SPEAKERS
Mekala Krishnan
Senior Fellow, McKinsey & Company
Mekala Krishnan is senior fellow at the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI), McKinsey’s business and economics research arm. Mekala’s research has focused on various topics related to inclusive growth and economic development, including global gender economics, productivity growth in advanced economies and globalization. She is currently leading research on assessing near term impacts from climate change and identifying approaches to managing that risk. Mekala serves on the board of the Global Fund for Women, a leading public foundation dedicated to improving global gender equality. She is also a member of a task force at the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy at Brookings focused on improving productivity measurement. Mekala received her Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University.
Elson Sutanto
Principal Analyst, Juniper Research
Elson Sutanto is a Principal Analyst at Juniper Research. His areas of specialism include Digital Content Business Models, Industrial IoT, machine learning, M2M, smart cities and telecom operator strategies. His recent research suites include Digital Content Business Models: OTT & Telco Strategies, Digital Twins and EDGE Processing in IoT.
He holds a MSc Hons degree in Sustainability and Management from Royal Holloway University and a BSc (Hons) in Economics from Brunel University.
Kim Yin Wong
Group Chief Executive Officer, Singapore Power Limited
Kim Yin Wong is the Group Chief Executive Officer of Singapore Power Ltd. As part of his role in SP Group, he is the Chairman of SP PowerAssets Ltd, Singapore District Cooling Pte Ltd and SP Digital Holdings Pte Ltd, and a Director of SP Services Ltd.
He is also Chairman, SkillsFuture Singapore, a government agency under Ministry of Education. Mr Wong is also a Director of SeaTown Holdings Pte Ltd, China Venture Capital Fund Corporation Ltd and DSO National Laboratories.
He was formerly Senior Managing Director, Investments at Temasek International (Pte) Ltd, where he had been responsible for investments in various sectors, including the energy, transportation and industrial clusters. Prior to Temasek, he was with the AES Corporation, a global power company listed on the NewYork Stock Exchange.
Felix Mann
Chief Marketing Officer, Green City Solutions
Felix Mann is the Chief Marketing Officer of Green City Solutions – a multi award-winning German start-up company from Berlin. Green City Solutions has invented a groundbreaking biotech-airfilter, combining moss and IoT-technology to filter fine dust and pollutants out of the air.
Felix is a value based and open-minded leader with deep expertise in Communications, Marketing and Change Management with a demonstrated history of working in the financial, software and environmental industry. Felix has built and led high performance teams on transformational initiatives across multiple industries, working with large multinationals like Deutsche Bank, State Street and TeamViewer to fast growing startups in the clean-tech industry.
He has studied in Germany, France and the United States and he holds a diploma in political science from Freie Universität Berlin and a joint MBA from the Kellogg School of Management and WHU Beisheim School of Management.
Anders Hektor
Science & Innovation Counsellor, Embassy of Sweden in Seoul
Anders Hektor is assigned Science and Innovation Counsellor at the Embassy of Sweden in Seoul since April 2019. He previously worked at the Swedish Government, Ministry of Enterprise and Innovation, mainly on Digital Economy policies. He has worked closely with the EU, the OECD and other international organisations in the fields of standardisation, growth analysis, digital inclusion, social welfare and internet governance. Anders has a background as researcher and holds a Ph.D. in Technology and Social Change.
Ali Izadi-Najafabadi
Head of Intelligent Mobility, Bloomberg New Energy Finance
Based in Seoul, Ali oversees a global analyst team focused on research and analysis on the emerging field of intelligent mobility. The team produces analysis on business models, technologies and policies related to new mobility services and autonomous driving. Prior to his current role, Ali managed BloombergNEF’s Japan and Korea Research team. Prior to joining Bloomberg in 2010, Ali had worked at Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, as well as Canadian fuel cell manufacturer, Ballard Power Systems.
Ali has an undergraduate degree in Engineering Physics and a Masters in Electrical Engineering from the University of British Columbia, and a Doctorate in Materials Science from Meijo University.
Chang Seob Kim
President, Korea Energy Agency
Chang Seob Kim graduated from the Department of Electronic Engineering at Seoul National University and also received a Master’s and Doctoral degree from Seoul National University. He held a variety of posts including the Technology Development Planning Team chief, Electric Energy Team chief, and Policy Team chief related to the Convention on Climate Change at the Energy Management Corporation of Korea for 11 years.
