Keynote Speakers
Dr. Salvatore Capasso is a development economist whose research explores how institutions, markets, and trust influence economic growth, alongside the role of the Mediterranean in shaping global economic transformations.
Dr. Salvatore Capasso graduated from Naples and holds two PhDs, one from Naples and the other from Manchester. Dr. Salvatore Capasso began his academic career focusing on financial markets, economic growth, and the interrelation between finance and development. Since then, a core question has driven his work: why do some societies successfully translate opportunities into development while others fail to do so? Over the years, this question has become the cornerstone of his research, which has progressively expanded from financial dynamics to institutions, and ultimately to large-scale economic and social transformations.
His research consistently leads to the same conclusion: economic development is determined not merely by available resources, but by the quality of institutions, regulatory frameworks, and the trust that enables economic cooperation. From this perspective, Dr. Salvatore Capasso has examined financial development, the shadow economy, corruption, taxation, and, more recently, the Mediterranean as a laboratory for major geo-economic transformations. The findings of this research are documented in over 150 scientific publications, including more than 70 articles in peer-reviewed international journals and the annual *Mediterranean Economies* report, published by Il Mulino.
Since April 1, 2023, Dr. Salvatore Capasso has served as Director of the Department of Social Sciences and Humanities, Cultural Heritage of the National Research Council (CNR), managing fifteen institutes and approximately nine hundred personnel. His stated objective is to elevate Italian humanistic and social science research to its rightful international standing—and to ensure its weight in public decision-making processes.
Dr. Sian Lun Lau received his Dr.-Ing. and MSc in Electrical Communication Engineering from the University of Kassel, Germany. He also holds a BEng with Hons in Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS).
During his nine years (2004 – 2013) as a researcher at the Chair for Communication Technology (ComTec) at the University of Kassel, he has worked and managed various German National- and EU-funded research projects. Among them are EU IST-MobiLife, ITEA S4ALL, BMBF MATRIX and EU-SEAM4US.
He joined Sunway University, Malaysia, in February 2013 as a senior lecturer and Head of the Department of Computing and Information Systems until March 2021. He is currently a Professor at the Department of Smart Computing and Cyber Resilience at the Faculty of Engineering and Technology.
He is currently a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and serves as the Vice Chair of the IEEE Computer Society Malaysia Chapter for the term 2023/2024 and 2025/2026. His research interests include ubiquitous computing, sustainable smart city, context-awareness, and applied machine learning. His recent research projects include EDUFI ImpactXChange, ISPF BEST, EDUFI SustHack, MOSTI TED2 RADIC and US DOD DeepSpray+.