AL-KHOBAR — Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University (PMU) hosted a virtual international conference in computing, mobility, and manufacturing (CMM 2020) from Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia, Dec. 8-10.

PMU President Dr. Issa Al-Ansari opened the conference with forward-looking statements regarding the recent and ongoing advancements of technology during what we now call the fourth industrial revolution — Industry 4.0, also referred to as intelligence industry — and called for a revolution of higher education and learning to accompany it.

The Industry 4.0's movement toward data analytics, machine learning and smart automation in industrial technologies were the cornerstone of the CMM 2020 conference. A complementary AI workshop took place on Dec. 7.

"We cannot face an industrial revolution by conventional educational methodologies," Al-Ansari said. "Universities today should focus more than ever on human sciences as means to balance the technical outcomes of the 4th Industrial Revolution."

More than 380 people attended with the convenience of the Saudi Arabian time-zone providing greater accessibility especially for those in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

Prof. Patrick S.P. Wang from Northeastern University gave the first keynote lecture from Boston, Massachusetts and interacted in real-time with enthusiastic participants, following his talk on intelligent pattern recognition and its applications to e-forensics and Smart Cities. Conference organizers worked within the digital platforms like Zoom to facilitate participation and engagement among attendees.

Prof. Vincenzo Piuri from the department of computer science at the Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy spoke about environmental and industrial applications of artificial intelligence.

The second day included an address on the stability of complex networks and relation to power grid applications from Dr. Jürgen Kurths from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, and Humboldt University Berlin's Institute of Physics, followed by Dr. Hong Yan from the Department of Electrical Engineering at City University of Hong Kong speaking about human face tracking and the recognition of facial expressions.

"PMU, like many other institutions around the globe, needs to ensure that the pandemic does not affect the networking and advancement within our academic communities and does not halt our internationalization efforts," Al-Ansari said.

The University's offerings in education and global leadership in the MENA region with events like the CMM 2020 conference contribute to Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030, and provides opportunities to students to engage in global issues and be prepared for complex and challenging futures. — PRNewswire