Agenda

Helen Ng has a background in international development and public policy with experience in program management and consulting for various organizations like the United Nations and City of Vaughan. Helen has also been involved in founding global networks and managing city data initiatives. Helen holds a Master's degree in International Development and a Bachelor's degree in Public Policy.

Benjamin is a trained physicist and deep tech enthusiast. He has twenty years of experience in contributing to cutting-edge technological developments, with a focus on healthcare and quantum technologies.  
 
Benjamin leads the Business Development Section of CERN’s Knowledge Transfer (KT) Group. KT engages with experts at CERN and outside the Organization, in science, technology and industry, to create opportunities for the transfer of CERN’s technologies and know-how. The goal is to accelerate innovation and maximise the global positive impact of CERN on society. 

Karen McCabe is a Senior Director of Technology Policy at the IEEE Standards Association (IEEE SA), a global standards developing body within the IEEE, the world’s largest technical professional organization. Karen has 30 years of experience working at the nexus of mission-driven organizations, industry, NGOs and government bodies to raise awareness, educate and build capacity among stakeholders in the technology sphere. 

In her current capacity, she leads efforts in engaging global technology initiatives, aiming to foster collaboration between various stakeholders, including governments, industry, NGOs and intergovernmental bodies. Her work emphasizes connecting the technical community and policy makers to standardization efforts. Her portfolio of work encompasses sustainability, climate action, digital transition, energy transition, AI systems, and global standards in policy and trade.  She leads IEEE’s engagement in the United Nations and other international and intergovernmental bodies, including the OECD and the Council of Europe, with the aim to align technological standards with policy to benefit society and promote responsible technological development and deployment.

Maarten Botterman is a global leader in Internet governance with 25+ years of experience advising governments and organizations on the societal, economic, and technological impacts of internet innovations. He has authored over 100 publications on topics from telecom policy to data privacy and AI. Maarten champions the responsible use of digital technologies for a sustainable, inclusive future. He serves on the ICANN Board and the Marconi Society Resilience Board, and supports cyber capacity-building via the GFCE. His previous roles span the RAND Corporation, European Commission, and multiple governance boards including PIR and NLnet. As Chair of the IGF IoT Coalition, he fosters global dialogue on emerging technologies. He lives in Rotterdam with his family and is committed to public-interest digital policy. 

Dr. Ian Oppermann is the Chair of the IEC Market Strategy Board (MSB). The IEC MSB identifies and investigates principle technological trends and market needs in IEC's fields of activity, to inform and guide the roadmap for the organization’s work, and as part of the MSB, Dr Opperman has done extensive work on resilience issues and virtualizing power systems.  
 
He has been a long-standing member of the IEC community, currently serving as Chair of Australia’s IEC National Committee and an IEC Board member.  He is considered a thought leader in the area of data, AI and the digital economy. He has served as the New South Wales (NSW) government’s Chief Data Scientist and the CEO of the NSW Data Analytics Centre (DAC). He is the co-founder of ServiceGen, helping governments accelerate digital service delivery and also an industry professor at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) where he heads the Connectivity Innovation Network (CIN).

Mike Mullane is the Deputy Director of Communications at the IEC and has extensive experience in public affairs and strategic communications. 
 
He originally trained as a broadcast journalist and spent most of his career in public service media before joining the IEC. 
 
He is passionate about raising awareness of the role of international standards in addressing the concerns of society about AI and emerging technologies.