To the right, Dr. Chai Kah-Hin, Associate Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering of the Engineering and Technology Management Division, at the National University of Singapore (NUS), at the 8th IEEE International Conference on Management of Innovation and Technology (ICMIT2016), Bangkok, Thailand. Assoc. Professor Chai is the conference program chair, and in 2014, he was awarded Outstanding Reviewer for Managing Service Quality in the Emerald Literati Network 2014 Awards for Excellence. To the left, Dr. Cheryl Marie Cordeiro, present as session chair to “Service Innovation and Management”, and paper presenter.
Text & Photo © JE Nilsson, CM Cordeiro, Sweden 2016
The 8th IEEE International Conference on Management of Innovation and Technology (ICMIT2016) took place between 19 to 22 September in Bangkok, Thailand. The conference was initiated by the IEEE Engineering Management Society Singapore Chapter in 2000 that sees countries within the region of Southeast-Asia as event host locations. Focusing on the tripronged framework of science, technology and innovation (STI), the eleven tracks of the ICMIT2016 conference provides a platform for insight exchange of the latest developments in the field of innovation and technology management for scholars and practitioners alike.
There were four keynote speakers this year, with Moren Lévesque, Professor of Operations Management and Information Systems and CPA Ontario Chair in International Entrepreneurship, York University, Canada, delivering the conference’s opening keynote on “Managing New Technology Using Malleable profit Function”. Professor Lévesque’s love of mathematics is infectious. Her passion from her early days in research delves into demonstrating how mathematics can be used as a tool for theory development in the broader discipline of organization science and management. In her view, organisational research makes too little use of mathematics [1] to describe social phenomena. She hopes that her work will encourage in others, a deeper appreciation of mathematical models that can be used to structure, describe and analyse theories in organisational studies.
In connecting academia to industry, several keynote speakers were invited to present the industry perspective on innovation and technology. Isada Hiranwiwatkul, Partner and Managing Director of The Boston Consulting Group’s (BCG) Financial Services practice in Thailand shared the BCG perspective on digital strategy and organization growth. Some questions addressed in Hiranwiwarkul’s keynote lecture was if wealth managers should focus on improving existing businesses or exploring new technological frontiers? Should the focus be on the short term (the next 12 months) or on the longer term (the next two to five years)? More insights into the answers on these questions can also be found in BCG’s 2015 Global Wealth 2015 [2].
The conference was concluded by a joint academic and industry panel discussion on the topic of “Ecosystems for STI-based Start-ups and Entrepreneurs Development”, but not before the conference highlight, which was a dinner followed by a theatre performance at the Siam Niramit village. The performance takes visitors through a brief visualisation of the history of Thailand, journeying from north to south of the country, in illustration of the myriad of cultures that co-exist in today’s Thailand. The colourful performance is in itself a valuable cultural learning and exchange between visitors, and the people who come from the various cultures of Thailand.
Moren Lévesque, Professor of Operations Management and Information Systems and CPA Ontario Chair in International Entrepreneurship, York University, Canada, delivering the conference’s opening keynote on “Managing New Technology Using Malleable profit Function”.
A research question addressed by Moren Lévesque, in her ICMIT2016 opening keynote lecture on “Managing New Technology Using Malleable profit Function”.
Title of presentation by Dr. Cheryl Marie Cordeiro at ICMIT2016.
The ICMIT2016 conference dinner was followed by a theatre performance on the history of Thailand, at Siam Niramit.
A dancer costumed as a fish at the Siam Niramit performance. In Thailand, fish is of such fundamental importance to the people that it is said, to eat fish is to eat rice, both entities are indivisible in Thai folklore.
References
[1] Lévesque, M. (2004). Mathematics, theory, and entrepreneurship. Journal of Business Venturing, 19(5), 743-765. doi:10.1016/S0883-9026(03)00028-4
[2] Beardsley, B. / Becerra, J. / Burgoni, F. / Holley, B. / Kessler, D. / Muxi, F. / Naumann, M. / Tang, T. / Xavier, A. and Zakrzewski, A. (2015). Global Wealth 2015: Winning the Growth Game, June 2015. The Boston Consulting Group, BCG Perspectives. Internet resource at http://on.bcg.com/1HKmEna. Retrieved 24 Sept. 2016.