Keynotes

OPENING KEYNOTE Speaker

Prof. Marek Kowalkiewicz

Marek Kowalkiewicz is Professor and Chair in Digital Economy at QUT Business School, and one of Thinkers360’s Top 100 Global AI Thought Leaders. He is the author of The Economy of Algorithms: AI and the Rise of the Digital Minions, winner of the 2024 Australian Business Book Award (Technology). Marek has led global innovation teams in Silicon Valley, founded SAP’s Machine Learning Lab in Singapore, and held research roles at Microsoft Research Asia. His work focuses on helping leaders understand and navigate the business implications of AI and algorithmic systems.

KEYNOTE ABSTRACT

While we’ve been perfecting autonomous driving, the rest of the world has been quietly rewriting the rules of what it means to live and work alongside digital minions. From algorithmic bosses that manage human workforces without ever meeting them, to AI systems that create their own languages when we’re not watching, we’re witnessing experiments in human-machine futures that challenge everything we thought we knew about control, agency, and intelligence.

Professor Marek Kowalkiewicz will take you on a tour through the amazing, the mediocre, and the terrifying realities of our algorithmic age. You’ll meet the new minion masters orchestrating armies of algorithms, witness the “botterfly effect” reshaping entire industries overnight, and discover why some organisations are thriving in this new economy while others are drowning in their own “botshit.”

Drawing from his award-winning book “The Economy of Algorithms,” Marek will reveal how the transformation from human-scale to algorithm-scale operations is creating entirely new forms of work, play, and power. The patterns emerging from this digital revolution might just hold the keys to understanding what comes next. For all of us. Warning: This keynote contains zero speculation about flying cars.

Industry Keynote Speaker

Tim Shih

Tim Shih has been a design leader in the automotive industry for over 25 years. After completing degrees in architecture and transportation design, Tim started his career at Volvo Trucks North America before departing the US in 2000 to work for Johnson Controls’ automotive interiors business in Germany and Japan. In 2006, Tim achieved his childhood dream and went to work for BMW in Munich, Germany. In 2014, he relocated to Shanghai with BMW to lead design for a new EV sub-brand and collect insights from the world’s most dynamic market: China.

Inspired by China’s rapid development, Tim left BMW in 2017 to lead the global design team at Yanfeng, the world’s largest automotive interior supplier with 240 locations and 55,000+ employees worldwide. As Global VP of Design and User Experience, Tim oversaw creative teams in China, Germany, and the US.

In 2022, Tim returned to the US to help care for his parents and his own growing family. He also took the chance to apply his experience toward greater social impact. In addition to new advisory roles, Tim co-founded Mobility Futures Alliance, a US-based non-profit with the vision to improve lives through better transportation.

KEYNOTE ABSTRACT

What does a future look like where ‘happy mobility’ is an integral part of life? This question has become a personal pursuit for Tim Shih, following decades of experience designing emotionally engaging automotive interiors and, more recently, shifting his focus toward mobility systems that improve everyday life.

Through the lens of his design journey, Tim will explore how transportation can be reframed as a powerful force for societal change—rather than simply the movement of people and goods. Drawing on systems thinking and creative visual storytelling, he will share how his team at Mobility Futures Alliance works to build excitement and alignment around mobility futures that move us toward a brighter and more equitable world.

‘Happy mobility’ isn’t just about the journey. When fully realized, it has the potential to change lives and build more vibrant communities. Tim’s keynote will offer an inspiring vision for what transportation can truly become.