Dec 1, 2016 - evolved into one of the largest and most important IEEE ... to industrial and factory automation. Re- ... companies shared their experienc-.
country boasts 42 universities for a population of 3 million, the number of IEEE Members is still below 100. The IEEE Lebanon section is very active; on an average basis, they organize three technical activities a year with about 200 attendees for each. The second presentation on power quality challenges took place in the city of Tripoli, Libya, where about 60 professional engineers and IEEE Members gathered to participate. The talk was jointly organized by the Tripoli order of engineers and the IEEE Lebanon section. It is encouraging to see so many practicing engineers attending an IEEE event. A third meeting was held at the ancient city of Jbeil, where the highly active officers of the IES joint Chapter had a half-day meeting. IES President Al-Haddad briefed the attendees about the IES policy regarding recruiting new members and the active IES Distinguished Lecturer program. IES policy is to offer all its Chapters the requested support to grow the IES membership and to develop new technical conferences, especially in the Middle East region. In recognition of the IES president’s visit, the Lebanon Chapter officers Dr. Hiba El Sheikh (Membership officer), Prof. Nazh Moubaied (Chapter secretary), the Dean of MUT Prof. Walid Kamali (Chapter chair), and Prof. Hadi Kanaan (Chapter vice chair) offered the IES president the Lebanon Chapter Award. Prof. Al-Haddad wishes to thank the Lebanon Chapter, Prof. Kamali, and his strong team for the fruitful meetings and certainly for their friendship.
The audience in Tripoli.
An award for Prof. Al-Haddad.
The 2016 IEEE ETFA Conference Visits Berlin
T
he IEEE International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation (ETFA) celebrated its 21st year in Berlin, Germany. Since the first event held in 1992, the ETFA conference series has Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MIE.2016.2626758 Date of publication: 21 December 2016
evolved into one of the largest and most important IEEE conferences dedicated to industrial and factory automation. Researchers present results at the cutting edge of emerging technologies with applications to various sectors of automation, as well as factory and plant automation, automotive applications, avionics, space technologies, building
and urban automation, and many others. The Industry Day, introduced in 1999, offers a forum for industry professionals to present emerging research and development trends of potential interest to academia. The 2016 event (etfa2016.org) was held in Berlin, Germany, a modern and dynamic central European
december 2016 ■ IEEE industrial electronics magazine 75
The ABB Lifetime Award for Prof. Mar˘ík, presented at ETFA 2016.
Jürgen Jasperneite, director of Fraunhofer OSB-INA and inIT, and Reimund Neugebauer, president of the Fraunhofer Society at ETFA 2016.
metropolis. The 2016 event was organized by Fraunhofer OSB-INA and the Institute Industrial IT (inIT), located in Lemgo/Ostwestfalen-Lippe (OWL), one of Germany’s strongest industrial regions specializing in mechanical engineering and industrial electronics. Both institutes are involved in research and development in intelligent automation technologies. OWL is Germany’s leading-edge technology cluster for intelligent technical systems OstwestfalenLippe (“it’s OWL”), recognized in 2012 by the German government. The conference was opened by Prof. Dr. Reimund Neugebauer, president of the German Fraunhofer Society, which is the leading organization for applied research in Europe. Its
research activities are conducted by 67 institutes and research units at locations throughout Germany. It employs a staff of 24,000, who work with an annual research budget totaling more than €2.1 billion. The research efforts are geared entirely to people’s needs: health, security, communication, energy, and the environment. The recognition of the importance of the ETFA conference series to the worldwide industrial community is reflected in the ABB Lifetime Contribution to Factory Automation Award presented yearly at the ETFA conferences. The 2016 award went to Prof. Ing. Vladimír Mar˘ík, director of the Czech Institute of Informatics, Robotics, and Cybernetics at the Czech
76 IEEE industrial electronics magazine ■ december 2016
Technical University, Prague, Czech Republic. The ETFA 2016 Industry Advisory Board boasts executives from leading worldwide corporations involved in factory and industrial automation, such as ABB, Schneider Electric, and Siemens. The highlights of the event were five keynote sessions, with presentations by John S. Baras, University of Maryland, United States (“The Next Wonder—MBSE/MBE: From Ideas to Making Products and Services”); Prof. Dr. Rolf Ernst, Technical University of Braunschweig, Germany (“Automotive Ethernet—Opportunities and Pitfalls”); Alf Isaksson, worldwide director for Control, ABB, Sweden (“Automatic Control: Future Challenges, Solutions, and Systems”); Prof. Dr. Wolfgang E. Nagel, Technical University of Dresden, Germany (“Big Data and Beyond: What Can We Expect in the Future”); and Reimund Neugebauer, president of the Fraunhofer Society, Germany (“Industrie 4.0—From the Perspective of Applied Research”). The conference was preceded by the Industry Day, with a focus on “Industrie 4.0 in Practice.” The Industry Day showcased practical solutions to challenges posed by Industrie 4.0 “offered by the Technology-Network: Intelligent Technical Systems OstWestfalenLippe—It’s OWL.” The network partners from renowned companies shared their experiences related to Industrie 4.0 and the best practices. The conference banquet was held at the Tipi am Kanzleramt, which is the largest fixed-pavilion stage in Europe. The marquee theater, with its four impressive supporting masts, is regarded as one of Berlin’s most exceptional event locations. It is close to the Office of the Federal Chancellor in the center of Berlin. The ETFA 2016 conference was concluded by a visit to the Pergamon Museum, with one of the finest and most important collections in the world of decorative arts and archaeological artifacts. —Jürgen Jasperneite and Richard Zurawski, ETFA 2016 general cochairs
