A top global leader in MÜZLI Pódium

Mr. Jeff Liu, a former CEO of the overseas division of Semcorp Group, was the guest invited to a panel discussion hosted by of the Institute of Engineering and Business Innovation of the University of Debrecen on Tuesday. Mr. Liu, whose story has also been adapted and screened by Netflix, talked about the initial difficulties in his career, his professional experiences, cross-cultural collaborations and future technological developments such as the rise of artificial intelligence and renewable energy sources.

The guests of Mérnöki és Üzletfejlesztési Innovációs Intézet (MÜZLI - Institute of Engineering and Business Innovation of the University of Debrecen) Pódium at the University of Debrecen are international leaders who are active participants in and shapers of global technological processes. During this recent panel discussion, Gergő Lencsés, MÜZLI Master Lecturer and former Global Supply Chain Manager at General Electric, interviewed Jeff Liu about topics such as electromobility, zero-emission, battery systems and ethical mining, to mention just a few.

“Jeff Liu is a globally recognized and renowned expert, who has achieved a series of amazing success in the United States of America. He is a world-famous authority on supply chain systems, whose work and achievements has literally transcended continents, and whose story was featured in the award-winning Netflix documentary American Factory. By his own admission, he continues to learn every single day and does so with enormous humility. His career and personality can be a genuine inspiration for our students," said Gergő Lencsés, MÜZLI Master Teacher, to hirek.unideb.hu.
According to the former head of Semcorp, electromobility would undoubtedly change the entire world and its spread would gradually become more general, just like that of the use of smartphones. He underlined that the system of green technologies must be treated in a rather complex way and that only by developing the process of recycling can the system of energy storage become complete. Jeff Liu also talked about important milestones in his career as well as his key work experiences and gave some advice to the students in the audience.

“Business is difficult to learn in school, and it is more effective to teach young people about how the economy works through a trade or profession. The members of the current generation, although they have a wealth of information at their disposal, need external "masters" in addition to their teachers to gain direct experience and succeed in tackling the challenges in the future," said Jeff Liu in response to a student question.


He also added that he wanted to spend as much time as possible in our country because he believes that learning about cultures helps the cause of working together successfully. Jeff Liu, his wife and Gergő Lencsés visited the Faculty of Computer Science at the University of Debrecen too, where they discussed the rise of artificial intelligence and large language models with Deep How founders Sam Zheng and Zhe Huang. They believe that the use of generative AI will reform the needs of the labor market and provide a new opportunity to improve learning methodologies. During the discussions, they also attended a questions-and-answers session with students.

Press Center - ÉE