Future Asia Business Summit
Join local and international business, policy commentators and thought leaders to discuss economic competitiveness through global engagement, and particularly connections with the continent.
Future Asia Business Summit postponed
The summit is postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. We will update this webpage once new arrangements are in place.
The Future Asia Business Summit is a yearly program, designed to strengthen Sydney-Asia business ties and engage in emerging areas of opportunity. It brings together local and international businesses, government representatives, consular corps and bilateral chambers of commerce.
2019 summit
The theme of the 2019 program was ‘Sydney thriving in a smart Asian century’ on Tuesday 23 and Wednesday 24 July 2019.
The comprehensive 2-day program provided attendees with opportunities to participate in a range of exciting City of Sydney and partnered events centred around the theme.
The headline event for the Future Asia Business Summit was on Tuesday 23 July. The summit explored emerging global trends and key opportunities for Sydney based businesses within the broader smart cities context, with the aim of better facilitating trade and investment flows between Sydney and Asia.
The 2019 summit featured Lee Lin Chin as host and a keynote presentation from Simon Kuestenmacher, director at The Demographics Group, about engaging with the smart cities in Asia and what it means for Sydney.
The panel of business and government leaders unpacked how businesses can capitalise on the next wave of opportunity and discussed lessons from our existing projects:
- Raymond Fan – director, Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, Sydney
- Kylie Bell – executive director, Industry, Trade and Investment, NSW Department of Industry
- Princess Ventura – director, Urbis
- Prof John Nelson – chair, public transport, Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies, University of Sydney
- Mukund Narayanamurti – CEO, Asialink Business
- Tom Grove – managing director, Smove Sydney
- Daniel Fah – managing director, CEO Strategic
- Pip Harley – sustainability engagement manager, City of Sydney.
The final element of the summit was a facilitated collaborative dialogue with the audience to explore opportunities around Asian engagement from individual and collective perspectives.
The official higher education partner of the Future Asia Business Summit 2019 was the University of Sydney.
Program events on Wednesday 24 July included:
- Asia Insights Series by Asialink Business
- Smart Transport Seminar by the University of Sydney.
- Interchange International Student Entrepreneurship talk by The Frank Team.
2018 summit
The 2018 Future Asia Business Summit was held at Sydney Town Hall on 29 May. Bernard Salt AM joined Lord Mayor Clover Moore and a panel of business and government leaders exploring the role of cities driving the global economy.
Bernard's leading work in demographics has given businesses vital insights into societal changes that impact decision-making, while also capturing wide public interest. He explored a number of factors that create global cities, how Sydney plays an influential role in Australia and Asia, and future trends for talent and businesses.
This was followed by exemplars of globally connected cities – Hong Kong and Singapore, with Alan Chan Heng Loon, chairman of Singapore's Land Transport Authority and Bonnie Shek, director of Australia/New Zealand, Hong Kong Trade Development Council. They shared the role of policies, strategies and initiatives of government and the friendship between Singapore and Hong Kong to be globally thriving cities.
The panel took part in discussions around economic competitiveness through global engagement, particularly connections with Asia, sharing innovative ideas and new connections to grow globally and understand how cities support businesses in international engagement.
This event was part of the Global Sydney program, produced by the City of Sydney.
