Speaker Profile

Professor T. N. Goh is Professor Emeritus at the National University of Singapore (NUS), where he previously served as Dean of Engineering and Director of the University Office of Quality Management. He is a Founding Fellow of the Academy of Engineering Singapore and an Academician Emeritus of the International Academy for Quality (IAQ), where he also previously served as a Board Member.

Prof. Goh is an internationally recognized scholar, educator, and leader in quality management. His contributions have been recognized through numerous prestigious honors, including the Masing Book Prize from IAQ, the Educator of the Year Award from IEEE, the Ishikawa-Kano Gold Medal from the Asian Network for Quality (ANQ), the Harrington-Ishikawa Medal from the Asia-Pacific Quality Organization (APQO), the Eugene L. Grant Medal from the American Society for Quality (ASQ), and the William G. Hunter Award from ASQ.

He has published more than 400 papers and six professional books, making significant contributions to the advancement of quality management, engineering education, and the global quality community.

Shifts in the New Era

The quality profession is entering a period of profound change. The continued rise of Asian economies, the rapid development of artificial intelligence, and global challenges—including climate change, resource depletion, population ageing, healthcare demands, and social inequality—are reshaping the environment in which quality professionals operate.

In this context, quality can no longer be defined solely through fault avoidance, defect detection, operational standardization, or efficiency improvement. While the enduring wisdom of the quality pioneers remains highly relevant, the profession must pursue new initiatives based on a bold redefinition and expansion of the traditional PDCA cycle.

Prof. Goh will propose three important paradigm shifts for the quality profession. First, the traditional focus on Prevention should evolve toward a more Proactive approach. Second, attention should move from the performance of Devices to the value and governance of Data, particularly in the age of data analytics and AI. Third, the mindset of Competition should give way to Collaboration, encouraging alliances rather than adversarial relationships at corporate, regional, and international levels.

The keynote will also consider how traditional cultural traits in Asian societies may be critically examined in light of shared and increasingly complex challenges. Although there are no simple solutions, strengthened core values, fresh perspectives, and closer exchanges among ANQ quality organizations can make a meaningful contribution to the common good.   

Speaker Profile

Dr. Wan Seon Shin is an Academician of the International Academy for Quality (IAQ) and Professor Emeritus at Sungkyunkwan University, Korea. He currently serves as Chairman of the Social Responsibility and Management Quality Institute (SRMQ).

Over the course of his distinguished career, Prof. Shin has served as Chairman of the Asian Network for Quality (ANQ), President of the Korean Society for Quality Management (KSQM), President of the Korean Society for Public Enterprises, and an external board member of Samsung Engineering Corporation and the Korea Standards Association (KSA).

His research interests include quality management, technology leadership, digital transformation (DX), and AI transformation (AX). In addition to his academic work, he has provided consulting and executive education in quality innovation and leadership to more than 200 organizations, including Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motor Group, LG Electronics, POSCO, KT, KEPCO, Hana Financial Group, and Hanwha Corporation.

Prof. Shin has delivered keynote speeches at numerous international conferences, including ANQ, EOQ, QMOD, SQC, and ICQCC, on quality excellence, digital transformation, and AI-enabled quality management.

Keynote Speech

Pro-search: Redefining the Roles of Quality Professionals in the AX Era

Artificial Intelligence Transformation (AX) is rapidly changing how organizations operate, create value, and manage quality. While AI offers significant potential to improve productivity, it also raises critical questions about the future role of quality professionals. In this new environment, quality professionals must strengthen their ability to verify, validate, and responsibly apply AI-generated outcomes in order to remain effective in increasingly complex and uncertain markets.

In this keynote, Prof. Shin will address two central questions: how AI can be effectively utilized to enhance the productivity of quality professionals, and what new quality determinants are needed for products and services developed through AI-driven approaches. Drawing on an analysis of more than 5,000 Korean National Competency Standards (NCS), he will examine the changing relationship between AI and quality management roles.

The presentation will introduce Pro-search, a new competency model designed for quality professionals in the AX era. It will also explore AI replacement ratios for quality management roles, AI’s contribution to PDCA-based quality approaches, and K-AI Station, a generic platform supporting an AI-enabled society. Practical cases will be used to illustrate how quality professionals can adapt and lead in the evolving digital environment.

