Dr. Siyang Luo, the managing director, general manager, and CEO of Shanghai Infortech Software Development Co. Ltd., has established himself as a leading researcher and entrepreneur in the sphere of IT solutions, specifically by leveraging the power of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence in novel ways.
In our recent interview with Dr. Luo, we turned our focus to the trajectory of his career thus far and his skillful navigation of the contemporary business world.
With an impressive work ethic and a keen eye for entrepreneurial opportunities, Dr. Luo has already achieved a great deal, and even so, he remains ambitious and hungry for knowledge.
Let’s take a look at what he had to say about some of the most pivotal moments of his career so far.
Was there a specific moment when you decided on your career path, or was it something that evolved over the course of your work experience?
I started my grad school study by taking online grad school programs as well as working simultaneously since 2018. In a lesson during my grad school study, I learned about patent applications and intellectual property. Then I decided to work on submitting patent applications for my inventions after I learned and started to have a consciousness of protecting my own Intellectual Properties.
You’ve initiated multiple business partnerships during your career. What would you say are some of the key skills required to build these kinds of relationships with other companies?
One of the key requirements is to never stop learning new things. I have never stopped learning new technical material academically after I get onto a managerial position. Therefore, I am able to keep up with new trends in technological developments and inventions, which helps me understand my business partners’ core technological needs.
In a more general sense, would you say that communication and negotiation skills have been vital to your work?
I communicate and negotiate with different business partners from different countries, and some of these are Global 500 companies. I believe it is very vital to study new trends of technological developments, as well as let business partners know about your reliability as a tech service provider.
Our company provides software development services to seven different countries and regions. Some are developed countries and some are developing countries. So, we also need to check each country’s situation, each country’s laws governing the high-tech industry, and each country’s ethical implications standards of AI and Big Data applications before negotiation.
How would you define the entrepreneurial spirit?
The entrepreneurial spirit empowers academic knowledge to become practical applications. It’s an innate feeling of curiosity about how you can use the knowledge of your field to enter the marketplace and better the world by creating and selling your own products and services.
Do you find inspiration in the work of other entrepreneurs and tech industry leaders?
I do. I’ve collaborated with Dr. Defeng Sun. He is the Head and Chair Professor of Applied Optimization and Operations Research from the Department of Applied Mathematics at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Also, he is a fellow of SIAM and CSIAM. And, yes, I do find inspiration in his work. He is a genius in the field of mathematics and software. His work on building supply chain software inspired me a great deal.
Has there been a specific project or initiative whose success feels representative of your professional abilities?
Yes. Recently, I finished my PhD-study SCI paper “Spatial Graph Attention Network-based Spatio-temporal Flow Prediction for Retail Big Data”. This SCI paper was published in IEEE Access, a top-tier international journal. This SCI paper includes the details of this project which feels representative of my professional abilities. Details can be viewed at this link.
What has been one of the most pivotal decisions of your career so far, and how did you go about making this decision?
The most pivotal decision of my career so far was that I decided to become a managing director/general manager/CEO of Shanghai Infortech Software Development Co., Ltd., which is a high-tech enterprise centered on the Chinese mainland, providing IT solutions and services to Southeast Asia.
Founded in 1998, the company is headquartered in Shanghai, with branches in Qingdao, Guangzhou, Kuala Lumpur, and other regions. In 2012, for the rapid development of the company, it formally introduced the investment of Japanese joint-stock company NTT DATA, one of the Global 500 companies, to break into the international market more quickly. So far, it has provided corresponding products and solutions for dozens of well-known enterprises in seven countries or regions.
Some of our Important clients include FamilyMart, Fujitsu, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Dicos, Qdama (Qiandama), AEON CHINA, Canon (Suzhou), etc. Its business scope has also extended to Malaysia, Kazakhstan, Vietnam, and other regions in Southeast Asia as well as Hawaii in the United States. Details can be viewed on our company homepage.
After I made this pivotal decision, I determined my study focus. I now majorly focus on retail industry software system development, data science, and network security. I have invented many patents that relate to these fields. Also, I became an executive manager as well as a software engineer, which helped me strengthen my managerial skills as well as my technical skills.
That one decision determined the path of my career, and I’m incredibly grateful that I’ve been able to expand my skills in this way.
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