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Prof. Damminda Alahakoon
Professor of Business Analytics and Artificial Intelligence
La Trobe University
Damminda Alahakoon is Professor of Business Analytics and Artificial Intelligence, La Trobe University Business School and Director of the Research Centre for Data Analytics and Cognition at La Trobe University. His research has focused on Artificial Intelligence, Advanced Data Analytics, Quantum Computing and the application research innovations in industry.
Professor Alahakoon has over 20 years’ experience as an academic in several Australian Universities as well as over 10 years’ in the IT and finance industries in Sri Lanka, Australia and The Netherlands. His research has been adopted in a range of domains from healthcare, utilities, smart cities, education, industrial optimization and national security and published in over 200 peer reviewed articles. He has received over 8 million in research grants from various funding bodies such as ARC, NHMRC, CRC and National funding schemes such as CTCP and Industry Innovation funds. He led the successful CTCP phase 1 project Quantum Enhanced Optimisation for Energy Efficient Data Centres to completion and has been awarded funding for phase 2 demonstrator stage.
Speaking at
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3:00–4:15pmTue 24 MarPublic-Private RoundtablesUniClub - Roundtable Room 1Open
Roadmap for AI and Quantum
[Roundtable] What Works in AI Delivery? Successes, Failures, & Solutions that Scale
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Brad HillCo-GMPollinators
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Dr. Brindha JeyaramanFounder and Chief Executive OfficerAethryx
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Prof. Damminda AlahakoonProfessor of Business Analytics and Artificial IntelligenceLa Trobe University
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Prof. Fiona WoodDirector of the Burns Service of WAFiona Wood Foundation
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Iqbal JumabhoyChief Executive OfficerEdge Capital Pte Ltd
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Prof. James OngFounder & Managing DirectorArtificial Intelligence International Institute (AIII)
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Jisoo KimCo-Founder and DirectorClearAI
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Schellie-Jayne (SJ) PricePartnerStirling & Rose
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Shane PlantChief Commercial OfficerIMDEX
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Prof. Wei LiuAssociate ProfessorUniversity of Western Australia
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Peter DeansCEO and Co-FounderShelf LabsModerator
About this session
AI is already improving productivity, safety and customer outcomes — but results vary widely. Some deployments deliver measurable gains; others stall because the basics aren’t in place: weak data foundations, no clear owner, gaps in governance, security exposure, missing talent, hidden costs — and a failure to treat AI as operational infrastructure, not a plug-in tool.
This roundtable moves beyond “what is AI?” and focuses on what works—and what doesn’t—when organisations deploy AI responsibly at scale. Leaders from banking, mining, healthcare, government and startups will share real examples: what they shipped, what got stuck, what made it succeed, and the lessons learned the hard way. -