Speaker Profile    

Dr. K.N. Subramanya brings 34 years of experience in teaching, research, consultancy and academic administration, currently serving as Principal of RV College of Engineering, Bengaluru. He holds a B.E. in Industrial and Production Engineering, an M.Tech in Industrial Management, an MBA (HR), and a Ph.D. in Supply Chain Management, with research expertise spanning operations management, supply chain and logistics, quality management, and applied ergonomics.

He has published 171 papers in national and international journals, authored chapters in 12 books, and holds two patents, including a solar-hybrid refrigeration system and a nanofiber-based protective mask developed during COVID-19. He has led numerous funded projects, established 28 Centres of Excellence with industry partners, and been instrumental in signing MoUs with over 150 institutions and seven universities abroad.

Dr. Subramanya is active in more than ten professional associations, including Vice President of the ISQ National Council and Vice President of the ORSI Karnataka Chapter. His honours include the Kannada Rajyotsava Award (2025), the Eminent Engineer Award from The Institution of Engineers, India (2023), Best Principal of the College Award (2022), and the Excellence in Educational Leadership Award from Yamagata University, Japan (2021).

Keynote Speech
Quality by Design: India's Higher Education Story for a Sustainable Asia    

India's higher education system—spanning over 1,100 universities, more than 40,000 colleges, and approximately 40 million students—is being reshaped by the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 around five pillars: access, equity, quality, affordability and accountability, values closely aligned with those promoted by ANQ. NEP 2020 treats sustainability and inclusive technology as an interconnected mandate, combining green campuses and sustainability-embedded curricula with digital access, gender inclusion and regional-language content.

This direction is reinforced by India's layered accreditation architecture, which combines institutional accreditation (NAAC), programme accreditation (NBA, aligned with the Washington Accord) and public ranking (NIRF)—together forming a "floor-and-ladder" model, with accreditation as the non-negotiable threshold and ranking as the pathway to excellence.

RV College of Engineering, Bengaluru (established 1963, NBA Tier-1 accredited, NAAC 'A+') illustrates these principles in practice through outcome-based education, sustainability-driven innovation infrastructure, sustained investment in access and inclusion, and institutionalised continuous improvement. Drawing on this experience, the keynote will explore how cross-border knowledge exchange, sustainability and inclusion, and stronger academic participation can further strengthen the ANQ network's contribution to a sustainable Asia.

 Speaker Profile

Paulo Sampaio is Professor of Quality and Organizational Excellence at the University of Minho, Portugal, where he coordinates the Research Group on Quality and Organizational Excellence. He holds a PhD in Industrial Engineering (2008) and a Habilitation in Systems and Industrial Engineering (2022), both from the University of Minho, and was a Visiting Scholar at MIT in 2015.

He currently serves as President of the Portuguese Association for Quality (2024–), Member of the Board of Trustees of the International Academy for Quality (2025–), and President of the Board of the European Organization for Quality (2026–). An Academician of the International Academy for Quality since 2014, he is a widely published author and frequent keynote speaker at international quality conferences, and has received numerous international awards, including the ASQ Feigenbaum Medal (2012) and recognition twice as one of ASQ's "New Voices of Quality" (2011, 2016).

Keynote Speech: Beyond Digital: Rethinking Quality in the Transformation Era

In a world defined by rapid technological change, uncertainty and increasingly demanding customers, organizations must rethink how Quality creates value. This presentation explores the evolution from traditional Quality approaches toward Quality 4.0, showing how digital technologies, data, artificial intelligence and machine learning can enable more predictive and effective decision-making. Through practical examples, it demonstrates how organizations can enhance customer satisfaction, reduce quality-related costs and strengthen operational performance. The presentation also looks beyond Quality 4.0, highlighting the importance of innovation, sustainability and a humanistic culture in shaping the future of Quality and organizational excellence.

Speaker Profile

Prof. Pedro Manuel Saraiva is Director of PLANAPP, the Centre for Planning and Evaluation of Public Policies of Portugal, a core institution of the Portuguese Government that reports to the Minister of the Presidency. He has also served as Dean of NOVA Information Management School (NOVA-IMS), Vice-Rector of NOVA University Lisbon, Vice-Rector and Pro-Rector of the University of Coimbra, President of the Regional Development Agency for the Centro of Portugal, and Adviser to the President of Portugal for Higher Education. He was a Member of the Portuguese National Parliament from 2009 to 2015.

