Erik Walenza is the CEO of IoT ONE Inc., the Chair of the Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) Smart Factory Task Group (SFTG), and the Shanghai Director of Startup Grind. IoT ONE is a leading source of information and insight regarding Industrial Internet of Things vendors and solutions. Companies work with IoT ONE to develop their customer bases, partner ecosystems, and innovation strategies. As Chair of the IIC SFTG, Erik works with IIC members to reduce the risk for early adopters of Industrial IoT technologies in manufacturing. Through Startup Grind Erik supports the development of Shanghai's innovation ecosystem.

Samuel Ngai joined Danaher in late 2018 in the role of Vice President, China Innovation Center.

Prior to Danaher, Samuel served as the Asia-Pacific Corporate Development and Integration Lead at Thermo Fisher Scientific. Prior to his assignments in Asia, Samuel was a M&A and venture capital (VC) professional in Silicon Valley, with experience spanning across US, Europe and Asia. Early in his career, Samuel worked as a strategy consultant in the US health care industry and as a lab researcher at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF).

Samuel received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and B.S. degree from University of California at Berkeley, all in Biochemical Engineering. Samuel currently serves on MIT’s Graduate Alumni Council and was the President of the MIT Club of Shanghai from 2018 to 2020. Samuel also serves as the Vice-Chair of the Technology and Innovation Committee at the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai.

Dr. Shameen Prashantham is a Professor of International Business and Strategy and Associate Dean (MBA) at China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) in Shanghai, China. Prior to joining CEIBS, he taught at Nottingham University Business School (NUBS) China and the University of Glasgow. He pursued doctoral and post-doctoral research at Strathclyde University in Glasgow, Scotland.

Prof. Prashantham is best known for his work on partnering between large corporations and startups – which he refers to as “dancing with gorillas.” This focus evolved from his extensive research on new venture internationalization. He is also interested in strategy-as-practice and is currently focused on partnerships that contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Mingke Luo founded MRS.ai, aiming to provide a candidate framework for the next web: The AI Network.

MRS.ai is a startup alumni of BMW StartupGarage, Intel GrowthX Accelerator & Visa Everywhere Initiative, and it is currently in stealth mode.

Oscar Ramos, an entrepreneur-turned-investor, is Partner at SOSV,  Managing Director of Chinaccelerator, and Partner at MOX. Chinaccelerator is the cross-border internet arm of venture capital fund SOSV ($1.1B AUM) , where Oscar invests broadly across enterprise SaaS and cross-border internet startups, manages the accelerator program, and serves on the Board of Directors of several portfolio companies. In his current role, Oscar has made investment decisions and helped accelerate the growth of 160+ startups. 

A “full-stack innovator” with expertise ranging from technology and product design to corporate strategy and venture capital, Oscar built and led his own micro-VC fund investing in early-stage Chinese startups prior to joining SOSV Chinaccelerator. He began his career in the corporate sector working in R&D with Ericsson and Telefonica in deep-tech applications such as mobile network protocols, cybersecurity, RF and bio-technology. His passion for innovation propelled him to move to China in early 2008 and drop out of his Biomedical Ph.D. program to start his first venture. Since then, he has since been involved in various areas of innovation as an entrepreneur, investor, and advisor to startups and multinationals. He currently sits on the Board of multiple startups. He holds a Masters of Engineering in Telecommunication from UPM.