Tag: UAE

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Information and Communication Technology Research Conference 2015

ICTRF3I am pleased to announce the 9th UAE Forum on Information and Communication Technology Research 2015 (ICTRF2015) will be held on May 17 at the Dusit Thani Hotel in Abu Dhabi. It is under the Patronage of His Excellency Hussain Ibrahim Al Hammadi, Minister of Education, UAE.

It’s organized by Khalifa University (KU), and co-organized by the ETISALAT-BT Innovation Centre (EBTIC) and the United Arab Emirates Advanced Network for Research and Education (ANKABUT).  This conference is near and dear to my heart and I serve on the Steering and Organizing Committee.

The main theme of this year’s forum will be focused on “Towards a Smarter City” which includes sessions on: Smarter City, the goals and targets; Smarter City, the technology challenges and solutions; as well as Smarter City, sustainable impact on citizens lives and culture. The main topics in these sessions will be presented and discussed by prominent invited international speakers followed by a panel discussion. The free forum will be open to academics, researchers, and industry professionals from the fast growing ICT sectors in the UAE and the region.

Speakers include:

  • Mr. Roberto Saracco Director of EIT ICT Labs, Chair of the IEEE Future Direction Committee, Italy
  • Mr. Michael Dixon IBM General Manager, Smarter Cities, USA
  • Dr. Glenn Ricart President, US-Ignite, USA
  • Professor Mischa Dohler Head of the Centre for Telecommunications Research King’s College, University of London, UK
  • Dr. Ng See Kiong SERC Programme Director, Urban Systems Initiative, A*STAR, Singapore
  • Professor Dimitra Simeonidou University of Bristol, UK

The event will begin at 9AM and conclude at 4PM.  I would encourage you to attend so you may hear these outstanding speakers discuss the topic “Towards a Smarter City”. In order to register just click here. I will be attending so if you see me stop and say hello.

In addition, you are invited on May 18-19 The International Conference on Information and Communication Technology Research (ICTRC2015) will be held in conjunction with the forum in Abu Dhabi. It aims to be the forum for scientists, academics, engineers, and industry professionals throughout the World to present their latest research results, ideas, developments, and applications in all areas of Information and Communication Technology.

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Family, Friends, and Advisors are Important to the Success of Your Company

Family friends, and advisors are very important to a new company. Senthil and I had the early support of family and friends but we felt an Advisory Board was equally important.

We began in the months leading up to the October launch to recruit an Advisory Board which would be composed of renowned international experts in areas related to higher education, research and human resources. They would act as an advocate for the company to friends and colleagues. The members would bring a wide breadth of knowledge and experience gained through years of professional involvement of knowledge of the United Arab Emirates, Gulf Regions and as well as in the international settings. We could also call upon them to serve as expert consultants as the need arises.

The Advisory Board currently consists of 10 members who are from the UAE, United Sates, Europe, Asia and Australia. They have expertise in the fields of higher and vocational education, medicine-allied health and technology.

To learn more about our Advisory members go to Advisors on the Edu Alliance website. One of the first to accept our invitation to be an advisor was Marci Powell.

Marci Powell is Global Director for Education & Training at Polycom and Chair Emerita and powell-marciPast President of the United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA). She is an industry expert in the field of educational technology and telecommunications with extensive experience in applications related to lifelong learning and innovation.

Powell began her career as a classroom teacher and has served as an administrator at various educational institutions. With over 20 years of educational leadership Marci shares global best practices and trends as a fellow educator and futurist through her keynote addresses and serves as an advisor to public and private sectors worldwide.

Most recently, Marci was recognized by the European Distance and E-Learning Network (EDEN) as an EDEN Fellow, an honor reserved for those the association believes are distinguished leaders in distance and e-learning across Europe. In 2012, Marci was inducted into the USDLA Hall of Fame and in 2011, the Texas Distance Learning Association (TxDLA) Hall of Fame. Marci currently serves on the USDLA Board of Directors, the International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE) High Level Advisory Board, and The Learning Consortium Thought Leaders group.

On a personal note I have known Marci for a number of years going back to my days as Co-Founder and COO of Connected Learning Network a comprehensive e-learning provider based in Louisville, Kentucky.  She has been a guest keynote speaker for me at the Ankabut Users Meeting discussing the use of high-quality video to deliver educational content.

Marci recently did an article for Information Week titled “The Right Training Tech For A Tech Career”

In future postings I will be writing about other Edu Alliance advisory board members so you may learn more about these outstanding people.