Dr. Guang-Jie Ren           

Guang-Jie Ren manages the re*THINK Enterprise team in IBM Research with a passion in creating user-centric innovations to address industry challenges. Prior to the current role, Guang-Jie led the Mobile Enterprise research effort as part of IBM-Apple Partnership and worked on business modeling, enterprise architecture and predictive analytics. Trained as an industrial engineer in Tsinghua University, China, he received his PhD degree in Engineering & Management from the University of Cambridge before joining IBM Research in 2009.

Group Overview
re*THINK Enterprise aims to create disruptive innovations that address industry and business challenges that IBM and clients face. We take a user-centered approach to innovation, starting from design thinking workshops, interviews and observations to understand problems, root causes and user perspectives and then proceeding in an agile, iterative manner to design, prototype, develop and deploy solutions for direct impact. Given the nature of the problems we take on, our projects are staffed by people from different background and disciplines, including business, design, engineering, social science, machine learning, among others.

Current Projects
2017-ongoing: IBM Traveler Central, a next-gen app for employee business travel, in collaboration with IBM Procurement, HR & CIO.
2016-ongoing: IBM Travel Manager, a big data and visualization platform for corporate travel program management, in collaboration with IBM Procurement, IBM Global Business Services. Received IBM Outstanding Technical Accomplishment Award.
2016-ongoing: IBM Travel Concierge, an engaging, personalized travel experience through natural conversation, in collaboration with IBM Travel & Transportation Industry and as part of IBM First-of-a-Kind Program.
2016-ongoing: IBM CBM.next, a strategic initiative to modernize IBM's business modeling method, tool and content through expert contributions, cross-company collaboration and artificial intelligence, in collaboration with IBM Institute for Business Value, IBM Global Business Services.
2016-ongoing: Conversation User Experience, including research theories, design guidelines, practical applications, testing methods, in collaboration with IBM Watson Platform, IBM Watson Health, IBM Watson Internet of Things, IBM Design, IBM Global Business Services.
2016-ongoing: Cognitive Meeting Analytics, capturing insights from face-to-face collaborations, including structure, interaction and topic, in collaboration with IBM Watson Platform.

Main Accomplishments as Research Group Leader, Mobile Enterprise (2014-2016)
2014-2016: Conceived and developed two analytics-driven iOS apps for business travel as part of IBM-Apple Partnership and IBM First-of-a-Kind Program. Expanded to include Corporate Immigration as a use case. Received IBM Outstanding Technical Accomplishment Award.
2015-2017: Initiated Advanced Mobile Analytics project in collaboration with IBM Tealeaf as part of IBM First-of-a-Kind Program.

Main Accomplishments as Research Staff Member, Business Modeling (2009-2014)
2009-2012: Leveraged IBM's Component Business Modeling method and developed an asset-based service offering, Actionable Business Architecture for Smarter Cities, starting from idea creation through asset development to product commercialization, including client proposals and hands-on delivery in both mature and growth markets. Received IBM Outstanding Technical Accomplishment Award.
2012-2013: Conduct strategic analysis on IBM internal transformation (e.g. value-based selling, business and financial modeling, new market identification, cross-brand solution alignment) as well as on critical client engagements in high-tech, telecom and public sectors.
2013-2014: Applied data science to IBM's Strategic Outsourcing business processes and identified opportunities for cost savings and revenue improvement. Received IBM Outstanding Technical Accomplishment Award.