is the effect of these fast transforming businesses models on society.

1:00pm - 2:00pm

Lunch

2:00pm - 3:40pm

Session 5: Money Talks Tech

The cashless payments revolution is underway. Financial technology is driving changes that are upending traditional banks and changing the way consumers interact with financial institutions. Digital transactions are now paving the way towards more open-ended questions on whether there can be a cashless society to allowing remittance payments to become more natural. What does the future hold for open banking, algorithm-based financial advisors, of course, the Blockchain.

3:40pm - 4:10pm

Coffee and Networking Break

4:10pm - 5:10pm

Session 6: Joint Ventures

Mergers and acquisitions had another strong year in 2017, reaching their third highest annual level since the 2008 financial crisis. Emboldened by buoyant markets, CEOs pursued deals that shook whole industries. Yesterday’s startups are today’s giants swallowing up competitors and nowhere else is this strength more evident than in the East and West regions. However, what about those acquisitions that bridge the gap between the two global titans? Did the risk of expansion from East to West and vice versa pay off? How did these inter-region partnerships form and why? Which side did these joint ventures originate from and what barriers have they had to overcome for success in collaborative innovation?

6:20pm - 7:20pm

Networking Drinks

7:20pm - 8:20pm

Dinner

8:20pm - 9:00pm

Nightcap Gathering

DAY 3: November 29

8:00am - 9:00am

Breakfast

9:00am - 10:30am

Session 7: To be announced shortly

10:30am - 11:00am

Coffee and Networking Break

11:00am - 12:30pm

Session 8: To be announced shortly

12:30pm - 1:30pm

Lunch

1:30pm

Close

Sponsors