Sarawak Education, Innovation and Talent Development Minister Roland Sagah (left) and UTP vice chancellor Prof Mohamed Ibrahim at the ESTCON2022 opening ceremony.
THE World Engineering, Science and Technology Congress (ESTCON) 2022, which concluded on Dec 2, has been an undeniable success, bringing together researchers, academics, industry policymakers and non-government organisations for meaningful conversations and insights into the future of energy and technology – and how these will shape our economy and community.
Held on Dec 1-2 at the Borneo Convention Centre in Kuching Sarawak, ESTCON2022 was one of the most anticipated events of Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS’ (UTP) silver jubilee celebrations.
Unlike previous editions that were more discipline based, the seventh edition of the global congress shone the spotlight on the latest trends and innovations in energy, the development of cities and the role of technology in future living.
The congress’ opening was officiated by Sarawak Education, Innovation and Talent Development Minister Datuk Roland Sagah Wee Inn who lauded the decision to hold the event in the state, particularly given its commitment to sustainability and efforts in managing natural resources while mitigating and adapting to climate change.
The global congress attracted close to 850 delegates, including more than 180 international conference presenters and non-presenters from 30 countries.
Energy Institute CEO Wayth: “The diverse make-up of the delegates clearly focused on the big challenges ahead of humanity.”
UTP academic deputy vice chancellor and ESTCON2022 co-chairman Prof Dr Hilmi Mukhtar was particularly gratified by the interactions between the speakers and congress participants especially during the question-and-answer sessions.
“The level of excitement among the delegates was impressive especially on topics related to energy transition and future energy,” he added.
ESTCON2022 delegates were similarly impressed by the congress outcome.
First keynote speaker, Energy Institute of the UK chief executive officer (CEO) Dr Nick Wayth, lauded the quality of the speakers and the high level of audience engagement. He said the diverse make-up of the delegates were clearly focused on the big challenges ahead of humanity.
“Malaysia has the opportunity to be at the forefront of the energy transition and UTP has a really critical role in building the future energy workforce and the diverse people that will make these things happen,” said Wayth, who is also a member of UTP’s International Advisory Council.
Energy Institute Asia-Pacific managing director Peter Godfrey concurred, pointing out that by zooming in on the issues of energy and energy transition, ESTCON2022 provided a platform for stakeholders to tackle the skills of the future and ensured students are equipped to deal with energy transitions of the future.
Aerodyne Group founder and CEO Kamarul A Muhamed added that conversations on future technology should include how new technologies, such as artificial intelligence can advance humanity and impact the way we live, to the way our cities may look like.
Aerodyne Group founder and CEO Kamarul A Muhamed said that conversations on future technology should include new technologies.
UTP vice chancellor and ESTCON2022 chairman Prof Dr Mohamed Ibrahim Abdul Mutalib, who officiated the congress’ closing ceremony, noted that the insights shared were especially timely as economies slowly emerge from the pandemic.
He added that in line with UTP’s focus on sustainable global prominence, events such as ESTCON2022 enable faculty members and students to undertake more complex research problems and address current technology and engineering trends in both those fields.
“These pave the way for UTP to take on more cutting-edge research for our industry partners and accelerate the commercialisation of our own research. And as Malaysia progresses to become a technological and innovation centre for the energy, oil and gas industry, there’s a need to continuously build meaningful partnerships,” he said.
At the sidelines of the congress, UTP signed three memorandum of understanding.
One was with Institut Teknologi Sumatera, Indonesia for joint research activities, development of joint academic programmes, student mobility and co-organisation of international conferences
Another, with the Malaysian Nuclear Agency for consultation and support on nuclear related areas to enhance necessary skills, promote greater safety awareness and establish a competent workforce in the application of nuclear technology and its applications
And last but not least, the Centre of Applied Data Science Malaysia, to strengthen, promote and build a resilient workforce in the Asean region.
ESTCON2022 shone the spotlight on the latest trends and innovations in energy, the development of cities and the role of technology in future living.
ESTCON2022 was co-organised by Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas), Universiti Teknologi Brunei (UTB), FPT University Vietnam, Multimedia University (MMU) and more than 20 co-organisers at the conference level.
The congress was supported by the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE), the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation of Malaysia (MOSTI), Academy of Sciences Malaysia, Sarawak State Government through its Business Events Sarawak, Human Resource Development Corporation (HRDCorp) and the Malaysia Board of Technologists, Board of Engineers Malaysia, Alliance of Government Linked Universities (GLU), UTP’s HICoE-Centre for Biofuel and Biochemical Research (CBBR) and Yayasan UTP (YUTP).
The congress sponsors were Sarawak Energy Berhad, Dialog Group Berhad, Agilent Technologies, Velesto Energy Berhad and Transwater.
