INNOVATION CONFERENCE

John Saiz is an Industrial Fellow with the Institute for Manufacturing (IfM) at the University of Cambridge. John and the team at the IfM work with manufacturing and technology intensive organizations worldwide to refine their innovation and technology management capabilities.

Formerly the Chief Technologist at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Mr. Saiz managed a portfolio of nearly 200 internal research and technology development activities and he directed numerous technology and flight development programs for the Space Shuttle, Russian Mir and International Space Station.

Since joining the IfM in 2014, he has led collaborations with a number of organizations including AstraZeneca, General Electric, GSK, Halliburton, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, PepsiCo, Pfizer, Purdue University, Schlumberger, Subsea 7, UCLA and Zeiss.

Joseph Fernandez is Operations Director, Chief of Staff, Strategy & Sustainability at Western Digital (Sandisk Storage Malaysia) Penang. He is currently responsible for the site’s strategic initiatives working alongside with the Site VP & GM and team to ensure smooth operations of the solid-state drives operating unit.

Joseph is a dynamic professional with over 25 years of experience in the manufacturing field encompassing various functions covering Plant Management, Operations Management, Quality Engineering, Manufacturing, Process Engineering, Operational Excellence, Strategy and Sustainability. Most recently, Joseph was instrumental in leading Western Digital Penang towards the designation of the first Advanced 4IR Lighthouse in Malaysia, and the first Sustainability Lighthouse in Asia by the World Economic Forum. He is currently championing the sustainability initiative for the Flash Backend operations at Western Digital Penang.

With over 30 years of experience in the technology industry, Ts. Ng Kwang Ming has established himself as a leader and innovator in the field of digital transformation. Ng is the Chief Executive Officer of Digital Penang, the primary agency responsible for driving digital transformation in Penang.

Prior to joining Digital Penang, he has held various leadership positions in the technology industry, bringing an interesting mix of extensive experience from IC design to telecommunication systems, enterprise IT services and technology sectors. He has worked for leading technology multinationals (IBM and Motorola) managing global teams in engineering to product management. He was also the Head of Digital Research and Head of IT for MIMOS Berhad, Malaysia’s national applied research and development centre under the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI). He led the research into distributed/cloud computing (2007), big data & analytics (2009), software defined platforms (2013), distributed ledger (2017) and holds 5 patents in the process.

He holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of California at Berkeley and postgraduate diploma in Business Administration from the same university. He has also completed executive programs with Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business.

ET Tan is the CEO of the PSDC (Penang Skills Development Centre). He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Imperial College London, and a Masters in Business Administration from Cranfield School of Management.

ET comes with extensive experience at Hewlett-Packard, HP Labs and Seagate Technology in Silicon Valley and the UK. More recently, he was COO at Putra Business School and VP Strategic Management in SilTerra in Malaysia.

Ts. Dr. Mohd Heikal Husin is a senior lecturer in the School of Computer Sciences at the Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia. He graduated from the University of South Australia with a PhD in IT in 2014 specializing in organizational technology adoption. Since then, he has published in multiple international conferences as well as journals on the topic of social media usage within organizations as well as effective technology adoption approaches. His current research interests include Government 4.0, social media adoption strategies, and Big Data. Now, he is currently involved with several national research grants including an industry-linked project with WD.

Dr. Afnizanfaizal Abdullah is a highly accomplished individual who has made significant contributions in his field. With expertise in the realm of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, he has established himself as a leading figure in the industry. His academic journey began with a strong foundation in computer science, which he pursued at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). In 2019, he co-founded an AI start-up company, which was acquired in 2021, showcasing his ability to turn ideas into market-ready solutions. Currently, he is holding a position as the General Manager of Technology Commercialisation at the Malaysian Research Accelerator for Technology and Innovation (MRANTI), that honed his expertise in R&D commercialisation, ecosystem development, and strategic partnerships across Asia, Europe, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Dato’ Lee See Nee (SN Lee) is a Senior Global Information Technology Leader and Operations Executive working in a multi-national company, Flextronics Technology (Penang) Sdn. Bhd. (NASDAQ: FLEX), with a total revenue of USD 30 Billion dollars and approximately 170,000 employees.

Dato’ Lee has vast experience in managing large multi-national companies. He has 7 years of working experience in Singapore and spent 6 years in Australia. He has managed Engineering (test, product, Industrial), pre-sales, Customer services, and IT departments in his career. He is a seasoned executive in business operations management, change management, building C-Level relationship and P&L experience in the Sales and Manufacturing industries.

