Nexus 2007: Live from NTUC Conference Centre

Here is a live session from the Nexus 2007 conference. We will be covering the event on the fly and do note the latest updates from the NTUC Conference Centre, 1 Marina Boulevard.

9.00 am:
The conference starts.

9:30 am:
Nathan Torkington: Started with his background. His first slide is on spotting trends, tracing history froom 1998 to 2005. Talked about the simple story of web 2.0, by talking about applications move to the web. Now he moves on the tools of web 2.0, and starts to talk about AJAX, the tools that help to evolve richer interfaces such that people have easier access to data from anything with an internet connection, for e.g. iTunes. Now he moves on about how the internet has made distribution easy that break away from traditional distribution models. With the internet, you can automate your application such that it can be analyzed easily. He emphasizes the important of designers to come up with websites that consumers will find easy to use.

9:35 am: He is talking about the competitive advantage of web 2.0 companies now. He talks about the example of Google. Now the next line of the slide, “Data is the Intel inside”.

9:40 am:
Now our favourite side. Nathan emphasizes the importance of open source. He talks about the inventors having the pre-requisite of using ruby on rails and AJAX. He urges the audience to appreciate and recognize the importance of open source.

9:45 am:
The time of the Moore’s law is over. “The future is here, it’s not just evenly distributed.” - William Gibson. He talks about the importance of alpha geeks. Now he flashed out about the news site: TechMeme and del.icio.us. Now the quotes from Ray Wurtzeil and George Bernard Shaw. Will put it up later.

“I’m an inventor. I became interested in long-term trends because an invention has to make sense in the world in which it’s finished, not the world in which it started.” - Ray Kurzweil

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable man adapts the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” - George Bernard Shaw

9:50 am:
The talk is over now. Now Chin Su Yuen and Ming Yeow from the organizing team of Nexus are invited to talk about the Nexus 2007 conference. Ming Yeow talks about the culture of The Digital Movement: creation of small communities and getting people to be excited about innovation. He mentioned the earlier pre-event GeekOut, where he talks about his experience in meeting the innovators. He offered the example of Sivam, the CEO of Genometri.

Ming Yeow thanks YOU on behalf of the organizing team for the content! He now thanks the core members of his team. Su Yuen thanks the sponsors, particularly

9:55 am
Now the first panel begins. Wilson Tan, the moderator, starts to get the audience for the panel, “The New Asia Pacific” where regional leaders discuss the emerging opportunities in the flat world. He introduces David Dan (Intel China) aka Mr Transformer, Saw Ken Wye (VP, Microsoft) aka Mr Connector, Girija Pande (Regional Head, Tata Consultancy Services) aka Mr Adaptor and David Miller (Senior VP, Lenovo Group) aka Mr Conductor.

David Miller start the ball rolling with his background, and talks about the IBM with the first personal computer in 1986 (which costs US$1500 at that time). He talks about the story of Silicon Valley and how the big companies move to outsource their operations and today, he talks about the speed of innovation. He marvelled at the new gadgets coming out today for example, the mobile phones and also talking how his daughters are using online chatting via VOIP and doing their MySpace profiles. He is looking forward to talk about the opportunities of southeast asia.

Girija Pande is next on the list. He started talking about his background too. He talks about how Tata Consultancy is formed in 1968 with the mission of writing software. Another history lesson from him as well. He talks about how the global delivery of software has changed, with the centres in India, China, Singapore and US.

Saw Ken Wye (VP, Microsoft) now starts with his story. He talks about how he started studying engineering and heard about the invention of the Apple computer. He told the audience that he did not have formal training in computers but he managed to get a job in the government sector. He thought that he would do it for 2 years but ended up for 14 years. The programming language of his time is COBOL. He made a joking remark about artificial intelligence. Now he talked about how he ended up in Microsoft, and came to realize that there are so many boats out there at different points of time.

