Tokyo, 03 October, /AJMEDIA/
Vice-president of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, general director of the Institute of Information Technologies, academician Rasim Alguliyev spoke at the opening ceremony of the II International Conference on Engineering Sciences hosted by Azerbaijan Technological University in Ganja city.
Remarking on the essence of holding the international conference on engineering sciences in our country, the scientist expressed his gratitude to the management, teaching staff, Turkish colleagues, and other participant from various countries for this significant initiative.
R. Alguliyev spoke about the relevancy of the topics to be discussed at the conference. He mentioned that the current problems in the direction of restoration, reconstruction, and development of the territories of Azerbaijan, which were occupied and ruined for 30 years, are related to various areas such as management, economy, agriculture, ecology, transport, and others. According to the academician, serious transformations are taking place in Azerbaijan due to the influence of subjective factors on the one hand, and global challenges on the other hand: “Today, considering the new realities based on advanced technologies in our country, complex reforms are being carried out by the head of state, and various infrastructure projects are being implemented at the expense of both domestic and foreign investments. Thus, by using internal intellectual potential and external opportunities, vital steps are being taken to build a society of high technologies, a society of knowledge, and an artificial intelligence society in our country”.
The vice-president also noted that based on high technologies, the reputation, importance, and responsibility of engineering is increasing in society: “In the context of the challenges of the modern era, Azerbaijani technologists and engineers have concrete missions. Such a prestigious conference will serve as a significant platform for the presentation of the scientific results obtained by scientists and specialists, and at the same time, it will provide an opportunity to identify new problems and priorities, to increase attention to staff training in the field of engineering, in accordance with the realities arising from our state policy”.
R. Alguliyev also characterized the industrial revolutions occurring in human history and were directly related to the engineering profession: “The Industrial Revolution I is related to the emergence and development of the steam engine, the Industrial Revolution II to electricity, the Industrial Revolution III to electronics, computers, and the Internet, the Industrial Revolution IV to artificial intelligence, Internet of Things and other technologies. Recently, it is also said that the Industrial Revolutions V and VI are not far away. The digital transformations and green transformations occurring in the world lead to the creation of new technologies, knowledge, and skills. Today, in our country, in accordance with the requirements of the Industrial Revolution IV, special attention is also paid to the training of new-generation staff”.
“In human history, during the last 300 years, the Industrial Revolution I occurred with engineers inventing mechanical devices, internal combustion engines, and others. The inventions of engineers led the entire civilization to a high level of development. In the modern world, technologies that can create a large number of innovations are discovered at the expense of scientists and smart-engineers. However, those inventions serving the development of humanity also led to prominent threats to the ecosystem of nature where people live. Climate change, global warming, imbalance of the natural ecosystem, and other anomalous processes in nature, etc. make it necessary to implement certain institutional, and global measures against the inventions created by engineers in good faith. Thus, green technologies, green engineering, green innovations, etc. are becoming more relevant to reduce the negative effects”, – added R. Alguliyev.
According to the scientist, several decades ago, construction, automobile, electricity, and other engineering fields were mentioned. However, engineering science has already gone beyond the technological framework. The reason is the penetration of technologies in all spheres of human activity. So, there is no field where information-communication technologies and other advanced technologies aren’t being applied. As a result of this, sociological, material, and non-material environments are already converging. Technological knowledge and ways of thinking penetrate every sphere of human activity, and in accordance with the realities brought about by technological revolutions, new professions such as social, political, financial, knowledge, information, language, software, and data engineering are emerging.
The vice president pointed out that in the modern age, advanced technologies such as additive technologies, artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, cyber-physical systems, the 3D industry, digital twins, augmented reality, virtual reality, and others are spreading widely all over the world. The usage of new technologies and dealing with them safely requires gaining minimal knowledge and skills: “Therefore, technological culture and engineering thinking should be formed in everyone as a part of the general culture”.
“Undoubtedly, these challenges and innovations impose important tasks on all professionals, and they require the preparation of adequate human resources, conducting new research in relevant directions, and the creation of a normative and legal framework,” said R. Alguliyev. He also mentioned that today President Ilham Aliyev conducts purposeful work in the direction of the formation of a green society, a green economy, the concepts of smart city and smart village based on green energy, as well as the implementation of inclusive technologies and the implementation of infrastructure projects based on digital transformations in order to ensure technological development in the country.
The vice president also gave information on extensive institutional reforms carried out in this direction by the Ministry of Science and Education: “In the majority of state programs initiated by the Ministry of Science and Education, there are issues related to this direction of engineering. It is admirable that the Ministry of Science and Education pays special attention not only to the strengthening of the intellectual potential of the country, and the activities of science and higher education institutions but also to the training of engineers in advanced specialties in the leading countries of the world that are new to our country. I believe that all these steps, in accordance with the global technological challenges in the world, the training of a new generation of staff will pay off in the near future.
The academician noted the necessity to adapt the priorities of the country to the realities of the modern world, to carry out purposeful work in the direction of the tasks facing science and education in order to strengthen technological sovereignty, which is one of the main pillars of the sovereignty of Azerbaijan. He also spoke about the importance of forming a knowledge economy in Azerbaijan, reducing dependence on foreign countries, producing national intellectual products, and developing the country’s potential in this direction.
At the end of his speech, the vice-president of ANAS wished success to the work of the conference and recommended the continuity holding of scientific meetings with such content.