Co-Founder and Principal Architect EPlus Design Group; Adjunct Associate Professor, Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Shenzhen, China

As a co-founder of dotA, Prof. GAO Yan pushes the boundary of the architectural discipline with the insight of contemporary practice and the cutting edge computational means. His architectural design synthesizes the scientific and heuristic design approaches for contemporary architectural practice, i.e. immersing the use of computational means into a wide scope including vernacular architecture, landscape, and urban design and planning.

Gao’s architectural design responses are nurtured by the inter-disciplinary network thinking in social, economic, environmental, political, professional and technical dimensions. His pragmatism design research methodologies integrate theories, techniques, Chinese philosophy into practice, addressing architectural value and performance in the global and local context. Gao’s well recognized as a leading peer in applying scholar research of computation to architectural practice in China.

In addition to his teaching position at University of Hong Kong, Gao has been appointed as the programme directors for a number of international architectural design workshops in Asia since 2007, including the AA Beijing Visiting School and Digital Practice Summer Program HKU.

Gao’s projects and articles have been widely published in China, which won him the co-curator for The Exhibition of Contemporary Chinese Architecture 2012 and Associative Public Forum in London and the curator for the Digital Making China Exhibition, 2013 DADA Digital Infiltration. To sum, Gao’s architectural design agenda celebrates innovation, intelligence and interdisciplinary.

Director of Global Studies Program and Presidential Chair Professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen

Research area: Chinese Foreign Policy, Sino-American Relations, Corruption Issues, International Political Economy, Northeast Asian Security, Macaology

Professor HAO Yufan was also a visiting professor to Peking University, Tsinghua University and Renmin University of China, and a visiting fellow at the Seoul Academy of East Asian Studies, International University of Japan, Keio University and the Brookings Institution.

He is currently holding honorable adjunct professorship at Fudan University, Shanghai University of International Studies, Sun Yat-sen University, Jinan University, etc.

Professor and Director, Institute of the US and Pacific Studies, Shanghai International Studies University (SISU); Member, stars Scientific Board, Shanghai, China

Prof. Dr. Huang Jing is co-founder and CEO of Transcend Consulting. He is also a University Professor and Director of the Institute of the US and Pacific Studies at the Shanghai International Studies University (SISU). Before joining SISU, Prof. Huang was University Professor and Dean (Academic Affairs) of the Institute of International and Regional Studies at Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU). He was also the Lee Foundation Professor on US-China Relations and Director of the Centre on Asia and Globalization of the LKY School of Public Policy at National University of Singapore (2008-2018), Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution (2004-2008), Shorenstein Fellow at Stanford University (2002-2003), and Associate Professor (tenured) of Political Science and Director of the Asian Studies Program at Utah State University (1994-2004). Prof. Huang also taught at Harvard University as an instructor in 1993-94.

Prof. Huang’s main research and teaching interests include security in Asia-Pacific, US-China relations, major power diplomacy in Asia-Pacific, China’s foreign policies and its development strategy. He is the author of numerous papers and journal articles, and has published hundreds of columns and op-eds in major newspapers and magazines. Prof. Huang has authored two books: Factionalism in Chinese Communist Politics (Cambridge University Press, 2000) and Inseparable Separation: the Making of China’s Taiwan Policy” (World Scientific Press, 2010), and edited or co-edited seven volumes on South China Sea, the environment policies of Asian countries, and the development of Russia’s Far East and Siberia. As an internationally renowned scholar, Prof. Huang has provided policy advices for governments, NGOs, educational institutions, think tanks, and businesses for countries in Asia, America and Europe, including China, the United States, Russia, Japan, India, South Korea, Norway, Germany, Vietnam, Australia, Malaysia and Singapore.

Prof. Huang earned a bachelor degree in English literature from Sichuan University, a master degree in history from Fudan University, and a PhD in Political science from Harvard University.

Founder, Blue Whale Tech, Sustainable building technology, Shanghai, China

Blue Whale Tech has more than ten years of research and engineering experience in the construction industry in USA and China. It specializes in the building structure control technology for shock absorption and wind resistance.

The company is committed to providing customers with building structure control technology and products, composite pile foundation products, green prefabricated steel support systems and professional engineering consulting services, so as to reduce building construction costs, improve building shock absorption and wind resistance performance, and realize sustainable construction in the construction industry. The unique smart park system engineering consulting service can not only provide a cooperation platform for multiple parties, but also a smart center for operation and management for customers.

The company targets to become an industry leader that provides a full range of high-tech products and engineering consulting services related to building structures.

Founder, Reexen Technology, AI processors and chips, Shenzhen, China

Reexen Technology is a startup developing new technologies of energy-efficient AI processors and chips using In-Memory and Near-Memory Computing. Aiming at building end-to-end solutions for specific AIoT and mobile applications, Reexen is working on the full technology stack that combines AI processor, analog/digital sensor processing and software framework for applications such as healthcare monitoring, image or voice recognition, language translation, autonomous driving, AR/VR, etc.

