Author: Arooj Zeb
We can take Pakistan on a fast track towards development and prosperity, says Governor Punjab, Chaudhary Muhammad Sarwar at the 15th ICOSST 2021
“I am confident that the future of open source is bright and by using open-source technologies, we can take Pakistan on a fast track towards development and prosperity” says Governor Punjab, Chaudhary Muhammad Sarwar at the 15th ICOSST 2021.”
Al-Khawarizmi Institute of Computer Science (KICS), UET, Lahore took the initiative 14 years back to organize International Conference on Open-Source Systems and Technologies (ICOSST). ICOSST is a signature event of KICS happening successfully at the institute since 2006. Like all previous conferences, the 15th edition was also massively successful and unique in its features inspiring researchers, academics, Industrial experts, public sector, and private organizations not only from across the country but also from around the world to witness quality research papers, invited talks, panel discussion and virtual exposition. Keeping the COVID perspective, this is the second consecutive year that the conference is being organized virtually using CISCO-powered online conferencing tool i.e., WebEx. The 2-day international conference was organized by Al-Khawarizmi Institute of Computer Science (KICS), University of Engineering & Technology Lahore in technically co-sponsorship by IEEE USA.
The Federal Minister of Science and Technology, H.E. Shibli Faraz graced the opening ceremony of ICOSST-2021 with his presence as a Chief Guest. Minister for Higher Education, Government of Punjab, H.E. Raja Yasir Humayun Sarfraz, Vice Chairman, PM Task Force on Knowledge Economy & Chairman, PM Task Force on Science & Technology, Prof. Dr. Atta Ur Rehman, Chair IEEE Lahore Section, Dr. Amjad Hussain, and CTO Huawei, Mr. Shahzad Rasheed, were invited as Distinguished Guests. The Federal Minister of Science and Technology congratulated the organizers and participants of ICOSST 2021. He said, “Almost everything nowadays requires open-source software, including communications networks, inventory, accounting, personal productivity tools, contact management, and operating systems”. Vice-Chancellor UET Lahore, Prof. Dr. Syed Mansoor Sarwar welcomed the honorable guests, invited speakers, industrial experts, and public and private institutes on their participation and also appreciated Dr. Waqar Mahmood and his team for putting their efforts in making the conference a success.
Collectively 243 researchers submitted their manuscripts from various countries including Pakistan, China, India, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia; only a handful top quality papers were accepted by the Technical Evaluation Committee qualifying the merit-based criteria. Speakers were invited from prestigious universities of Pakistan and other countries like Canada, Malaysia, Estonia, USA, Qatar, China to deliver talks in the areas of Artificial Intelligence, Cyber Security, Big data & Cloud computing, Robotics, Blockchain, and the Internet of Things (lot). A panel discussion was also held as a module of the conference themed ‘Future of Knowledge-based Economy in Pakistan’ moderated by Dr. Ali Hammad from the Computer Science Department, UET Lahore. The distinguished panel comprised Dr. Waqar Mahmood, Dr. Muhammad Tahir, Mr. Irfan Zafar, CEO Arham Soft, Mr. Ahmed Muzammil, CEO Gaper, Mr. Shahzeb Rathore, CEO Advanced Systems.
Director KICS, Prof. Dr. Waqar Mahmood shared the modules of the conference with the participants and also highlighted the history of the International Conference on Open-Source Systems & Technologies at the opening ceremony. A virtual exposition was also designed where products from different research labs of KICS were displayed in a 3D environment. More than 20 industries showcased their products in the exposition. Participating industries include ArhamSoft Pvt.Ltd, CosmoSoft Buisness Solutions Pvt. Ltd, ZoxCell, Jolta Technologies, Global Technologies, ArbiSoft Pvt. Ltd, Techverx Pvt. Ltd, Desol Int, Tower Technologies, TechHive Pvt. Ltd, Ebryx, Xebex, Repairwala.Pk, Technology Systems, Silicon St.
A students-based competition “BRAINIAC’21” was also organized by IEEE UET Lahore in collaboration with IEEE Lahore Section and KICS where students from various institutes participated in different modules including project Video, Full Stack Functional Website, Code Camp, Design.com, Circuit Genie, Math Gauge, League of Your Own with the price money of up to Rs. 100,000.
The closing ceremony of the conference took place on the second day of the conference. Governor Punjab, H.E. Chaudhary Muhammad Sarwar participated as a Chief Guest through a video message. “Today more than 80% of all software developers worldwide are using some level of open source one way or the other. I am confident that the future of open source is bright and by using open-source technologies, we can take Pakistan on a fast track towards development and prosperity” said Governor Punjab at the closing ceremony of ICOSST 2021. Director KICS, Dr. Waqar described briefly the 2-day event along with the recommendations made at the panel discussion. Vice Chancellor UET, Prof. Dr. Syed Mansoor Sarwar praised Dr. Waqar and his team for conducting the 15th in its series conference successfully. The conference ended up with the certificate distribution to the participants and organizers. The winners of the students’ competitions were also announced and given the prizes.
Tender Notice for Firewall Hardware Development Manufacturing and Commercializing
KICS TIMES Issue 3 – 2021
Re-Tender Notice
Second Phase of Cadence EDA Tools Training Program concludes with the presence of Provincial Minister of Punjab for Higher Education, Raja Yasir Humayun Sarfaraz.
“We have set the direction, but there’s still a long way to go,” says Minister Higher Education, Raja Yasir Humayun Sarfaraz while speaking at the closing ceremony of the Cadence EDA tools training program (Phase-II).