Nathan passed me a quote from Richard Branson while I am live blogging (So, you know where BL, our live blogger is sitting): “Business opportunities are like buses. There’s always another one coming.” - Richard Branson

Now it’s the last panellist, David Dan, who talks about his industry in China. He remarks that China is moving towards innovation and high technology in the same way how Japan did years back. He thinks that there is an opportunity for everyone in this new emerging landscape. When is China becoming a market driven industry? His answer is now. He emphasized the importance of the Chinese government in the long term strategic plan of China and how they are receptive to new initiatives and change. Another history lesson, he talks about how the Chinese government has opened themselves to western management style in 1994. His advice to young professional: (i) Recognize China and India and their resources and the need to engage them, (ii) learning how to incorporate with Chinese partners, know more about Chinese culture and government and (iii) you need to start connecting and engage to do something to integrate their resources with your resources, so that China is a good partner to you.

10.30 am:
Wilson asks the panel for more thoughts about the opportunities available on the China and India markets. Girija talks about the growth of China and India, who believes that these countries will provide a strong foundation in the Asian economy. He talks about the emerging collaboration between China and India, with the synergy of building different industries, and talks about the Chinese president visiting India with the comment, “China build the hardware and India built the software.” Now he brings in a new term, “Chindia” (a mix between China and India) and talks about how the younger generation of these countries will drive innovation in mobile business (China) and mobile software (India).

David Miller now talks about how the small medium enterprises in the region now go to the big Chinese and Indian market. There is a lot of activity going on in other countries, which he raised the example of Vietnam. He notices about the trend with lack of management and shortage of labour in these developing countries and believes that education is a key ingridient for people who seek opportunities in these markets.

Now Wilson starts with the 2nd question, “How to get the talent? What kind of people and talent are we looking for in these industries?” Girija starts the ball rolling with those graduate fresh out of university, are the first group of people and experienced professionals (with industry experience) are the second of people who understands how the technology interfaces with the businesses. David Dan remarks that there is a huge demand for people for China because the Chinese are moving outside to other markets. He thinks that Singaporeans are ideal for these opportunities. David Dan believes that project management is a critical area which the Asian market need.

Saw Ken Wye talks about the changing business models, for example, software as a service (SaaS). He remarks that the advertising model is changing with times.

Now the panel is open to the floor.

“What is the companies and southeast asian governments doing to grow the open source community?” Saw Ken Wye makes the distinction between open source and commercial software. David Miller talks about the partnership with foundations to grow the open source community in the emerging southeast asian countries, particularly in getting the young entrepreneurs into growing their ideas. Saw Ken Wye urges not to make open source a religion. Girija notes about the opportunities on how to tackle open source, first the big companies adopting and innovating on open source, and second, the governments in delivering their services through the use of information technology. So, there is a trend commercially to drive open source, mainly coming from China.

Wilson ask, “Why are these corporations and governments pushing open source?” Girija comments that the business model and pricing provide the incentives to move into open source. He also talks about the flexibility of open source that allows more innovation to happen. David Miller talks about the costs of labour are lower and the decision for the companies to adopt open source is whether they can afford the labour.

Su Yuen asks the panel, “How to make the information relevant to Singapore?” David Miller remarks that Singapore is now a hub for technology within the region. He talks about the Citigroup in US brings people from Singapore to US with respect to innovation. David also follows up that Singapore is still a turf for outsourcing requirements (because of stability).

Finally, Wilson asks the panel for their last words on open source whether it is a threat or opportunity and how it is relevant to Singapore. Saw Ken Wye believes that Singapore is good for safe things, but we are not good at creating new things. With regards to web 2.0, he does not know where we are going, and raised the example of 3G, and lastly his thoughts on open source, where he believes that there is opportunity to open source.

David Dan talks about the good effects of globalisation, as in hiring people with diverse backgrounds and experience. He used David Miller as an example for Lenovo. He feels that the younger generation needs to have a grasp of the business models and how the young should look to the virtual worlds for new opportunities.

David Miller acknowledges that he is a by-product of globalisation. He talks about Lenovo started in 1994 and how they are moving to become global, rather than national expansion. He thinks that there is a merger between the east and west mentality. He remarks that people should think about developing solutions for business problems rather than hovering on whether you should adopt open source or not.

Girija is the last man to speak. He remarks that a lot of people talks about India as the ideal location for offshoring and China as the ideal location for outsourcing. Most people will ask him what is there to remain for Singapore. He thinks that the model is too simplistic and uses an example in Singapore bringing innovation to their shores. He thinks that innovative business models can be just as important as new technologies. He thinks that we should stay connected and try to do things differently.

Wilson thanks the audience for participating in the panel. He concludes the panel.

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