Guest speakers
Mr Teo Ser Luck
Minister of State for Trade and Industry and Mayor for North East District CDC
Republic of Singapore
The 21st century has been described as the urban century. Globalization and technology have played seminal roles in the way we live, work and play. With globalization has come a free flow and greater access to data and ideas, rapid advances in science and technology. The opportunities for innovation are therefore tremendous with innovation and creativity the way forward as countries, cities and economies seek to stay on the cutting-edge and relevant. Innovation has become a major enabler of transformation and growth as people form communities to co-create, include and converse. Singapore in particular has been savvy in leveraging technology as a transformational enabler not just for economic growth and value creation but also for capability building and charting the next phase of growth.
Dr. Michio Kaku
Dr. Michio Kaku is a theoretical physicist, best-selling author, & popularizer of science. He’s the co-founder of string field theory, & continues Einstein’s search to unite the four fundamental forces of nature into one unified theory. His latest New York Times best-selling book is Physics of the Future: How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily Lives by the Year 2100. Dr. Kaku interviewed over 300 of the world's top scientists in order to discern science fiction from science fact. His findings show us a world in which we have the Internet in our contact lenses, where computers become as ubiquitous and invisible as electricity, where nano fibers in our clothes power our lives, and where toilets can predict cancer decades before current testing. Fascinating, mind-bending, epic in scope, Dr. Kaku's presentation opens our eyes to a future world of amazing opportunities, which in turn attendees can turn into still more amazing outcomes.
Keynote presentations

Jim Bramante
Senior Vice President, IBM Growth Markets
On today’s Smarter Planet, rapid change has become the norm as entire industries are transforming to deliver compelling new value to the constituents they serve. Jim Bramante shows how – in this new era of interconnected industries, businesses and consumers – a new kind of leadership is emerging to turn opportunity into business outcomes. With “technology” trumping all other business imperatives as having the most significant impact on an organization’s success, the connection between Business and IT Leaders is now crucial to uncovering new profit opportunities and making new markets, re-inventing relationships with clients, partners and employees, managing to velocity of business change, and changing the economics of IT to fund new innovations. Bramante also introduces the Business-IT “hot topics” shaping the future and how IBM capabilities can help you succeed as a Smarter Business.
Steve Mills
Senior Vice President & Group Executive, IBM Software & Systems
Steve Mills shares IBM’s strategy for a new era of computing and gives compelling reasons to embrace a new breed of expert, integrated systems to accelerate growth and cut costs. IBM’s vision also includes expanding the digital world of the back-office into the front office and corresponding business infrastructures (such as facilities, delivery truck fleets, and service stations) that are the heart of business operations and represent the interconnection points among consumers, business partners and employees.
Rod Adkins
Senior Vice President, IBM Systems & Technology Group
We are in the midst of an extraordinary technology shift driving growth and innovation. The confluence of Big Data, cloud, mobile and social technologies is transforming the way we find and engage customers, source and manage our supply chains, and orchestrate critical business processes. At a time when the stakes have never been higher, only IT can lead this transformation.
IT leaders who are seizing the opportunity are embracing a new computing model. They are thinking differently about the way their organizations can best exploit information from Big Data, securely manage critical information, and fund innovation by driving efficiencies through the Cloud. This presentation will describe this new model through case studies that explore the aspirations and imperatives of the Smarter Computing approach.
Robert LeBlanc
Senior Vice President, IBM Middleware Software
Globalization means that change has a new velocity. Ideas travel the world, from one geography to another, faster than ever, and that makes regional differences in the way things work less a factor in international business. Add to this the fact that organizations are also navigating an increasingly volatile, complex environment in which uncertainty, change, and the rise of technology, new business models and competitive threats are the only constants. LeBlanc presents the case that companies that seek to out-perform in this challenging environment will require operational dexterity, business agility, and speed. They will need to the need to safeguard their most valuable assets: their intellectual property, customer data and brand. They will need smarter processes and improved asset management to improve the effectiveness of operations. LeBlanc will show how IBM allows organizations to react – in real time – to these increasingly changing market demands and conditions.
Mike Rhodin
Senior Vice President, IBM Software Solutions Group
The ways in which people interact, relationships form, decisions are made, work is accomplished and goods are purchased are fundamentally changing in our instrumented, interconnected, and intelligent world. Customers want products and services wherever they are, whenever they want, on whichever device they choose, requiring new degrees of security and management discipline. Organizations that want to truly deliver on customer demands know that, today, software-led innovation is the key to competitive advantage and differentiation in products, services, and business models. Rhodin shares IBM’s approach to helping clients use gained insights (data) to create new markets and profit models, and better shape the relationships they have with customers, partners and employees. He will be joined by a number of IBM clients who will share their successes.
Manoj Saxena
General Manager, IBM, Watson Solutions
Discover what comes next for IBM Watson and the industries particularly suited for Watson solutions, such as healthcare, banking, and the financial sector. All of which deal with massive amounts of unstructured data coming from various sources. Find out how the advanced analytics used in Watson are being put to work in businesses around the world.
