Artificial Intelligence, Smart Cities and Fintech Expert
Dr. Ayesha Khanna is Co-Founder and CEO of ADDO AI, an artificial intelligence (AI) solutions firm and incubator. She has been a strategic advisor on artificial intelligence, smart cities and fintech to leading corporations and governments. Ayesha serves on the Board of Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), the Singapore government’s agency that develops and regulates its world-class technology sector to drive the country’s digital economy and power its Smart Nation vision. Ayesha is also a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Councils, a community of international experts who provide thought leadership on the impact and governance of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence.
Smart Cities
In 2017, ADDO AI was featured in Forbes magazine as one of four leading artificial intelligence companies in Asia and Ayesha was named one of South East Asia’s groundbreaking female entrepreneurs by Forbes magazine in 2018. Her clients have included SMRT, Singapore’s largest public transport company; Singtel, Singapore’s largest telco; SOMPO, Japan’s largest insurance firm; Habib Bank, Pakistan’s largest bank; and Smart Dubai, the government agency tasked to transform Dubai into a leading smart city.
Education
In 2014, Ayesha served as a member of the Ministry of Education, Singapore, steering committee resulting in SkillsFuture, Singapore’s innovative national program that aligns education with economic demand, career guidance and lifelong learning to prepare citizens for the fourth industrial revolution. She is Co-Founder of ADDO AI Education, an enterprise training leader that upskills corporate employees and students in data science, data engineering, and applied machine learning with curricula designed by leading academics and experienced industry professionals.
Girls Coding
Ayesha is also the Founder of 21C GIRLS, a charity that delivers free coding and artificial intelligence classes to girls in Singapore. Programs that 21C Girls has partnered in include Code in the Community, a program sponsored by Google and that has taught thousands of children (8 – 14yrs) coding, and Empower, which has partnered with Ngee Ann Polytechnic to teach young adults (18 – 24yrs) the basics of artificial intelligence.
Data Analyst
Prior to founding ADDO AI, Ayesha spent more than a decade on Wall Street developing large scale trading, risk management and data analytics systems. Ayesha was co-founder of the Hybrid Reality Institute, a research and advisory group established to analyze the social and economic impact of accelerating technologies.
Media
Ayesha was featured in ZDF’s (Germany’s largest TV channel) documentary on twelve “Leading Women” around the world (2019). She has been named one of Singapore’s leading female entrepreneurs and a leading Asian fintech influencer by Fintech Asia, and been recently profiled for her work in artificial intelligence in leading publications including Neue Zürcher Zeitung (Switzerland), Focus Magazin (Germany), Corriere della Sera (Italy), Dagens Næringsliv (Norway), Lëtzebuerger Journal (Luxembourg), Computer Sweden (Sweden), Information Age (Nordics), Peak (Cover Story, Singapore), and In The Black (Cover Story, Australia).
Publications
Ayesha is author of Straight Through Processing (2008) and co-author of Hybrid Reality: Thriving in the Emerging Human-Technology Civilization (2012). She has been published and quoted on technology, innovation and smart cities in The New York Times, BusinessWeek, TIME, Newsweek, Forbes, Harvard Business Review, Strategy+Business, and Foreign Policy. She has presented at major financial, technology and other industry conferences, provided high level government briefings, chaired symposiums such as AI Asia, and spoken at TEDx events.
Startup Advisor
She is an advisor to the startups Octa (a chatbot for young travellers) and Arro (a delivery robot for sports).
Education
Ayesha has a BA (honors) in Economics from Harvard University, an MS in Operations Research from Columbia University and a PhD in Information Systems and Innovation from the London School of Economics.
Hybrid Reality: 5 Trends That Will Transform Humanity
In an age of ceaseless technology disruptions, there are deep patterns revealing how technology is reshaping our societies and businesses. In particular, artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality and robotics are breakthrough technologies that will fundamentally alter life and work as we know it. Based on her provocative research, writings and advisory work on the emerging man-machine hybrid age, Ayesha Khanna takes audiences to the frontier of these emerging technologies from macro scenarios of how it will affect organizational culture and business models to how it will impact their lives at a very personal level. This is a mind-blowing look at the world of tomorrow, with lessons both organizations and individuals can take home.
Automation, AI & The Future of Work
Five years from today, which industries will still require human labor and which will be automated to robots and algorithms? How can individuals prepare themselves and be innovative so that they can work effectively with artificial intelligence? As founder of innovation advisory company Technology Quotient (TQ), Ayesha shares her insights into the evolving workplace, emerging industries, and lessons for individuals and teams to add value to the new corporate environment. An essential primer for those who are seeking professional relevance in the 21st century.
Smart & Sustainable Cities: The Future of Urban Living
By 2030, 70 percent of humanity will live in cities, the world’s capital and talent hubs. New technologies such as the Internet of Things and Big Data are being widely deployed in cities new and old, to improve infrastructure and quality of life, and to promote entrepreneurial matchmaking. As a leading expert and advisor on smart cities, Ayesha Khanna will tour today’s most innovative urban hubs and explain how successful future cities will leverage new technologies in ways that make urban life more efficient, sustainable, livable, and productive.
Cultivating a Culture of Innovation: Winning the New Talent War
How can firms create a culture of creativity and entrepreneurial thinking? Successful companies have to motivate employees and freelancers, often in far-flung networks, using new platforms and tools that leverage specialized skills. Meanwhile, the talent wars are intensifying due to both globalization and automation. With close to two decades experience advising leading corporations, Ayesha uses cutting-edge examples from Google and GE to disruptive startups in emerging industries like Fintech, to provide an entertaining and enlightening glimpse into the mind of the 21st-century worker—and how to harness it.
All Ayesha Khanna Books
Straight Through Processing for Financial Services: The Complete Guide
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