Key numbers:

• Founded in 2018
• Reached around 20M$ rounds of financing and 7M$ revenue in 2022
• Team of 60 people, mostly in R&D
• Located in Zurich, Shenzhen, Chengdu, and Shanghai
• Published 30+ patents and 20+ ISSCC/JSSC papers

President, 4Paradigm, AI Enterprise Solutions, Beijing, China

Mr. James Pei has nearly 20 years of experience in the field of enterprise-level services. His services cover energy, manufacturing, public sector, construction and security, real estate, transportation and logistics, financial services, sports and entertainment, and other industries, helping companies achieve better management results with digital thinking.

Founded in September 2014, 4Paradigm is an industry pioneer and leader in the field of enterprise-level artificial intelligence. 4Paradigm provides platform-centric artificial intelligence solutions and uses technologies to develop end-to-end enterprise-level artificial intelligence products, and is committed to solving the problems of efficiency, cost, and value faced by enterprises in the process of intelligent transformation and improving enterprise decision-making level. It has been widely used in fields such as finance, retail, manufacturing, energy and power, telecommunications, and healthcare, ranking first among all platform-centric decision-making enterprise-level AI markets in China.

When he was Vice President of SAP China, he was responsible for the business of service industry groups such as EC&O, T&P and Professional Service.

Before SAP China, he also worked as sales director of Sinopec's GAD and Auto OEM department.

Group Chief Risk Officer, Member, Group Executive Committee, AIA; Member, stars International Board, Hong Kong, China

Aged 49, Jayne Plunkett is the Group Chief Risk Officer responsible for the Group’s risk and compliance functions. She joined AIA in November 2019 from Swiss Re, where she was most recently Chief Executive Officer Reinsurance Asia, Regional President Asia and member of the Group Executive Committee.

During her time with Swiss Re, Jayne had held several senior positions including Head of Casualty Underwriting for Asia and Division Head Casualty Reinsurance. Prior to that, she was with GE Insurance Solutions. Jayne holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Drake University. She is a Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society and a member of the American Academy of Actuaries.

Executive Chairman, stars Foundation, Stein am Rhein, Switzerland

• 2014 – present: Executive Chairman and Co-Founder of the stars Foundation Board, Weinfelden, Switzerland
• 2008 – 2014: Chairman and Co-Founder of the stars Foundation Board, Weinfelden, Switzerland
• 1994 – 2016: Member of the Board of UBS Wolfsberg and Congress Hotel Seepark AG
• 1994 – 2014: CEO, UBS Wolfsberg. Emphasis on Business Development, i.e. initiating, supervising, and conducting UBS Briefings, UBS Health Forum, UBS Arts Forum, UBS Study Trips, UBS Think Tanks, Wolfsberg Podium (www.wolfsberg.com)
• 1981 – 1994: Various responsibilities for UBS Management and Executive Development, Member and Chairman of the Board of UBS Art Collection
• Concurrently: Member of the Board of various companies and foundations in Switzerland

Art Collector, Business Leader, Former Swiss Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China, North Korea and Mongolia; Member, stars China Advisory Panel, Mauensee, Switzerland

Dr. Sigg has spent the last few decades acquiring the world's largest collection of Chinese contemporary art. His collection includes works from Ai Weiwei, Cao Fei, Zhang Xiaogang, Liu Wei, Wang Guangle, and other famous Chinese artists. At its height, his collection consisted of around 2,300 works - ranging from important revolutionary paintings to modern day abstracts.

He first came to China in the late 70s with Schindler Elevators, to establish what would later become the very first joint venture between China and the outside world. Later, he turned from business areas more into diplomacy and art.

“While people may see me as a collector who put together the most significant collection of Chinese contemporary art in the world, I prefer to view myself a researcher of China and of Chinese contemporary art who just happened to buy some of the results of his research. ” – Dr. Uli Sigg

Ambassador of the Delegation of the European Union to the People’s Republic of China, Beijing

Ambassador Jorge TOLEDO ALBIÑANA is a career diplomat from Spain. After taking his Degree in Law and entering the Diplomatic School in Spain, he joined the Spanish Foreign Service in 1989. Since then, except for three years in Senegal, where he was Ambassador of Spain from 2008 to 2011, his career has been devoted mostly to European Union Affairs. Among others, he was Spanish Secretary of State for the EU and European Affairs. In Asia, he has been posted to India and Japan before arriving to China in September 2022 as the Ambassador of the European Union.

Chief Economist, Hang Seng Bank; Former Chief Economist, The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), Shanghai, China

As Chief Economist at Hang Seng Bank, Dr. WANG Dan is responsible for research and forecasts related to China's macro-economy, China's regional development, geopolitical risks and financial markets.

She is often seen in interviews on various economic topics in both international and Chinese media such as BBC, Forbes, CGTN, Yicai, Phoenix, etc.

