The 29th Virtual IAMOT
Despite this year's pandemic whirlwind Nile University (NU) 's efforts to rise has not stopped; the 29th International Association for Management of Technology (IAMOT) event is one of NU's annual main events that was supposed to be held physically in April 2020, however, due to the unfortunate outbreak, it was rescheduled to be held virtually between the 13th – 17th of September, 2020. Prominent figures in many fields joined the event, and crucial topics were addressed, which mostly handled the adaptation of the world to the current situation.
IAMOT is the only international organization dedicated to advancing the state-of-the-art in technology education and research management. It is also a non-governmental, non-profit organization incorporated in 1992 in the State of Florida, USA. Its purpose is to encourage high-quality research and education in the management of technology (MOT). It accomplishes this by sponsoring international conferences, publishing newsletters/periodicals, conference proceedings, a book series, and a scholarly archival journal on MOT and Innovation (Technovation). It acts as an information exchange hub on teaching and research issues in MOT. The association has approximately 670 active members from 79 countries, and its founder is Dr. Tarek Khalil, President of Nile University.
The event's online sessions were live-streamed on NU's Facebook page so people worldwide could witness and benefit from the sessions.
Day 1: of the 29th International Conference started on September 14th. It included five prominent speakers tackling the topic of "Lessons from Global 2020 Crisis", who are: Prof. Tarek Khalil, who was the former President of Nile University and IAMOT Founder and Conference General Chair; Prof. Mohab Anis, a professor at the American University in Cairo; Founder and CEO of Innovate; and Principal at IXL Center North Africa and Levant; Prof. Dr. Anuja Agarwal, currently the Associate Dean – Technology Management, at Mukesh Patel School of Technology Management and Engineering, NMIMS University and she's a Board Member of International Association of Management of Technology (IAMOT); Prof. Harm-Jan Steenhuis is the Associate Dean at Hawaii Pacific University College of Business, and Prof. Gita Surie is Professor of Strategy and Innovation and the Director of the Elizabeth and Allen Don Center for Innovative Technologies and Decision Sciences at Adelphi University.
Day 2: Started with a fascinating panel discussion on "Management of Technology in a Post-Digital World." The session featured four distinguished speakers: Prof. Tarek Khalil, Nile University President and IAMOT Founder and Conference General Chair; Prof. Gita Surie, Professor of Strategy and Innovation and the Director of the Elizabeth and Allen Don Center for Innovative Technologies and Decision Sciences at Adelphi University; Dr. David Bennett, who is a Professional Engineer and Business Academic at the University of Birmingham; and Dr. Roland Ortt who's an Associate Professor of Management of Technology at TU Delft.
Day 3: was an Editor's Panel that included seven unique professors who are: James Fleck, a Professor at the University of Edinburgh; Harm-Jan Steenhuis, an Associate Dean at Hawaii Pacific University College of Business; Tugrul Daim, Professor of Engineering and Technology Management, Editor in Chief IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management; Scott Cunningham, Professor of Urban Policy at University of Strathclyde; Prof. David Bailey, a British academic economist at the Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham, a Vice-Chair of the Regional Studies Association, and Editor-in-Chief of the journal Regional Studies; Geerten van de Kaa, an Associate Professor of Standardization and Business Strategy at Delft University of Technology; and Dr. Steven Walsh, a Full Professor of Management of Technology and Entrepreneurship at University of New Mexico.
Day 4: had an exceptional topic that addressed: "Digital World...Applications and Beyond", a panel discussion held by Prof. Wael Akl - Provost and acting Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Nile University - Eng. Basil Khalil - Vice-president of Operations for FedEx Express Latin America and Caribbean Division and Eng. Mohamed Azzam - Senior Digital Transformation Consultant.
An essential aspect of this event was the research activity done in parallel and under the supervision of Dr. Mohamed Awny, Acting Dean of MOT School at NU, and Dr. Mohamed Ezzat, professor at MOT school. A call for papers announcement opened the door for many researchers to submit their findings, and throughout the event, researchers presented their research to the Jury Panel. The Best Paper Award winner was "Emerging Digital Technologies for Industry 4.0: A Longitudinal Science Mapping Approach" by Maria Fatima Ludovico, Manuel Calçada de Sousa, and José Eduardo Oliveira.
Much excitement awaits the next IAMOT held physically in Egypt as was intended this year. It is scheduled to start on the the19th-23rd of September 2021 and will gather people from different countries to share their knowledge and contribute to advancing MOT education and research.