The 32nd Multi topic International symposium held at Pearl Continental Hotel Karachi on 15th and 16th March 2017. The former chairman of the Higher Education Commission, Dr Attaur Rahman, was the chief guest of this auspicious event. The event was attended by a good number of professional from across Pakistan and abroad. As in the past, the event was nicely organized and properly communicated to the industrial sectors.
Dr. Attaur Rahman while addressing the inaugural session underscored the need for maximum budgetary allocations for the science and technology sector.
He said that advanced technology has played a key role in the development of nations. “Unfortunately, not a single Pakistani university is ranked among the top 700 educational institutions worldwide.”
The event was sponsored by Pakistan’s Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineering.
Dr Attaur-Rahman said 90 Nobel Prizes have been awarded to faculty members of the University of Cambridge, 32 of which went to Trinity College. “But we live in the darkness of superstition and ignorance,” he lamented. “It’s time we should wake up.” He urged the government to step up the development of the education sector so that the nation could compete with the fast growing world.
He recalled several initiatives that he had taken as the head of the HEC during his tenure, which helped the country’s education and technology sector to grow.
M. Asif Siddiqui, chairman of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineering in his address of welcome said that his institution is providing platforms like the symposium not only to disseminate technical knowledge but to share ideas. The institute held a national engineering students’ competition in February, in which students from all over the country participated. Recipients of the top awards presented their papers in 2nd day sessions.
Commenting on the rapid development of science, he said that it is predicted that by 2025 there will be computers having intelligence equivalent to that of humans. By 2050, computers are expected to have intelligence equivalent to the cumulative intelligence of all humans. “Frankly I don’t know what it really means but it definitely is scary.” he said.
He went on to say that cell phones are getting smarter by the day. Google and Tesla are on the verge of launching driverless cars. Drones are being used for surveillance, filing, and emergency services, while robots are already performing jobs of waiters in hotels.
