“GIK Institute International Conference Emphasizes Necessity of Integrating Modern Technologies and Industrial Linkages into Conventional Engineering Disciplines”
The 2nd International Conference on Modern Technologies in Mechanical & Materials Engineering – MTME 2024, at the Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology (GIKI) concluded on Saturday 20th April 2024. The technical program of the conference covered a diverse array of content in key thrust areas of mechanical and materials engineering like Design, Manufacturing, Energy, Robotics, and automation as well as Drives and Control Systems. The conference featured 1 keynote address, 7 invited talks of foreign experts, and 70 technical oral presentations distributed across 12 parallel sessions, in addition to 1-poster session displaying around 50 posters. Patron in-chief of the conference, Rector GIK Institute, Prof. Dr. Fazal Ahmad Khalid, SI in his opening and closing remarks highlighted the importance of the conference and said that “events like MTME offer a platform to address shared challenges, exchange best practices, and explore pioneering scientific research and technology that will help in defining our knowledge-based economy.” The Chief Guest, Prof. Dr. Arshad Saleem Bhatti, Rector Virtual University, in his inaugural address, stressed the need to adapt modern technologies such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, data science with the domain knowledge of mechanical and materials engineering.
This year, the conference also pulled-in local industry and organized an exciting panel discussion on the critical topic of “Industry-Academia Linkages: Challenges & Opportunities”, aimed at shaping our social ecosystem in today’s evolving landscape. Academic leadership from different leading institutes such as GIKI, NUST, PU, Pak-Austria Fachhochschule, COMSATS and IIUI exchanged ideas on improving the industry-academia relationship to improve indigenous product development as well as skill-set enhancement of the university graduates, with the leading industry of the country such as FFC, Dawlance, OGDCL, KSB Pumps and Fauji Cement Company Limited. The Chief Guest, Prof. Dr. Sajid Qamar, Rector COMSATS University, in his closing remarks, stated that local universities are doing an excellent job when it comes to the teaching and knowledge delivery. However, the research part needs to be augmented by the industry so as to provide solutions for the societal issues. He also stressed an active role of the office of research, innovation, and commercialization, established in all higher education institutes of the country. He appreciated the leadership of the GIK Institute, Faculty of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, the Program Chairs, and the program Committee for the excellent arrangement and timely conduct of the conference on a very important topic. Organizers of the conference also acknowledged the generous support of the sponsors pf this year, i.e., Dawlance, Fauji Fertilizer Company (FFC) and Oil & Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL).
