Michael Sung

Prof. Michael Sung is a technology venture builder and investor, having founded various companies over the years in diverse high-tech industries spanning across the Fintech, AI, blockchain, semiconductor, and new materials industries. Prof. Sung is the Chairman of CarbonBlue Innovations, a holding company with various interests in private equity investment, cross-border tech transfer, technology ecosystem development, and digital finance venture building. He is a founding partner of CXG Group, a cross-border Greater China/Middle East private equity fund and technology and business ecosystem focused on investing in, and venture building with, key infrastructure technologies in AI, Blockchain, Cloud, Digital Finance, Metaverse, and Web 3.0. He is also the Chairman of HorizenDigital, a cross-border digital finance venture building and investment ecosystem that is focused on rapidly commercialising and scaling blockchain and digital finance innovation to institutions and developing countries. He is also Chairman/CEO of FreeFlow Finance, a cross-border payments company focused on regulated digital currency interoperability and FX infrastructure solutions for financial institutions.

Prof. Sung is the founding Director of the Institute of Digital Finance Innovation at the Zhejiang International Business School. He is leading Zhejiang University International Business School’s initiative to develop their first international campus in the UAE, representing the first Chinese University in the Middle East Region. He is also the Chief Scientist for the Frontier Institute of Regulation and Supervision Technology, a Fintech think tank founded in partnership with the Beijing government focused on Regtech technologies. He is also the founding Co-Director of the Fudan Fanhai Fintech Research Center at the Fanhai International School of Finance at Fudan University. Prof. Sung’s applied research includes digital finance, Fintech policy & regulation, Regtech, AI and Blockchain innovation, digital asset investment banking, asset-backed securitisation, tokenomics systems, digital economy business model innovation, and cryptoeconomics. Prof. Sung was also faculty at the Chinese Institute of Economics and Finance, a national-level think tank focused on thought leadership for finance innovation and Fintech policy and best practices. He is also faculty at HK University of Science and Technology, where he teaches executive and overseas MBA/EMBA groups on high-tech entrepreneurship, innovation thinking, business model innovation, commercialisation scaling, and doing business in China.

Prof. Sung has served in numerous advisory roles over the years for the governments in Greater China (HK/Taiwan/Mainland China) on international tech transfer, innovation ecosystem building, AI, blockchain, and Fintech policy for various top city and minister-level officials. He is a world-recognised expert on digital currencies and digital securities, in particular the digital RMB/e-CNY and digital green bonds. He is frequently invited to speak at high-profile international events including at the UN, OECD, Vatican, C100, Economist, Money20/20, Official Monetary Financial Institutions Forum, Global Blockchain Business Council, etc. and has been interviewed by top media outlets such as Wall Street Journal, CGTN, Brooking Institute, Bloomberg, Time, FT, SCMP, Coindesk, etc. Prof. Sung also curates content for Crypto Finance Conference and has organised and hosted high-profile forums including the One World Blockchain Forum and an annual Future of Fintech and Finance Forum at Davos. Prof. Sung serves as a member of the CBDC Committee for the World Digital Economy Council, China Digital Finance Advisory Group for the United Nations Task Force on Digital Financing of the Sustainable Development Goals, China Ambassador for the Global Blockchain Business Council, and is also working with the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia Pacific on various digital finance and digital economy initiatives. He was also the chairman of the steering committee for MIT Tech Review's Emtech HK Conference.
Prof. Sung has received various awards for technology entrepreneurship, including MIT Enterprise Forum's Most Visionary Technology Award and Google's Solve for X Prize. Prof. Sung received his Ph.D. in EECS at the MIT Media Lab/Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory as well as a graduate financial engineering degree from MIT Sloan Business School.