SYNOPSIS

Smart cities attempt to make the movement of people and goods safer, greener and more equitable. However, smart cities can also lead to unintended consequences such as increased vehicle miles traveled, higher pollution, and more urban sprawl. The seminar is aimed to address the following concerns:
• What drives urban evolution? Are there common underlying mechanisms and universal laws that govern urban development, growth, and change?
• What are the emerging patterns of urbanization throughout the globe, and what are the plausible urban scenarios for the future? How will emerging patterns of urbanization influence key determinants of ecological and human well-being?
• What opportunities and challenges do new technologies, real-time sensors, and big data provide for tackling urban issues?
• What are the most promising innovative technological and institutional solutions for transitioning to sustainable patterns of urban development?
• What kinds of cities do we want to live in?


ABOUT THE SPEAKERS’

Dr. Farhan Ahmed is a Chartered IT Professional (CITP) and a Certified Systems and NetWare Engineer. He has been involved with several industries including Smart Cities/Districts, Data Centers, Telecoms, ICT, Banking, Management Consulting, Construction (Buildings and Infrastructure), Government, Education and As-built Design Engineering. He is also a member of various technology guilds and professional associations. Farhan has delivered engaged in design and implementation consultancy for some of the major smart city developments in the Middle East such as Riyadh Smart City Master Plan, Dubai Silicon Oasis Smart District Consultancy, Smart Dubai, Y2K Roll Out and Gulf Data Hub Center. He has over 20 years of consulting experiences having served multi-disciplinary consultancies such as neXgen Advisory Group, du, Etihad Atheeb Telecom and Atkins Middle East.

Dr. Mazlan Abbas is the co-founder and CEO of FAVORIOT Sdn Bhd. He is ranked among 50 Most Impactful Smart Cities Leaders by World CSR Congress 2017, ranked Top 10 in IoT Top 100 Influencers by Postscapes 2017, ranked No. 20th Thought Leader in IOT by 2014 Onalytics Report – “The Internet of Things - Top 100 Thought Leaders”, ranked Top 100 in Smart Cities Top Experts by Agilience Authority Index May 2016 and UTM Alumni Industry Personality 2016. He is currently one of Global Vision Board Member (2017). Before Favoriot, he works as CEO of REDtone IOT, MIMOS Berhad as Senior Director Wireless Communications Cluster and with CELCOM  holding many senior management positions. Prior to Celcom, he spent 10 years as an Assoc. Professor at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. He is currently the Adjunct Professor for Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA) and Universiti Malaysia (UniMY). He was also the Adjunct Professor for UTM from 2008 to 2013 and UTHM (2004-2005, 2013-2016). He is a frequent speaker in many major & established IOT, Smart Cities and telco conferences locally and globally. He sits in Industry Advisory Panel (IAP) for several local universities. He graduated from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia with a BEE (1984), University of Essex (UK) with MSc. in Telematics (1986) and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia with a PhD in Telecommunications (1993). He also received an Honorary Doctorate in Electrical Engineering from UTHM (2017).

Ar. Dr. Loo Kok Hoo is a Green Architect Specialist who is as a Registered Architect in Malaysia & Singapore. He actively promotes promotes eco & sustainable designs. He is currently a Senior Director at Surbana Consultants Sdn Bhd and has engaged in many collaborations on research with well-known Universities. His professional activities cover high development areas/zones in Singapore, Malaysia, China, India and Saudi Arabia. He is a popular advocate for green and sustainable architecture and building designs. Ar. Dr Loo holds a PhD in Architecture from University Putra Malaysia.

Ahmad Soalahuddin B Ahmad Termizi is currently the Acting Head of Business Development & Strategic communications, Setia Haruman Sdn Bhd. and he is currently completing his MBA at Anglia Ruskin University. Ahmad is a trained civil engineering graduate from Marquette University, USA in 1999. His specialty is township development and have been involved in the planning and implementation of various townships namely Cyberjaya, Shah Alam2, Seremban 2 and Milwaukee, USA. Ahmad in his current role is responsible as part of the team to build up the population of Cyberjaya by positioning Cyberjaya as a smart and green city as well as developing the technology and startup eco-system in the city. He has been an invited speaker on smart cityby the Institute of Information Industry, Taiwan and actively participates in smart city labs in Malaysia.
Prof Dr Ir Vinesh Thiruchelvam is currently the Dean of Computing, Engineering & Technology at Asia Pacific University of Technology & Innovation (APU). He is a Professional Engineer with the Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM), a Chartered Engineer with the Engineering Council of UK and is a Fellow of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE-UK). He has managed smart city development international projects in India, Russia, Iran, UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Malaysia. Prof Vinesh has a wide industrial design exposure for the property sector, ports, oil & gas and power plant industries. His scholarly research areas are in Sustainable Development, Reliability Engineering using Smart Devices with IoT and Data Analytics with Business Intelligence.