Sponsor Talks
Insights from global visionaries at the forefront of AI and Systems Engineering
Joel Goodman, PhD
Science Director @ Office of Naval Research, Global
Joel Goodman, PhD, serves as the Science Director at the Office of Naval Research (ONR), Global, based at the US Embassy in Singapore. He plays a pivotal role in identifying and investing in fundamental science and emerging technologies globally to shape future naval capabilities.
The U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR) invests in fundamental science and emerging technologies to shape future naval capabilities. This talk provides an overview of ONR’s science and technology priorities, focusing on artificial intelligence, machine learning, autonomy, robotics, and intelligent sensing across maritime, subsurface, and aerospace domains.
Particular emphasis will be placed on ONR’s support for high-risk, high-payoff research that challenges conventional paradigms. The session highlights global funding mechanisms and collaborative opportunities, offering attendees practical insight into aligning breakthrough concepts with ONR’s strategic focus areas.
Daniele Ceccarelli
Director of Product Management @ Cisco
Daniele Ceccarelli is a seasoned telecommunications leader currently serving as the Director of Product Management at Cisco. Based in Genoa, Italy, he has over 15 years of international experience across product management, system architecture, and technological innovation. His core expertise spans transport network architectures, Transport SDN, and network automation, including driving advanced AI-driven network autonomy frameworks like Cisco's Project Foresight.
Before his tenure at Cisco, Daniele held engineering and leadership positions at major telecom organizations, including Ericsson. He is a highly regarded thought leader in the industry, holding more than 70 filed patents and contributing extensively to internet standards. He holds prominent leadership roles within the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), serving as the Chairman of the CCAMP (Common Control and Measurement Plane) working group, as well as chairing the Network Inventory YANG (IVY) and Operations Directorate (OpsDir) groups. Daniele holds a Master’s Degree in Telecommunications Engineering from the Università di Pisa.
As network environments grow in complexity, Cisco is evolving its strategy to embrace autonomous operations through a robust agentic framework. While individual models and agents often dominate the conversation, focusing solely on these components overlooks the critical need for a resilient integration infrastructure. This presentation explores the vital importance of the "harness"—the orchestration, governance, and safety layers required to make autonomous agents truly enterprise-ready.