Ir. Dr Ooi Teik Aun
Report on IEM – ICE Joint Conference on “Future Engineers 2017 Malaysia – Inspiring the Workforce of Tomorrow” and Dinner with President of ICE
By Ir. Dr Ooi Teik Aun, Hon. FIEM, FICE
On 14th January 2011 ICE held its first ICE Asia Pacific conference on Infrastructure Development in the Tropical Environment at P J Hilton hotel. The event was managed by IEM Training Centre Sdn Bhd. The event was a great success and attracted more than 200 participants. This conference has given ICE the confidence to suggest hosting a joint conference with IEM in 2017.
On 26th October 2017, two events were held namely, the ICE-IEM Joint Conference on “Future Engineers – Inspiring the Workforce of Tomorrow” and ICE Presidential lecture-cum-dinner. This time IEM Academy Sdn Bhd is the Manager for both the events. Both events were successfully carried out with 220 participants for the Conference and 460 participants for the Dinner. The events were strongly supported by the construction industry and the ICE Student Chapters from five universities based in Kuala Lumpur.
The conference provided a comprehensive look at the skills, technologies, projects and organisations that will shape the global engineering profession and workforce of tomorrow and will guide and inspire our fledgling workforce, connecting a diverse group of talent with the career possibilities and opportunities they need to become industry leaders. The partnership between ICE and IEM will offer guidance, support and industry foresight to help budding engineers build their careers. ICE and IEM have an Agreement of Cooperation (AOC) since 2000. ICE is a global Engineering Benchmark for Civil Engineers and IEM is a leading regional Multi-Engineering Institution providing secretariat services to numerous Regional Engineering Organisations. ICE has Country Representative for Malaysia since 1960s and current Country Representative is Ir. Dr Tan Yean Guan. It has five (5) ICE Student Chapters located at five Universities namely UNITEN, UNMC, UTAR, UM and UCSI University.
This conference is the first of its kind in which ICE and IEM have join forces to set the new directions for future engineers in dealing with the digital world. The conference has eight prominent speakers and they are ICE President, Professor Tim Broyd; Mark Enzer, Mott MacDonald’s Chief Technical Officer representing the UK’s major infrastructure client organisations; Simon Vaux, Director Digital Engineering with Transport for NSW, Er. Poh Seng Tiok, Director, Planning and Design, for Mass Rapid Transit Corporation (MRTC) in Malaysia, implementing the MRT projects in Kuala Lumpur; Ir. Dr Tan Chee Fai, Practicing Mechanical and Manufacturing Consultant, Brian Higgins JP, Business Development Manager EMEA UK; Dr. Khor Cheng Seong, Associate Professor at Xiamen University Malaysia specialized in mathematical modeling and analytics and optimization and Ir. Dr Leong Wai Yie, CEO of SmartBrain Sdn Bhd specializes in big data analysis, medical signal processing and telecommunications.
The conference covered ICE-Led Project 13; The Future of Industry: Developing a Strategy for Smart Infrastructure Transformation; Transport for NSW Digital Engineering Strategy; Advances in Engineering Technology and Application in KVMRT Line 2; Emerging Technology and The Need for “Forever Learning”; Security Skills and the Need to Build Resilience to Cyber Threats; Incorporating the Systems Approach in Engineering Education Using Modelling and Simulation and Developing the Pie for Industry 4.0.
In conjunction with the Conference a Dinner was held in honour of the ICE President, Prof Tim Broyd. IEM President Ir. Dr Tan Yean Chin officiated the opening of the Conference and delivered a welcome address. Professor Broyd also conferred the ICE Fellow (FICE) to Ir. Dr Tan Yean Chin for his contributions and achievements in Civil Engineering.
At the Dinner with the ICE President, Prof Tim Broyd delivered his Presidential Lecture and also conferred ICE Fellow (FICE) on Dato’ Sani Abdullah, Er. Poh Seng Tiok and two others. He also presented Mementos and Certificates of Appreciation to the Main Sponsors, Past ICE Country Representatives for Malaysia, Ir. Dr Ting Wen Hui and Ir. Dr Ooi Teik Aun and UTAR President Dato’ Prof Ir. Chuah Hean Teik, UNITEN Vice Chancellor Dato’ Prof Ir. Dr Kamal Nasharuddin and Advisors of the ICE Student Chapters. Group photographs were taken of the recipients and the Student Chapters. Both the conference and dinner were very successful!
