His Excellency, Mr. Heng Sokkung is the Secretary of State of the Ministry of Industry, Science, Technology & Innovation of the Kingdom of Cambodia. Before serving this portfolio, he used to be the Undersecretary of State of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunication, Undersecretary of State and then Secretary of State of the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy and Ministry of Industry and Handicraft. He was the first Cambodian Speaker in the High-Level Regional Policy Dialogue on the Food, Fuel Crisis and Climate Change: Reshaping the Development Agenda in 2008 in Bali, Indonesia, organized by the UN. He has been a member of the National Committee for the United Nations Economics and Social Commission of the Asia and the Pacific (UN-ESCAP) since 2008. He is also a speaker in various UN and International Dialogues and Forums. 

H.E. Heng Sokkung graduated with a bachelor degree in Public Law from the Royal University of Law and Economics in 2000, and Medical Doctor Degree in 2003 from the Royal University of Health Science and he later earned his Master Degree in Public Law and his PhD Degree in Leadership and Management from Atlantic International University, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. He continued his Leadership and Management academy in many countries such as First Regional Leadership course for young leader in governance in Thailand, Professional Project Management in UK, CLMV Young Leadership Program in Institute for International Studies and Training (IIST), Japan, and Leadership and Policy Study in National Graduate Institute for Policy Study, GRIPS, Japan.

Alex Glennie is the Senior Policy Manager at Nesta’s Innovation Growth Lab. She leads engagement work with an international network of innovation policymakers, supporting them to embed experimentation practices in how they work and facilitating learning opportunities between them. Over the past 5 years she has conducted comparative international research on inclusive innovation policies, and worked with government innovation agencies around the world on strategy and policy. She is the co-author of a forthcoming book on inclusive innovation, due to be published by Routledge in 2022 as part of their Innovation and Technology Horizons series.

Rupa Chanda is Director of the Trade, Investment and Innovation Division. Prior to that, she was a Professor of Economics at IIM Bangalore and the Dean of Programmes at the institute. She has worked as an Economist at the IMF and briefly served as the Head of the UNESCAP Subregional Office for South and South-West Asia in New Delhi. Prof. Chanda received her PhD in Economics from Columbia University and her Bachelor’s from Harvard University. She teaches Macroeconomics and International Trade and has received teaching awards. Her research interests include the WTO, trade in services, regional integration and migration. She has undertaken research and professional assignments for international and Indian organizations and has published extensively in the form of books, journal articles, book chapters, and reports. She is active professionally as a research guide, reviewer, and member of several expert committees. She was a member of the WHO’s Review Committee on the functioning of the International Health Regulations (2015-16) and  the WHO’s Expert Advisory Group, International Recruitment of Health Personnel (2019-20).

Prof. Anil K Gupta is the founder of the Honey Bee Network and a visiting faculty member at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He has also worked with the government of India to establish the National Innovation Foundation, which holds national competitions to encourage new inventors and helps sustain them through the National Micro Venture Innovation Fund.

He facilitated the Festival of Innovation & Entrepreneurship (FINE) through NIFindia.org, hosted by the office of President of India at The President’s House (March 19-23, 2018); pursues research on sustainable natural and institutional resource management, building global value chain to get the grassroots and youthful creativity its due; links technology youth with the problems of MSMEs, and other innovators (techpedia.sristi.org), unlocks corporate and public/private institutional creativity through empathetic open reciprocal innovations, and supports strategic organizations for making breakthroughs innovations.

Prof. Gupta’s mission is to expand the global as well as local space for innovations from and for grassroots, link ideas in the informal and formal sectors, ensure recognition, respect and reward for creative communities, individuals, children and tech students etc.; augmenting open innovations by individuals, institutions, corporations, and countries through frugal, flexible and friendly empathetic platforms.

Elizabeth Stuart is the Executive Director of Digital Pathways at Oxford and previously performed the same role for the Pathways for Prosperity Commission, which was co-chaired by philanthropist Melinda Gates, tech entrepreneur Strive Masiyiwa and Indonesian finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati. Before joining the Blavatnik School of Government, she was the director of growth, poverty and inequality at the Overseas Development Institute (ODI); director of policy and research for Save the Children UK; and spent seven years in Washington DC running the Oxfam International office. She was formerly a financial journalist for the Guardian newspaper and the BBC. She also has an undergraduate degree in modern languages, and masters degrees in literature and politics.

Marta Pérez Cusó leads ESCAP’s programme on inclusive technology and innovation policies to promote technologies and innovations that leave no one behind. She also leads ESCAP’s work on promoting enabling policy environments for inclusive business in ASEAN.

She has over 18 years’ work experience with the United Nations providing policy advice on science, technology and innovation (STI) and information and communication technology policies to governments across Asia and Latin America.

Before joining ESCAP, Ms. Pérez Cusó worked with UNCTAD and Oxfam GB. She holds an MSc in Development Management, Open University UK and is fluent in Spanish, English, French and Catalan.