After moving into academia, he worked as a professor in the Department of Energy IT at Gachon University. Moreover, he participated in a variety of external activities, including being a member of the 1st to 4th Energy Commission, acting as the chairman of the 5th and 6th Demand Supply Master Plan Commission, as well as chairing the Private and Public Working Group for the 2nd Energy Master Plan in addition to being the head of Energy Resource R&D Planning Group of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
As he played the leading role in various academic research and research projects related to power, energy, and climate change, he had a great influence on the establishment of the energy policy.
Min-Hwa Lee
Chairman, Korea Creative Economy Research Network
Min-Hwa Lee established Medison, which is considered to be the pioneer of the venture culture in Korea. He received his doctoral degree in electrical engineering at KAIST and went on to become the first president of the Korea Venture Business Association. In addition, Lee took the lead in creating laws specifically for venture companies and establishing venture companies in KOSDAQ. He has received various awards such as the National Gold Tower Order of Industrial Service Merit and been selected as one of the Top 60 Engineers in South Korea 2006 and Top 100 Engineers in South Korea 2010.
Also, he has submitted over 170 medical and mobile patents, written 10 books, and published numerous international papers. As an individual who worked to eliminate regulations concerning small and medium-sized enterprises and as a visiting professor at KAIST, he is currently providing support for entrepreneurship education and gifted youth entrepreneurs. He has served as an honorary president of the Korea Venture Business Association and other organizations. Presently, Lee is serving as the Chairman of Korea Digital Hospital Export Agency, Chairman of Eurasian Network Association, Honorary President of Korea Venture Business Association, and KAIST Visiting Professor.
Myung-Ja Kim
President, Korean Federation of Science & Technology Societies
Myung-ja Kim currently serves as the President of the Korean Federation of Science and Technology Societies, the Chairperson of the Korean Academy of Environment Science (KAES), and the International Advisory Panel (IAP) of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).
She is also serving a board member or a special advisor to about thirty private and public institutions, such as the Korean Academy of Science and Technology (KAST), Asan Social Welfare Foundation, UN Sustainable Development Solutions Korea Network (SDSN Korea). In recent years, she served as the Vice-president of Community Chest of Korea (2015-2018), the Chairperson of the Green Korea 21 Forum (2008-2017), and Visiting Distinguished Professor at KAIST (2008-2016).
From 2004 to 2008, she served as the Member of the National Assembly (2004-2008) sitting on the Defense Committee as Vice-chairperson and also as Chairperson of the Ethics Committee of the National Assembly. Prior to her election as the lawmaker, she has served as the Minister of Environment (1999-2003) to become the longest serving female minister in the constitutional history of Korea.
Her numerous awards include the Presidential High Decoration of `Changjo-jang’ in Science and Technology(2015.4), Seoul National University’s Proud Alumni Award(2015. 10), Blue Stripes Order of Service Merit(2004. 4).
Yongsung Cho
President, Korea Energy Economics Institute
Yongsung Cho is a president of Korea Energy Economics Institute since July 2018. Currently, he also serves as a member of the Committee on Green Growth Korea and a member of the National Environmental Policy Council under the Korean Ministry of Environment, and its division chairperson on climate change and air quality. In 1996, he received his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota at St. Paul, USA. Previously, he was a professor of Department of Food & Resource Economics, Korea University (2000-18), and an adjunct professor of Green School, which is co-operated by Korea University (KU) and Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology (KIST). He also served as a vice president for development and external affairs, Korea University (2011-13), and a Director of Korea University’s Institute of Life Science and Natural Resources, and a Director of Energy Research Center of Seoul Energy Corporation.
His research interest is on energy and climate policy in Korea in comparative context, with particular reference to East Asia including China and Japan. More specifically, he has been conducting research on emission trading scheme and the development/deployment of cleaner and more efficient renewable energy technologies and policy measures.
Between 2006 and 2016, he led a ten-year research project on Climate Change Specialization Program with the support of the Ministry of Environment. He was two time recipients of Minister of Environment’s Award on 2007 and 2014.
Yongsik Shin
Vice President, Smart Energy City Unit, SK Telecom
Yongsik Shin is the Vice President of SK telecom and the Head of Smart Energy City Unit. He would like to present the correlation between climate and energy consumption, and how to optimize the energy consumption based on IoT and connectivity, including 5G.
His career in SK was dedicated to Smart city, IoT and Energy, therefore Dr. Shin has a great understanding of utilizing data for the industries and has remarkable vision for the future role of Energy Efficiency in decarbonization.
