Strategy & Innovation

Data: The Deciding Factor in AI Success

with Damandeep Kochhar & Jörg Tewes & Siddhika Nevrekar & Ed Huang & Laura Moritz

Friday 10 July 14:20 – 14:50 Tech Leaders Stage

About This Session

Most AI projects do not fail on the model - they fail on the data underneath it. This panel makes the case that data is what really decides whether AI succeeds, and digs into what teams consistently get wrong. Leaders who work at the foundation share where it actually breaks.

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Speakers

Damandeep Kochhar

EVP and CPTO · HERE Technologies

EVP and CPTO of HERE Technologies

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Damandeep Kochhar is EVP, Chief Platform & Technology Officer at HERE Technologies. In his role, he leads the company’s core engineering activities, including the development and operation of our highly automated mapping system for creating, updating and publishing map content.
Jörg Tewes

CEO · Exasol

CEO of Exasol

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Joerg Tewes joined Exasol as CEO at the beginning of 2023. He spent the first 12 years of his career at data management software company Poet Holdings supporting the company through its early growth stages to its IPO at the German stock exchange. He relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2007 and continued to pursue his career in general management roles at Avid Technology Inc. and Logitech International. In 2014, he joined video and augmented reality start-up Avegant as CEO, where he raised $50M in venture capital funding and strategically expanded the company’s product offerings. From 2018 – 2022, Joerg Tewes held senior leadership roles at Amazon, driving the development and commercialization of its tablet, e-reader and video communication technologies. Joerg Tewes is an active angel investor and mentor to technology start-ups. He holds a degree in computer science from the Technical University in Berlin, Germany.
Siddhika Nevrekar

Senior Director Product Management · Qualcomm Technologies

Senior Director Product Management at Qualcomm Technologies

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Siddhika Nevrekar is senior director of product management at Qualcomm Technologies, where she is responsible for product and AI software development, including Qualcomm AI Hub. Siddhika Nevrekar is a visionary product leader with expertise in AI and machine learning. Siddhika co-founded Tetra AI, which was later acquired by Qualcomm. Prior to Tetra AI, she worked to steer CoreML at Apple and spearheaded the development of a Classification Machine Learning Platform at Microsoft. Her work has revolutionized key technologies across major platforms such as Bing, Siri, and now the Qualcomm AI Hub. Siddhika received an MBA in International Business from the Institute of Technology and Management, India and a Bachelor of Computer Engineering from Vivekanand Education Society’s Institute of Technology.
Ed Huang

CTO · TiDB

CTO of TiDB

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Co-founder & CTO at PingCAP (the company behind TiDB), an entrepreneur with a hacker's mind & heart. Full-stack engineer, for real. Pioneer in building cloud-native systems. Building distributed systems and databases with ♥️. Building a company like a distributed system.
Laura Moritz

Manager, Data & AI · Globant

Manager, Data & AI at Globant

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Laura Moritz is a Tech Manager for Data & AI at Globant, where she leads AI and data programs for enterprise clients across industries including automotive, healthcare, finance, and education. With 10 years of consulting experience, she works at the intersection of AI strategy, data products, and implementation — from LLM-powered solutions and predictive models to data platforms and analytics. Beyond her corporate work, Laura is engaged with Women in Tech, supporting initiatives that bring more women in technology onto stages and into leadership.