The organisers of Global Entrepolis @ Singapore (GES) today announced that it has confirmed "Digital Guru", Dr James Canton, and 14 other industry icons from a broad spectrum of industries as speakers during its flagship conference, Captains of Industry (COI).

The theme of the two-day conference, which begins on 31 October, is "New Frontiers for a New World: Trends and Innovations Shaping the 21st Century". Keynote speaker, Dr Canton, will analyse the key trends in the 21st century that will affect businesses and the society, as well as new business opportunities created by emerging technologies.

Dr Canton is Chairman and CEO of the Institute of Global Futures, as well as advisor to the White House Office of Science and Technology and MIT's Media Lab in Europe.

Said Dr Canton: "Besides my role as a keynote speaker, I'm also looking forward to the conference as a great opportunity to exchange ideas with the other COI speakers, as well as participants. I am certain COI will be a fruitful conference offering interesting new perspectives to emerging topics and issues."

COI is a highlight event and one of the three anchor conferences during GES. This year's conference will cover a broad spectrum of pertinent topics including technology, trade and commerce, consumer, and hospitality, through the series of speeches and panel discussions. In 2005, COI attracted more than 500 local and overseas participants, of which more than 80 per cent were C-level executives.

Singapore Business Federation's Chairman, Mr Stephen Lee, said: "Each year, COI rounds up some of the world's most prominent industry practitioners as speakers. As such, COI offers valuable opportunities for participants to tap into the expertise of leading CEOs and international thought leaders from business, government and academia. Business leaders will benefit immensely from the interactions at COI."

Besides Dr Canton, the 14 other speakers include industry specialists, thought leaders and business gurus:

o Mr Jack Ma, Founder, Chairman & CEO, ALIBABA.com

o Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, Chairman, ANGLO-AMERICAN plc

o Dr Lalith Kotelawala, Chairman, CEYLINCO CONSOLIDATED

o Mr Mark Advent, Chairman, EIGHTH WONDER

o Mr Saroj Kumar Poddar, President, FEDERATION OF INDIAN CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY

o Mr Jean-Lucien Lamy, Chairman & CEO, FCI CONNECT

o Mr William J Amelio, President & CEO, LENOVO GROUP LIMITED

o Mr Nabil Sakkab, Senior Vice-President of Corporate R&D, PROCTER & GAMBLE COMPANY

o Mr John McHugh, Vice-President & General Manager, PROCURVE NETWORKING BY HP

o Abbot Shi Yongxin, Abbot, CHINA SONGSHAN SHAOLIN TEMPLE

o Mr Mitsuo Ohashi, Representative Director and Chairman of the Board of Director, SHOWA DENKO K.K.

o Mr R. Gopalakrishnan, Executive Director, TATA SONS LTD

o Mr Theodore Huang, Chairman, TECO GROUP

o Mr Lu Zhi Cheng, President, TSINGHUA TONGFANG CO. LTD

Mr Christopher Graves, Asia-Pacific President of Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, will be the moderator of the conference.

Mr Teo Ming Kian, Chairman of Singapore Economic Development Board, said: "COI is a platform befitting the spirit of GES where ideas are exchanged amongst leaders of diverse industries, geographies and cultures involved in practices of trend-watching to martial arts to high technology to retail with a view to better understand the new frontiers of a new world. Over the past years, COI has been a draw for business leaders worldwide. With such a compelling list of speakers at COI this year, I am certain participants will benefit greatly from the topics to be discussed."

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About Global Entrepolis @ Singapore 2006

Global Entrepolis @ Singapore (GES) comprises a multitude of events focused on connecting businesses around the world. It is a "free marketplace" that offers delegates, participants and exhibitors valuable opportunities to forge partnerships, secure funding, share expertise and network. Now in its fourth year, the 2006 event is primed to offer more than 40 conferences and triple the exhibition space compared to the previous year. There are four main platforms to GES 2006, namely: conferences, an exhibition, networking tool and sessions, and highlight events.

Specifically within the conference platform stems four categories of conferences: Anchor Conferences, International Business Meets, Industry Focus Conferences, Youth & Community Programmes.

The exhibition, called The Enterprise Exchange, is another highlight providing a platform for delegates and participants to showcase their expertise and products; and linking all parties will be a Business Matching Portal and three Business Networking Sessions.

For more information, please visit its website: www.globalentrepolis.com

About Singapore Business Federation

The Singapore Business Federation is the apex business chamber in Singapore. SBF aims to advance and promote business opportunities and networking within the business community both in Singapore and abroad. At the national level, SBF works closely with the government and labour organizations in a tripartite relationship to create a conducive business environment in Singapore. At the international arena, SBF represents the Singapore business community in multilateral, regional and bilateral business organisations to advance and promote their interest in trade expansion.

For more information, please visit its website: www.sbf.org.sg

About the Singapore Economic Development Board

The Economic Development Board (EDB) is Singapore's lead agency responsible for planning and executing strategies to sustain Singapore's position as a global hub for business and investment.

It works closely with local and foreign companies across a diverse range of activities in both manufacturing and services to help them move towards higher value-creating operations in an increasingly knowledge-based and innovation-driven environment. It also encourages companies to use Singapore as their headquarters and total business centre to manage their global or regional functions to service their global or Asia Pacific operations.

Singapore is today a "Global Entrepolis" - a compelling global hub for business and investment where entrepreneurs and enterprise converge, spark and realise innovations, forge partnerships, and create value in manufacturing and services industries. We encourage innovation and entrepreneurship by helping to create an environment which is conducive for start-ups and companies of all sizes to interact with each other with good corporate governance practices and where intellectual property is protected.

For more information on how EDB can help in your business and investment, please visit www.sedb.com

About Zenith Events Corporation Ltd

Zenith Events Corporation Ltd. focuses on creating powerful marketing events for buyers and sellers to connect face-to-face through major expos and conferences. Its goal is to make use of its extensive resources in the region to help customers understand and succeed in the fast changing and complex Asian markets, as well as creating new opportunities for local players to explore the global marketplace.

Established in Hong Kong, with branch offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Singapore, and a partner network that spans USA, Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Malaysia, Zenith also assists government organisations, professional associations/institutions, MNCs and local companies alike to launch and manage a diversity of events from product launch, customers programs, channel conferences, training seminars, sales promotion to any tailor-designed marketing programs in Asia.

As part of Zenith Integrated Communications, Zenith Events continues to focus on the hottest and fastest developing industries in Asia, and shares with every customer our creative and marketing excellence.

For media enquiries, please contact:

Vibha Mittal (9811469579) / Asha Mahesh (9811807393)

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