Scaling business potential with AI

UTAR Department of Consultancy and Commercialisation (DCC) organised an entrepreneurial talk titled “Scaling Business Potential with AI” at UTAR Kampar Campus on 11 March 2019.

Present at the talk were Faculty of Business and Finance (FBF) Department of Marketing Dr Wong Lai Soon, FBF Head of Entrepreneurship Department Ng Yin Kuan, DCC Assistant Manager Esther Thien Pik Kim, academics, staff and students.

Invited to deliver the talk was Franco Gan, a well-known professional in the Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) solution sectors. Gan has also been a Tech Consultant in Asia Pacific Banking, the Blockchain Consultant and ICO Consultant in Asia Pacific from 2013 until present.

The talk aimed to promote mutual learning in topics related to AI and its business potential. Furthermore, it aimed to impart the strong and visible presence of AI among the audience and develop concepts with viral potentials such as smart city, future agriculture, AI recognition and unmanned store.

During the talk, Gan said, “To become an entrepreneur, one must possess sharp and fast thinking skills because the future is not going to wait as it will continuously develop and grow.” He encouraged the participants to familiarise with AI before starting a business. According to Gan, AI can be classified into several categories, namely machine learning (deep learning and predictive analysis), natural language processing (translation, classification and clustering and information extraction), speech (speech to text, text to speech), expert system, planning, scheduling and optimisation, robotics and vision (image recognition and machine vision).

He added, “The AI today is beyond what we learnt at schools, what we see in our daily lives, and far beyond what we have experienced in the past 10 years. AI is not only limited to robots that can talk and understand you but is much deeper than that. Besides, you do not need to be a Computer Science student to understand AI because entrepreneurs come from all types of background, and it all depends on what and how you are going to begin your business.”

Gan also encouraged the participants to have the right vision and passion before venturing into the business world. He advised future entrepreneurs to seek advice from a good AI team, attend AI training development class on a monthly basis (Coursera or Youtube), always prioritise products’ quality over profit, maintain a good relationship with investors and customers, obtain good government support, and pick up a good marketing strategy. He also advised them to be prepared with the transformation of job opportunities in the future besides adapting to the evolvement of technology professionally.

The talk’s Programme Coordinator Thien hopes that the students will gain an eye-opening experience and knowledge of the latest direction of the current market and understand the major role AI plays in the business world. She hopes the student will learn to compare the traditional business model with AI and learn the potential of AI.

The talk ended with a Q&A session and a presentation of token of appreciation by Thien to Gan.

Gan delivering his talk

The participants listening attentively

During the Q&A session

Thien (left) presenting the token of appreciation to Gan

(Second row, third from right) Thien and Gan (fourth from left) with participants