Chief Representative, BASF China; Former President, European Union Chamber of Commerce in China (EUCCC); Member, stars International Board, Beijing, China

Joerg Wuttke is Vice President and Chief Representative of BASF China, based in Beijing. Since joining BASF in 1997, he has been responsible for helping guide the company’s investment strategies for China, negotiation of large projects and government relations. Previous to joining BASF, Joerg worked with ABB for 11 years.

Besides BASF, Wuttke is three-term President of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China (EUCCC). Wuttke previously served as President from 2007-2010 and from 2014-2017, and he took up his third term in 2019.

In January 2011 the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD (BIAC), a Paris based body of major business associations that lobbies the OECD, named him to become Chairman of the BIAC China Task Force.

Since its establishment in 2013, Joerg is member of the Advisory Board of Germany’s foremost Think Tank on China, Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS), in Berlin.

From 2013 to 2016, he was Vice Chairman of the CPCIF International Cooperation Committee, a group representing Multinational Companies in China’s Chemical Association.

Wuttke holds a BA in Business Administration and Economics from Mannheim and he studied Chinese in Shanghai 1982 and Taipei 1984-85. A frequent speaker on business and industry issues in China, he co-authored:

• “The Chemical and Pharmaceutical Industry in China” Springer Publishing Trust (2005)
• “Energy Resources Security” Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (2006)
• “My 30 years in China” ACA Publishing (2008)
• “Gelebte Geschichte - 40 Erfahungen” CBT China Book Trading (2012)
• “The Handbook of Chinese Organizational Behavior: Integrating Theory, Research, and Practice” Edgar Elgar Publishing (2012)
• “Peter Tichauer; Perspektivenwechsel” OWC (2015)
• “The Dark Side of China’s Economic Rise” in "Europe and the World: Global Insecurity and Power Shifts; Helmut K. Anheier and Robert Falkner (eds.); University of Durham and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd (2017)

Chairman at Hong Kong Institution for International Finance; Professor of Practice of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen; Founding Director, Brookings-Tsinghua Center for Public Policy, Beijing, China

Prof. XIAO Geng is founding Fellow, founding President, and current Chairman of the Hong Kong Institution for International Finance (HKIIF), member of the expert groups for the advisory bodies of the Shenzhen and Hengqin governments, member of the Academic Committee of International Monetary Institute (IMI) of the Renmin University of China.

Xiao received B.S. in System Sciences and Management Sciences from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) and MA and PhD in Economics from University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). Professor Xiao’s research and practice have focused on China’s economic reform and opening, covering macroeconomics, international finance, capital market, enterprise reform and productivity, urban development, and U.S.-China relations. He contributes to a monthly column at Project Syndicate since 2012 (https://www.project-syndicate.org/columnist/xiao-geng).

Over last few decades Professor Xiao has held positions in key academic, policy, regulatory, and business institutions, including Professor Peking University HSBC Business School (PHBS), Professor at University of Hong Kong, Vice President of Fung Global Institute, Director of Columbia University Global Center in Beijing, founding Director of Brookings-Tsinghua Center for Public Policy, Senior Fellow of Brookings Institution, Head of Research and Advisor to the Chairman of the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong, Vice President of Chinese Economists Society (USA), Visiting Scholar and Faculty Associate at Harvard Institute for International Development, Consultant of the World Bank and UNDP.

Associate Professor, Institute of Economics, School of Social Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

Professor XIE Danxia leads and participates in multiple national research projects, including Natural Science Foundation of China, general project, "The Impact of Digital Platform Dynamics on Social Welfare and Financial Stability: Theoretical Analysis and Empirical Evidence“; Science Foundation of China, a major project, "Game Theoretic Basis of Digital Economy“; Natural Science Foundation of China, general project, "New Risk Factors in Commodity Pricing“; National Social Science Fund, a major project, "Social Impact and Governance Path of Internet Platforms”, etc.

Research areas: digital economy, law and economics, macroeconomics, finance, labor, health economics

Xie participated in various law revision, policy and research projects of Development Research Center of the State Council, the State Administration of Market Regulation, the National Development and Reform Commission.

XIE once worked in the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a world-renowned think tank; participated in the research and development of China's first CPU, Peking University "China Chip" (1999). Xie is the first to put forward the "endogenous growth theory of data innovation" and "regulatory growth theory".

Partner and General Manager, South China Region of Sinovation Ventures, Shenzhen, China

Sinovation Ventures (创新工场) is a Beijing-based venture capital firm founded in 2009, with AUM of US$ 3 billion (2022) . The firm focuses on investing in startups in high technology, especially artificial intelligence. It was one of the first Chinese venture capital firms to establish a presence in the United States.

In Sinovation, Dr. XIONG Hao focuses on the investment direction and investment opportunities in South China, leading the South China team to explore the market and expand regional influence.

Xiong has worked in investment institutions such as Legend Capital and Cowin Capital, engaged in high-tech investment, focusing on TMT and innovative consumption fields, and has led investments in online education, sports, smart hardware, technology and Internet + traditional industries for multiple companies. Before entering the venture capital industry, he worked in R&D in the field of electronics and semiconductors.