A specialized training program (Phase-II) on Cadence EDA tools was organized at UET Lahore. A total of 17 trainees from the 8 leading educational institutes of Punjab including UET Lahore, UET KSK, UET Taxila, ITU Lahore, IUB Bahawalpur, MNS Multan, KFUEIT, Rahim Yar Khan, UOG, and UOC got their hands on the Cadence tools. Experts from various institutes shared their diversified experiences with the attendees. 8 days long training program was kicked off with an orientation session on 8th Nov 2021 led by Dr. Ahsan Tahir, and Dr. Ubaid U. Fayyaz that included a General Overview of ASIC Design Flow and a General Overview of Digital Logic Design and System Verilog.
Dr. Tayyab Mahmood from UET (RCET Campus), Dr. Bilal from 10x Engineers, Dr. Awais bin Altaf from LUMS, and Dr. Rashad Ramzan from FAST NUCES had sessions on various topics including PERL and TCL scripting for EDA Tools, Logic Verification in Cadence Xcelium, Genus Synthesis Solution with Stylus Common UI, Conformal Equivalence Checking, Innovus Implementation System, Innovus Clock Concurrent Optimization, and Analog/Mixed Design Flow respectively.
The training program came to an end with a closing ceremony which was graced by the Honorable Minister Higher Education Raja Yasir Humayun Sarfaraz with his presence as a Chief Guest. Director Al-Khawarizmi Institute of Computer Science (KICS), Prof. Dr. Waqar Mahmood not only briefed the Chair on different aspects of the training but also thanked him for his unprecedented support in achieving this great milestone again this year. “We focused on digital tools in the first phase of this training but this time we have included the analog components as well. We are also working with the instructors to encourage other Islamic universities to participate in the training sessions and include multiple courses as a regular curriculum.,” said Dr. Waqar Mahmood.
“This entire endeavor is the brainchild of Mr. Raja Yasir Humayun Sarfaraz. With the help of Dr. Waqar, Dr. Tahir, and Dr. Bilal, we assisted him in developing an excellent proposal that is both technically effective and cost-efficient,” said Vice Chancellor UET Lahore, Prof. Dr. Syed Mansoor Sarwar in his thanking note. He emphasized his strong belief in this initiative saying, Pakistan would be able to make a significant contribution through this facility.
Minister Higher Education, Yasir Humayun Sarfaraz specially thanked VC UET, Prof. Dr. Syed Mansoor Sarwar, Director KICS, Prof. Dr. Waqar Mahmood, and the Professors for their untiring efforts in the execution of the project. ”We have set the direction, but there’s still a long way to go. We need to make people aware especially in the Electrical Engineering field that this is the actual side with a lot of opportunities”. He emphasized the importance of developing quality human resources that will help in job creation. “The primary issue I’ve found is that academic skills do not develop in our graduates, courses in the university sector are kept very large. We teach comparative subjects with great ease.,” said Raja Yasir Humayun. He assured his maximum support in incentivizing chip design technologies like India to get maximum traction and quality outcome.
The closing ceremony was concluded with the presentation of certificates, and souvenirs among the participants, and trainers of the Cadence EDA tools training program.
New Venture Contest – An Entrepreneurship Competition – A Chance to Win An Award of $10,000
Industrial Partnership Projects (IPP), Engineers for Community Welfare (ECW), and Al-Khawarizmi Institute of Computer Science (KICS), UET Lahore are organizing a competition of business ideas, to inspire young entrepreneurs to develop their dreams and make them real. All young entrepreneurs, including students, can register to promote their proposals and compete for up to Ten thousand Dollars, in interest-free loans, for starting their business. This is a chance for the participants to pitch their venture plans, compete, and receive unparalleled feedback from world-class business professionals. They shall also get the attention of other investors.
Please Email For Any Queries: http://[email protected]
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Session Date: November 18, 2021
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2021 IIOE Online Courses Competition
Dear Educators
Gear up for the first IIOE online courses competition to showcase your work and win exciting prizes.
About the competition
Co-launched by UNESCO-ICHEI and seewo, the first IIOE Online Courses Competition aims to offer a great chance for teachers from IIOE partner HEIs to showcase and improve their experience and skills in OBTL pedagogy.
The Competition will be divided into two parts: The Courseware Competition and The Video Course Competition. Participants are encouraged to participate in both competitions, still, they can choose to attend only one competition. Both officially started on November 1st, 2021. The winners of the Courseware Competition will be announced in January 2022. The top winner will receive a Sony camera. The winners of the Video Course Competition will be announced in June 2022 and the top winner will receive a Lenovo laptop.
Who is eligible?
Educators and professionals in HEIs around the globe are eligible to participate in the competition. You can choose to enter as individuals or in groups.
How to participate?
The submission form must be filled in and submitted to [email protected] via Google Form before November 30th, 2021 (19h, Beijing Time) for the Courseware Competition and before January 30th, 2022 (19h, Beijing Time) for the Video Course Competition.
Entries for the Courseware Competition must be submitted to [email protected] before December 25th, 2021 (19h, Beijing Time) via Google Drive; entries for the Video Course Competition must be submitted before April 15th 2022 (19h, Beijing Time).
Support Materials
Submission Form for The Courseware Competition: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1zQb8VQNI5LaZ-9rso2RRP4OWDdrNgbyyVB4wIsRXccI/edit
Submission Form for The Video Course Competition: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1v-Ad97T2eXaBPikmhH7EoP6vJbf4ykR8gI49Sr81SwI/edit
More Questions? Email us at [email protected] with “Competition question” in the subject line.
For more information, please download 2021 IIOE Online Courses Competition Guidelines and Technical Guide for 2021 IIOE Online Courses Competition.
Muhammad Tahir Naeem
Point of Contact,
IIOE National Center,
Pakistan.
Email: [email protected]
Ignite launched Pakistan’s first nationwide Digital Pakistan Cybersecurity Hackathon
