INNOVATION PNG 2025

What's on the Agenda?

This year, Innovation PNG 2025 delves into critical topics shaping the future of business, government, and society. Through expert presentations, dynamic panel discussions, and engaging Q&A sessions, we'll explore:

Harnessing AI to transform industries
Cyber-security in an evolving digital age
Digitisation and e-Government for efficient public services
Sustainability with innovative, eco-friendly solutions
Fintech and its role in modern economies
Boosting Productivity in a competitive landscape
Connectivity and cloud services for seamless operation
Funding your innovation, and much more!

Join us for a thought-provoking program that inspires action and drives positive change.

Register Now

Speakers

Our speaker lineup will be announced progressively so please keep an eye out.

Our international speakers include:

Mark Pesce - futurist

Mark Pesce co-invented the technology for 3D on the Web and has written ten books, including Getting Started with ChatGPT and AI Chatbots (2023) and Augmented Reality: Unboxing Tech’s Next Big Thing ( 2024). He was for seven years a judge on ABC TV's "The New Inventors" program, is a multiple-award-winning columnist and a professional futurist and public speaker. He has founded graduate programs at both the University of Southern California and the Australian Film, Radio and Television School, holding appointments as Honorary Associate at the University of Sydney, and Honorary Adjunct at UTS. Pesce brings his skills as a futurist to diverse sectors of the economy, including business ranging from CBA, World Bank, Essential Energy and v2Food, while also mentoring startups.

At Innovation PNG 2025, Mark will be talking about the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and how it can be best used by business and government.

Vignesh Kumar -

Co-Managing Partner, GD1

Vignesh Kumar is a Co-Managing Partner at New Zealand-based venture capital firm GD1. At GD1, Vignesh focuses on emerging technology, where he is an investor in, and board member of, several innovative companies. Prior to GD1, and after successfully overcoming his own 9-month battle with blood cancer, he co-founded Journey Health, a digital health patient-reported outcomes platform for oncology care. Prior to this, Vignesh was based in Cupertino and led hardware execution for Apple across the US and Asia for its portable line of products, and was a product design engineer at Fisher & Paykel Healthcare. A native of India, Vignesh grew up across Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea and Auckland, New Zealand.

At Innovation PNG 2025, Vignesh will be talking about financing innovation and how PNG entrepreneurs can get their ideas "investor-ready".

Aditya Bhagat -

CEO & Co-founder, Affinsys AI

Aditya Bhagat is a seasoned financial technology professional with over 20 years of experience in the financial services industry. Throughout his career, he has been instrumental in scaling startups from inception to category leaders, notably with companies like i-flex and Kony, across more than 50 countries.

As the CEO and Co-founder of BankBuddy.ai, Aditya leads the development of AI-driven solutions aimed at enhancing customer experiences for financial institutions worldwide. His passion lies in leveraging artificial intelligence to transform the way banks interact with their customers, ensuring more personalized and efficient services. Under his leadership, BankBuddy.ai has emerged as a key player in the fintech space, driving innovation and setting new standards in customer engagement.

At Innovation PNG 2025, Aditya will talk about what PNG can learn from the approach of Dubai, which has become a world centre for technological innovation.

Kevin Jessop - Lead FPM Solution Specialist, Asia Pacific, IBM

Kevin is one of IBM’s leading Performance Management solutions architects and is renowned for his knowledge of planning applications best practices and the use of technology in business analytics. He has 25+ years’ experience in selling, designing and implementing planning solutions around the world.

At Innovation PNG 2025, Kevin will be talking about how global IT powerhouse IBM is using AI to enhance its powerful business analysis tools to give businesses and governments major new insights.

Sarah Foo, Head of Sales - Asia, Xero

From a humble startup in New Zealand in 2006, Xero has grown to be one of the world's leading providers of cloud accounting software, with over 4.3 million customers and a market capitalisation of AUD$27 billion.Originally from New Zealand, Sarah relocated to Asia in 2011 and held roles with KPMG in Shanghai, Singapore, Auckland and Hong Kong before joining Xero. She has over 18 years’ accounting and technology experience gained across the Asia Pacific region.

At Innovation PNG 2025, Sarah be making a virtual presentation on the keys to Xero's worldwide success and how it is deploying AI and other technologies to create the business software of the future.

Tim Solly - Sales and Commercial Director, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners Papua New Guinea

Tim Solly is a dynamic leader in the field of sales and marketing, currently serving as the Sales and Marketing Director and the Country Lead Manager in PNG. With a wealth of experience spanning twenty-three years, Tim has held key positions in various industries, including Information Technology, Consulting, and Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG).

Tim started his career with Coca-Cola Europacific Partners PNG in 2019 as the Head of People & Culture and later took on an additional role as Head of Public Affairs, Communications & Sustainability for PNG which showcased his valuable skills in guiding the company through challenging times, such as the COVID pandemic.

In his current role, Tim is focused on driving growth and building strong customer relationships. He employs a customer-centric approach, streamlining sales and marketing activations, and ensuring brand compliance. He is passionate about people development and continues to drive capability building initiatives to enhance the skills of the CCEP PNG workforce.

Local Speakers

PNG-based Speakers include:

Tarik Boudiaf, CEO, Digicel PNG – the new CEO of PNG’s largest telco
Sundar Ramamurthy, CEO and founder, Sola Paygo – an innovation in payments for electricity
Nellie Varmari, Founder, Central Mamina Coffee – an innovation SME in agribusiness

Business Advantage International

Business Advantage International (BAI) has been actively involved in promoting business in PNG and the Pacific internationally since 2005. We publish the acclaimed annual Business Advantage Papua New Guinea investment guide in addition to PNG’s top-ranked business media, businessadvantagepng.com and Air Niugini’s Paradise in-flight magazine. We also host the Papua New Guinea Investment Conference annually in Brisbane.

ADDRESS

Australia

Business Advantage International Pty Ltd
Level 20, 31 Queen Street
Melbourne, Victoria 3000
Australia

P: +61 426 426 934

Papua New Guinea

c/o PGS, Level 1, ADF Haus
Musgrave Street
Port Moresby, NCD

P: +675 320 0673