He has more than 30 years’ experience in managing the IT departments and led a team of IT professionals globally. He has more than 700 staffs reporting to his organization with 550 professionals managing the IT operations in the Asia Pacific region and 150 IT professionals supporting regional infrastructure globally in Flex.

Dr. Charles D. Knutson is the Head of Engineering Learning and Development at Moloco, Inc., an applied machine learning company. He is an Emeritus Professor of Computer Science at Brigham Young University and is the author of nearly 300 publications and presentations on a variety of technical topics. Dr. Knutson holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Oregon State University and B.S. and M.S. degrees in Computer Science from Brigham Young University. Dr. Knutson is the Founder and Managing Partner of Ironwood Experts, where he has served as an expert witness in intellectual property litigation cases for clients including Apple, Amazon, Google, LG, and Microsoft.

Besides the role as CEO of Evercomm Singapore, Ted is also the Focal Point for Technology and Science, UN Major Group for Children & Youth and Focal Point, UNDP City2City Network. Being cited in the Singapore parliament and recognized as one of the digital pioneers by the Singapore Committee on the Future Economy(CFE), Ted works closely with Singapore government agencies on various industry transformation initiatives, designing new sustainable ICT framework & data policy with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and developing cutting-edge technologies that places less burden on the climate with industry leaders such as General Electric (GE), PTT Group and Huawei.

Bok Eng works as a Signal Integrity Engineer and Engineering Manager in Intel. He is responsible for the platform electrical development works of mixed-signal intellectual property (IP) designs for client, 5G networking, and server applications. He has more than 40 technical publications and 180+ issued patents in the technical subjects of signal and power integrity, advanced packaging and electronic device form-factor miniaturization. Bok Eng is a four-time recipient of the prestigious Intel Top Inventor Award. He also made his way into the Malaysia Book of Records as the Inventor with Most Worldwide Patent Grants back in 2022. Bok Eng is a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), an EXCO member of the Malaysia TRIZ Innovation Association (MyTRIZ) and the Malaysian Invention and Design Society (MINDS). His unwavering dedication in promoting innovation has impacted more than 3,000 students and professionals at both national and international levels.

DK is currently a Chief Experience Officer and a co-founder of Sophic Automation Sdn Bhd, principally a technology-based company with energetic and experienced team in providing full turnkey of digitalization and i4.0 solution, automation equipment and engineering services to enable smarter factory. Sophic Automation is also an investee of MTDC (Malaysia Technology Development Corporation).

Graduated from University of Texas (UTA), USA in Industrial Engineering. Puan Asmazura has started as an engineer in the fields of Chemical Etching, Electroplating, Stamping, Forming & Tool Fabrication, and then advanced to senior positions in Engineering, Quality Assurance (QA), New Product (NPI) and Facility Management. Last post held, was a General Manager (GM) in one of the E&E companies in NCER. In her current role as GM of Investment Cluster – Manufacturing for the Northern Corridor Implementation Authority (NCIA), Puan Asmazura is focused on facilitating the region’s investors to develop matching industry-need talent between the industries and academia, while simultaneously uplifting industry’s ecosystem development, integration, localization, and clustering, resulting in the inflow of investments into the Northern Corridor Economic Region (NCER) - this includes the technology development and enhancement for the local SMEs to move up the value chain in order to be competitive in the global market.

Teoh Hui Kuun is a Senior Staff Engineer at B. Braun Medical Industries, Penang Center of Excellence (CoE) for Intravenous Access (IVA), R&D Department. She manages Innovation Management for the Center of Excellence (CoE) for Intravenous Access (IVA). Her expertise includes inventing, identify customer needs, organizing ideation session, identify innovation for intellectual property protection.

Arjun is an R&D Engineer with Broadcom Inc. He is presently working on Silicon Photonics. Formerly, Arjun was the SVP of Technology Development (TD) and Design Technology (DT) departments at SilTerra Malaysia Sdn Bhd. He has been with SilTerra since 2001 and has been instrumental in setting up various technologies at SilTerra. He has a total experience of 29 years in Semiconductor Foundry and throughout his career has been working in Technology Development. He has experience in leading various teams to develop technologies from the start and take them through various phases (such as feasibility, prototyping, qualification, risk release and full production ramp). He has worked on various technology nodes starting from 0.6um through 80nm covering High Voltage, Logic, RF, Mixed Signal, BCD, Flash, MEMS, Silicon Photonics and others. He also experience in leading the Design Technology group to develop key capabilities such as RF modeling, PDK and library development. Arjun holds a Master’s degree in Microelectronics from Texas A&M University, USA and a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Electronics from Sri Venkateswara University, India. He has been granted 7 US patents and authored various technical publications.

