Dzuleira Abu Bakar is a recognised leader in Malaysia’s innovation ecosystem. As the founding CEO of MRANTI, she led the successful merger of MaGIC and TPM, shaping a national agenda to accelerate research commercialisation and deep tech adoption. A strong advocate for technology policy and inclusive innovation, she has played a pivotal role in enabling Malaysia’s transition into a high-tech economy. Dzuleira is now the Co-Founder and Director of NineYards Ventures, an advisory firm supporting entities across industries, with a niche focus on healthtech. The firm works with operators and founders on business turnaround and transformation, AI enablement, and helping build scalable, impact-driven ventures across the value chain. With deep expertise spanning venture capital, public policy, and startup ecosystems, Dzuleira brings a bold yet practical lens on how innovation and technologies can drive meaningful change in society.
Prof Ir EUR ING Dr Vinesh Thiruchelvam has over 28 years of experience in engineering education/academics, ICT, operations & maintenance, facility management, design and project management in various industries ranging from building services/property, oil & gas, district cooling plants, cogeneration power plants and the port industry. For the first 15 years of his career, he has managed the design and construction of international projects in the USA, Maldives, UK, Hong Kong, Macau, China, India, Russia, Iran, UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Vietnam, Brunei, Singapore and Malaysia for the property sector, transportation, oil & gas and power plant industries. He is currently the Chief Innovation & Enterprise Officer for Asia Pacific University of Technology & Innovation (APU) in Malaysia after having stints since 2012 as Head of Engineering School, Dean of FCET and Deputy Vice Chancellor. He has been part of various working committees since 2012 for the Malaysian government and the associated ministries or agencies addressing Education (MoHE), Engineering Talents (MoHR), Climate Change (KASA, PETRA), Artificial Intelligence (MOSTI), Digital Blueprint (MIA), Digital Transformation (MoH) and Data Science (MDEC). Internationally, he is also part of the ISO working groups for the development of standards in Blockchain, AI and Innovation Management Systems since 2016. Prof Vinesh’s current area of focus is to engineer emerging tech solutions addressing various societal issues. He has published over 214 books, papers, journals or articles
Dr. Hwai Chyuan ONG is currently appointed as Distinguished Professor at the Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Sunway University, Malaysia and an Adjunct Professor at the Faculty of Engineering & IT, University of Technology Sydney, Australia. His research interests are under the general umbrella of renewable energy systems, energy & fuel, green technology, environmental sustainability, and waste management. He has an H-Index of 106 on Google Scholar. He has published more than 250 high-impact SCI journal papers, with an H-index of 65 (WOS). Additionally, he has been invited to deliver several keynotes, plenary talks, and invited talks at international conferences. He is listed as a Highly Cited Researcher (Engineering) by Clarivate Analytics in 2019-2022. In 2021, he was also named as Australia’s top early-career researcher in sustainable energy. Currently, he is Associate Editor of Carbon Research, Alexandria Engineering Journal, as well as an editorial board member for a few other journals.
Dr. Durgesh Nandan is a Director, Center of Embedded Systems & IoT and Associate Professor at SR University, Warangal, India, where he also serves as Associate Research Dean. He holds a Ph.D. in Electronics and Communication Engineering (specializing in VLSI) from Jaypee University of Engineering and Technology, Guna, Madhya Pradesh (2018), a Master of Technology in Microelectronics & VLSI Design (2013), and a Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Rajeev Gandhi Technical University (2009). His research interests include Generative AI, Healthcare and Agriculture Analytics, VLSI architecture, and VLSI signal processing. Dr. Nandan has authored or co-authored over 170 research papers and is an inventor or co-inventor of 20 published Indian patents. He has edited or co-edited four books and serves as an editorial board member for prestigious journals, including Scientific Reports, PLOS One, and Traitement Du Signal. He received the prestigious JSS Fellowship (2014–2018) from Jayaprakash Sewa Sasthan and the Young Personality of the Year Award (Below 40 years) in 2019 from the International Academic and Research Excellence Awards (IARE-2019). In 2023, he was honored with the Vice Chancellor’s Research and Academic Excellence Award from SR University. His professional experience includes roles as Assistant Professor and Head of the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering at IASSCOM Fortune Institutes of Technology (2013–2014), Guest Faculty at NIT Patna (2018), and Assistant Professor at Symbiosis Institute of Technology, Pune. He also worked as an AI consultant for Deep Cognition (2020) and as an Account Manager at Accendere Knowledge Management Services Pvt. Ltd. Dr. Nandan is a Senior Member of IEEE and a member of the AICTE KAPILA committee. His work focuses on advancing innovative solutions in low-power VLSI design, IoT, and embedded systems for healthcare and agritech applications.