More than 1,000 experts of diverse fields of research, innovation and commercialisation from around 30 countries gathered for Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS’ (UTP) sixth World Engineering, Science and Technology Congress (ESTCON) 2020.
For the first time since its inauguration in 2010, the latest edition of ESTCON2020 convened virtually for three days beginning 13 July 2021.
ESTCON2020 is co-organised by the Alliance of Government-Linked Universities, supported by the Ministry of Higher Education, the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, the Academy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM), and is held in collaboration with PETRONAS, Yayasan UTP and Malaysia Board of Technologists. The opening of ESTCON2020 was officiated by the Minister of Higher Education Datuk Seri Dr Noraini Ahmad.
The sixth edition of the congress with the theme “Science, Technology and Humanities: Reinventing the Future”, encompasses a wide range of fields in engineering and technology innovation as well as in humanities.
Targeted at the academic fraternity, those from industry, government and non-government organisations, and members of the public, ESTCON2020 offers a platform for like-minded individuals to keep abreast of the latest research and innovations, share knowledge, build connections and establish collaborations.
A UTP flagship event, ESTCON2020 is the largest congress in the world with nine international conferences held concurrently. The conferences are International Conference on Oil & Gas Engineering and Technology (ICOGET2020), International Conference on Civil, Offshore & Environmental Engineering (ICCOEE2020), International Conference on Production, Energy and Reliability (ICPER2020), International Conference on Earth Resources (ICER2020), International Conference on Process Engineering and Advanced Materials (ICPEAM2020), International Conference on Intelligent and Advanced System (ICIAS2020), International Conference on Computer and Information Sciences (ICCOINS2020), International Conference on Fundamental and Applied Sciences (ICFAS2020), International Conference for Management, Social Sciences and Humanities (ICMeSH2020).
“The nine conferences are in tandem with UTP’s objective to become a leader in technology education and centre for creativity and innovation, and allows the university to embark on new frontiers, pioneer research, create new technology, and introduce innovative solutions and methods for sustainable developments that will benefit society,” said UTP Vice Chancellor and Chairman of ESTCON2020, Prof Ts. Dr Mohamed Ibrahim Abdul Mutalib.
“This congress is a testament of how UTP has risen to the challenge and embrace the New Normal and New Way of Working. It is crucial that in these three-days ESTCON for academics and industry players to seriously enter into strategic dialogue on the challenges facing the higher education especially the possibility of opening new avenues for collaboration that tap into the knowledge and expertise of other sectors aimed at innovating new solutions,” said Datuk Seri Dr Noraini Ahmad.
A highlight of ESTCON2020 is the line-up of prominent keynote speakers. On the first day, Chairman of Axilor Ventures and Co-Founder of Infosys India, Senapathy Gopalakrishnan and ASM Senior Fellow, Prof Emeritus Tan Sri Dr Zakri Abdul Hamid delivered their keynotes. While ASM Vice President and Malaysian Green Technology and Climate Change Corporation Chairman, Prof Dato' Ir Dr A Bakar Jaafar and President of Amity Science, Technology and Innovation Foundation, India, Dr William Selvamurthy will be the keynote speakers on the second day. The final day of ESTCON2020 will see Green Chemistry in the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Queen’s University Belfast, United Kingdom Chair, Prof Dr John Holbrey delivering his keynote.
Another feature of ESTCON2020 is the virtual exhibition which will run concurrently with the conferences, where industry players from corporations and various industries will showcase their products, services and latest innovations.
“ESTCON2020 is relevant to everyone in the organisation. We believe participation at this congress will benefit all participants locally and globally, both in terms of learnings and networking potential. Thus, I would like to take this opportunity to invite the industry, academia, the government and the public to register as ESTCON2020 non-presenter delegates at
http://estcon.utp.edu.my/,” Prof Mohamed Ibrahim said.
The non-presenter fee for ESTCON2020 is RM200 per person – with registrations accepted up to the day of the congress. As non-presenter delegates, they can avail themselves to 750 paper presentations, 18 plenary speakers and 3 forums with 13 panellists. ESTCON2020 is also HRDF claimable and offers them points for up to 20 hours from the Board of Engineers Malaysia, Malaysia Board of Technologists and Construction Industry Development Board.