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 industries, including 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, UK, Master of Business Administration at University of Portsmouth, UK and is currently pursuing his Doctorate in Business Administration in Wawasan Open University. He is an Adjunct Professor, a Professional Engineer and Fellow of Institution of Engineers, Malaysia, a senior member of IEEE and Fellow of ASEAN Academy of Engineering and Technology (AAET). He is currently the Chair-Elect with IEEE Malaysia Section. He is the Past Chairman of IEEE Penang Joint Chapter and is currently an executive Committee of IEEE Electron Devices Society (EDS) Malaysia Chapter and Executive Committee of IEEE Electronic Packaging Society (EPS) Malaysia Chapter. Bernard is currently the Management Council of Penang Skill Development Center (PSDC), Executive Committee of IEM, IEM Council Member, Past Chairman of The Institution of Engineers Malaysia (Penang Branch), Committee Member of IEM Material Engineering Technical Division and Past Chairman of IEM Electronic Engineering Technical Division. Ir Bernard is also an ASEAN Engineer Register (AER) Executive Committee and the permanent member for the technical committee on Innovation Management (NSC Y/TC11). Currently, Bernard has been involved in technology startups. Bernard is co-founder or founder to 4 technology startups, VP/Director - Appscard Group AS (Norway/Malaysia) (2020-present), Director - Logikhaus Sdn Bhd (Malaysia)(2019-present), Director/VP - Tactilis Sdn Bhd (Malaysia) (2015-2019) and Managing Director - Sandcomm Sdn Bhd (Malaysia) (2022-present).

Boo Kiang Ngee (KN Boo) is an entrepreneur known for his role as the Founder and Managing Director of NSW Automation Sdn Bhd. As a self-driven and motivated entrepreneur, his leadership skills and adept management of automation companies have been proven time and again. With over two decades of hands-on experience in the field of automation, he brings a wealth of knowledge and insights to his endeavors.

An important milestone in his journey was the year 2010, when he inspired the engagement on the development of dispensing machines tailored to meet the needs of the global industry. This initiative displayed his innovative approach and commitment to advancing technological solutions. His involvement spans the entire lifecycle of these machines - from initial product research and design to the development phase, marketing strategies, and the establishment of a global business presence.

KN Boo's academic background complements his practical expertise. He holds a Diploma in Mechatronic from Ungku Omar Polytechnic, Perak, Malaysia, which has provided him with a solid technical foundation. In pursuit of a well-rounded education, he pursued post-graduate studies, culminating in the attainment of a Master of Business Administration (International Business Administration) from the University of Sunderland, UK. This combination of technical and business knowledge has equipped him to navigate the complexities of the global business landscape.

Xian-Na is a seasoned Product Manager with over a decade of experience. Launching her career in the legal realm, she dedicated four transformative years before her passion in marketing and product management propelled her into the martech arena. A data enthusiast with a marketer's soul, Xian-Na is adept at helping companies harness customer insights for enhanced personalization. Her proficiency bridges diverse sectors such as legal, marketing, data science, and strategic business planning.

Her journey has shaped her ability to seamlessly blend a company's core needs with ever-changing market demands. With a rich tapestry of experiences spanning from startups, SMEs, NGOs, semi-government bodies, to MNCs, she stands as a beacon of adaptability and innovation.

KK is a seasoned engineering professional with over 38 years of progressively responsible experience in engineering management positions. With a passion for technology integration and a focus on implementing compelling solutions, he has consistently leveraged various technologies to drive transformation and improve lives.

Throughout his career, KK has been at the forefront of cutting-edge advancements, ranging from connected devices (Internet of Everything) to LED for lighting and precision agriculture, nanotechnologies for thermal management, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, and Automation. His expertise lies in harnessing these technologies to achieve Integrated Extraction Efficiency, a concept that encompasses both energy conservation and sustainable practices.

KK firmly believes in bridging the gap between technological advancements and sustainable practices to save energy, reduce costs, and preserve our planet for future generations. With his unwavering dedication, he strives to introduce innovative technologies that build a greener and more sustainable future.

Swee Kiang (SK) Fong has more than 30 years of experience in semiconductor industry. He started his career and worked in Intel for more than 20 years on various technical and management positions in US and Malaysia. He was instrumental in starting up Intel Design Center in Malaysia and growing the organisation to 1500 people responsible for microprocessor, Chipset, SOC design and development. He then joined Altera Corporation as VP of R&D, leading the development of advanced FPGA, IP and Quartus software in Malaysia. He was the Senior Director of Broadcom Corporation overseeing the global operation of a USD1B division before starting up SkyeChip.