ESTCON 2016: Sustainable future-building

Engineering, Science and Technology Conference: all about sustainable future.

Kuala Lumpur August 15^th, 2016 – The Engineering, Science and Technology Conference (ESTCON 2016) had its opening ceremony this morning at KL Convention Centre. Organised by Universiti Teknologi Petronas attracting 1,200 experts from 40 countries including the United States, Canada, South Korea, Taiwan and Malaysia to present research findings, give lectures, participate in discussion panels and debates related to engineering, science and technology. ESTCON will see its closing ceremony on August 17^th 2016.

This international gathering is organised once every 2 years and this is the fourth gathering since ESTCON’s establishment in 2010. This is the only event where industry, academia, government and the public converge to contribute to the global discussion on business, share knowledge and bring forth new ideas and innovations for the broader benefit of the industry and those contributing to it, alongside economic development of the nation.

The congress was officiated by the Minister of Higher Education, YB Dato’ Seri Idris Jusoh, as the ministry is a major supporter of the event together with the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI), Agensi Inovasi Malaysia, and Yayasan UTP.

The event wasn’t without corporate sponsorship where some of the sponsors are major players in the Malaysian and global oil and gas  and other Industries including PETRONAS, iICEP, ExxonMobil, Solution Engineering and Mitsubishi Corporation. The university has partnered with PlaTCOM Ventures, Yayasan Inovasi Malaysia (YIM), MDEC, and MATRADE. Media partners included New Straits Times, Berita Harian, Bernama, Afterschool.my and EasyUni.

The theme of the conference is "Engineering, science technology and humanities: Convergence for a sustainable future.” This is considered as the world's biggest congress with nine different conferences running parallel.

The organisers hope to couple researchers and fund seekers with investors by providing a platform  to pitch ideas and innovative solutions. Products with high commercialisation value are shortlisted by the industry partners PlaTCOM Ventures and MDEC. This year, 40 research products are to be presented to a panel of judges from the public and private sectors. This platform was introduced two years ago (2014) to bridge UTP technology and the industry and draw attention to the capabilities of UTP as a higher learning institution and a research university.

The conference drew attention to environmental problems, global warming, and the reduction of carbon emission to prepare for a sustainable future. This event encourages students and researchers to look for environmental solutions that would help improve the quality of life of people and various industries. The organisers have set an example to others by advocating to increase the number of trees to help reduce carbon emission as UTP has planted 100 trees in conjunction with ESTCON2016.

About UTP :

Established in 1997, Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP) has grown to become one of Malaysia's most prominent private higher learning institutions offering a wide range of industry relevant programmes in engineering, science and technology in both undergraduate and postgraduate level. The university aims to produce graduates ready for the challenges of the workspace and equip them with excellent leadership skills and communication abilities.

As many as 13,000 graduates have been trained by UTP. Currently, there are a little over 1,200 students in the foundation programme, 6,000 undergraduate students, and 1,200 postgraduate students, from more than 66 countries. This young institution has been a high achiever with top ranks nationally and globally. UTP is the only private institution in Malaysia ranked 288 globally in the field of engineering and technology in 2015. UTP is also ranked in the top 127 in Asia, 150 global ranking in Chemical Engineering, 200 in Mechanical Engineering, 250 in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, 350 in Computer Science and Information System.

UTP has been awarded a 6 star rating by the Malaysia Research Assessment (MyRA) for its research, development and commercialisation efforts.