Prof. Saraiva received his degree from the University of Coimbra in 1987 and his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1993. He is a Full Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Coimbra. His research and professional interests include quality management, data-driven learning, continuous process improvement, public-policy planning and evaluation, and sustainable development.

He is an Academician of the International Academy for Quality (IAQ), where he previously served as Vice-President and Member of the Board of Trustees. He has served as President of the Portuguese Association for Quality (APQ), First Vice-President of the European Organization for Quality (EOQ), and a Board Member of the American Society for Quality (ASQ). He is an ASQ Fellow, an Honorary Associate of APQ, and a member of the Portuguese Academy of Engineering.

His contributions to quality have been recognized with the ASQ Feigenbaum Award, the IAQ Yoshio Kondo Award, the ASQ Eugene L. Grant Medal and the EOQ Georges Borel Award.

Keynote Speech
The Quality World Sustainable Future

The world is becoming increasingly turbulent, with sustainability challenges, rapid technological change, pervasive uncertainty and successive crises reshaping the environment in which organizations and societies operate. In this context, quality and quality professionals must develop new capabilities and perspectives to help build a quality-driven sustainable future, guided by the purpose of “Quality for Humanity.”

In this keynote, Prof. Saraiva will examine four key dimensions connecting the “Quality World” with “World Quality.” First, quality should move beyond a single-dimensional perspective and be understood as a multidimensional and multiscale field of knowledge and application, with sustainability serving as a key driver of its scope and impact. Second, quality must embrace digital transformation, artificial intelligence and emerging technological developments, including the next wave of physical AI, while maintaining a people-centred and responsible orientation.

Third, quality professionals must move beyond managing conventional uncertainty toward anticipatory and foresight-oriented approaches capable of responding to unknown and emerging challenges. Fourth, as organizations face a continuing sequence of unpredictable and interconnected crises, resilience needs to become a core pillar of quality management, enabling societies and organizations to navigate a “polycrisis” world.

The presentation will share practical examples of how quality is already being applied across these dimensions, including work undertaken by PLANAPP, Portugal’s Centre for Planning and Evaluation of Public Policies. It will conclude by highlighting Asia’s promising potential to contribute to the future development of quality and to advance a quality-driven sustainable world.

Speaker Profile

Willy Vandenbrande has worked in the field of quality management for more than 35 years, first as a quality manager and later as a consultant. He holds master’s degrees in Civil Engineering and Total Quality Management.

He is an ASQ Fellow and an Academician of the International Academy for Quality (IAQ). Within IAQ, he previously served as Chair of the Quality in Planet Earth Concerns Think Tank. In 2019, he received the ASQ E. Jack Lancaster Medal in recognition of his outstanding leadership in promoting quality worldwide. His book, Reflections on Quality in 10 ½ Columns, was awarded the IAQ Walter E. Masing Prize in 2025.

Mr. Vandenbrande has delivered presentations at major international quality conferences, including the World Conference on Quality and Improvement (WCQI), the European Organization for Quality (EOQ) and IAQ events, and has published numerous articles on quality management. His current work focuses on sustainability, quality economics and face-to-face service quality, with a continued commitment to advancing quality thinking through publications and international exchanges.

Keynote Speech: Quality at a Crossroad

For decades, quality professionals have played an important role in introducing quality management systems, reducing errors, eliminating waste, improving productivity and creating value for organizations and customers. These achievements have made substantial contributions to organizational performance and economic development.

At the same time, the world is facing increasingly urgent challenges, including environmental degradation, resource constraints and the long-term consequences of today’s decisions for future generations. In this context, the quality profession must ask whether traditional objectives alone are sufficient, and whether quality should be applied more broadly to serve the world around us.

In this keynote, Mr. Vandenbrande will explore the changing role of quality at this critical crossroads. He will discuss how the values, principles and methods of quality management can contribute to addressing broader sustainability challenges, and how emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence can be directed toward more meaningful and responsible purposes. The presentation will highlight the concept of the “Quality of All Life,” encouraging quality professionals to expand their perspective from organizational excellence to the well-being of society and the planet.