Dr. Li Yao is Founder & Managing Director of Qbots.AI, a leading AI-based control optimisation tech Startup in the energy sector. Li is a highly skilled professional in technology industry. He was born in China and educated in the UK after high school. He received his PhD in computer science in University of Manchester and since then he worked across academia, banking industry and settled in technology industry. His main focus is on innovations in Smart Cities and IoT (Internet of Things) technologies and solutions. He successfully co-founded and led a tech company, Sparta Digital, which has only 2 employees when he joined in 2013 and now employs 15 and is part of a flagship IoT demonstrator project in Manchester called CityVerve. In 2017, Li founded an energy tech Startup Qbots.AI with full commitment and the vision to become a leading AI-based control automation and optimisation tech company in the energy sector. He firmly believes that with the amount of data becoming available and increasing smart devices in the energy sector, artificial intelligence and control automation optimisation, combined with innovative new business models will reshape this industry.