Beyond the Pilot: Turning AI into Sustainable Business Value
Co-organized by HKUST Business School, HEC Paris, and the Yale Club of Hong Kong, this event brings together alumni and business leaders to discuss how organisations can turn AI experiments into real business results. Participants will explore the practical challenges of adoption, including governance, compliance, people, culture, and data, as well as why successful pilots often struggle to scale across different markets and business units. The session will also examine how leaders can close the gap between strategy and frontline execution to create lasting business value from AI.
Facilitator
Prof. Joon Nak Choi is an Adjunct Associate Professor at HKUST Business School whose work in AI, analytics, and innovation spans leading academic research, award-winning teaching, corporate advisory engagements, and AI startup leadership. He has held academic appointments at Stanford and NYU Shanghai, and holds an AB from Brown and a PhD from Stanford.
Panelists
Shaun Xue is Co-founder and Chief Product & AI Officer of aulius.ai, where he helps enterprises turn AI from strategy into solutions that sit inside real workflow and create measurable business value. Before Aulius, Shaun spent more than a decade at JPMorganChase in strategic investments and investment banking. Shaun received an MBA from Yale and BA from Fudan.
Phil McManus is Director of Strategic Planning at NTT Com Asia and Chair of Innovation & Technology at the British Chamber of Commerce in HK. An HKUST BBA graduate and doctoral candidate at City U, he invests in the digital infrastructure to strengthen HK’s role as a leading AI and financial centre.
John Liu advises Neuron Digital, an Arup spinout, on strategic business development and AI solutions for smart cities. Previously, he held roles as Head of Digital Service and Segment Lead at Schneider Electric and an Associate Director of Digital Transformation at HKBN. John holds an MSc in Innovation and Entrepreneurship from HEC Paris and is completing an MSc in Major Programme Management at the University of Oxford.