KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Professor Saifur Rahman is the founding director of the Advanced Research Institute at Virginia Tech, USA, where he is the Joseph R. Loring Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He also directs the Center for Energy and the Global Environment at the university. He is a Life Fellow of the IEEE and an IEEE Millennium Medal winner. He was the president of the IEEE Power and Energy Society (PES) for 2018 and 2019.
He is the founding editor-in-chief of the IEEE Electrification Magazine and the IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy. He has published more than 160 journal papers and has made more than 500 conference and invited presentations.  His h-index is 60 with over eighteen thousand citations.
In 2006, he served on the IEEE Board of Directors as the Vice President for Publication Services and Products. He is a distinguished lecturer for IEEE PES and has lectured on renewable energy, energy efficiency, smart grid, energy internet, blockchain, and IoT sensor integration in more than 30 countries.
He is the founder of BEM Controls, LLC, a Virginia (USA)-based software company providing building energy management solutions. He served as the chair of the US National Science Foundation Advisory Committee for International Science and Engineering from 2010 to 2013. His research at Virginia Tech has been funded by Duke Energy, Tokyo Electric Power Company, the US National Science Foundation, the US Department of Defense, the US Department of Energy, and the State of Virginia. He has a PhD in electrical engineering from Virginia Tech.

Eng. John Tanui, MBS is the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Digital Economy in charge of the State Department for ICT and the Digital Economy. Prior to joining the Ministry, Eng. Tanui was the Chief Executive Officer of the Konza Technopolis Development Authority (KoTDA) for over 7 years, Deputy Country CEO and Vice President of Huawei Technologies responsible for Kenya, Tanzania, Somalia and Djibouti and the Director of Technical Service Department in the same organization that he served for over of 15 years.
With over 17 years in the ICT industry and international business management, Eng. Tanui has worked in several countries in Africa and also in China acquiring knowledge and experience in Business and project management, he has keen interest and expertise in Engineering Turnkey Projects, Innovations, setup and management of industry collaborations and partnerships. He is passionate about how technology can be utilized to solve challenges facing economies.
He holds a Bachelor’s Degree of Technology in Electrical and Communication Engineering from Moi University and MBA in International Business from the University of Nairobi where he is currently pursuing PhD in global business management. He is a member of the Institution of Engineers of Kenya (MIEK), a registered engineer and a member of the Academy of International Business.
Eng. Tanui is an active ICT professional who was profiled as tenth in the 2012 Top 40 under 40 by the Business Daily (Nation Media Group). He is a Council Member of Jomo Kenyatta University of Science and Technology, a council member of IEK (Institution of Engineers of Kenya) where he chairs industrialization, Environment and quality assurance committee and also serves as committee member for Advocacy, Journal and Publicity. Previously, he served as the University Council Vice Chairman at Technical University of Kenya and also as an Advisory Council Member of the Presidential Digital Talent Program.

Adaptability and advanced services for industrial manufacturing require an intelligent technological support for understanding the production process characteristics also in complex situations. Quality control is specifically one of the activities in manufacturing which is very critical for ensuring high-quality products and competitiveness on the market.
Similarly, protection of the environment requires ability to adjust the understanding of the current status by considering the natural dynamics of the environment itself and the natural phenomena.
Artificial intelligence can provide additional flexible techniques for designing and implementing monitoring and control systems both for industrial and environmental applications, which can be configured from behavioral examples or by mimicking approximate reasoning processes to achieve adaptable systems.
This talk will analyze the opportunities offered by artificial intelligence technologies to support the realization of adaptable operations and intelligent services in industrial applications, specifically focusing on manufacturing processes and quality control, as well as in environmental monitoring, especially for land management and agriculture.

Vincenzo Piuri received his Ph.D. in computer engineering at Polytechnic of Milan, Italy (1989). He is Full Professor in computer engineering at the University of Milan, Italy (since 2000). He has been Associate Professor at Polytechnic of Milan, Italy and Visiting Professor at the University of Texas at Austin, USA, and visiting researcher at George Mason University, USA.
His main research interests are; artificial intelligence, computational intelligence, intelligent systems, machine learning, pattern analysis and recognition, signal and image processing, biometrics, intelligent measurement systems, industrial applications, digital processing architectures, fault tolerance, cloud computing infrastructures, and internet-of-things. Original results have been published in 400+ papers in international journals, proceedings of international conferences, books, and book chapters.
He is Fellow of the IEEE, Distinguished Scientist of ACM, and Senior Member of INNS. He is IEEE Region 8 Director (2023-24), and has been IEEE Vice President for Technical Activities (2015), IEEE Director, President of the IEEE Systems Council, President of the IEEE Computational Intelligence Society, Vice President for Education of the IEEE Biometrics Council, Vice President for Publications of the IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society and the IEEE Systems Council, and Vice President for Membership of the IEEE Computational Intelligence Society.
He has been Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Systems Journal (2013-19). He is Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Cloud Computing and has been Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Computers, the IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks, the IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, and IEEE Access.
He received the IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society Technical Award (2002), the IEEE TAB Hall of Honor (2019), and the Rudolf Kalman Professor Title of the Obuda University, Hungary. He is Honorary Professor at: Obuda University, Hungary; Guangdong University of Petrochemical Technology, China; Northeastern University, China; Muroran Institute of Technology, Japan; Amity University, India; Galgotias University, India; Chandigarh University; and BIHER, India.

Ibrahim Matola was appointed as Malawi’s minister of energy during the People’s Party administration and again in February 2022. He was previously a member of Parliament for two terms, from 2004 to 2014, and served as deputy chief whip and later parliamentary leader of the United Democratic Front. He was a member of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly and the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. He has also served as secretary-general of the People’s Party, and was appointed as the deputy minister of environment and climate change in 2012.
Mr Matola holds a bachelor of arts degree from Medina University and is pursuing a master’s degree in international relations from the University of Leicester.

Eng. Isaac Kiva is the Secretary for Renewable Energy at the Ministry of Energy. He heads the Directorate charged with policy formulation, and promotion of development and utilization of renewable energy, including facilitation of private sector investment.
Eng. Kiva has wide experience in public sector management, having worked in energy and senior Government positions for over 20 years. He is a registered Professional Engineer and a member of the Institution of Engineers of Kenya.

Sekou L. Remy Ph.D is a Staff Research Scientist at IBM Research Africa (Kenya Lab) with a keen interest in both health systems and system health. He is also excited about developing appropriate technologies which will transform Africa, and the world. A proud alum of the Georgia Institute of Technology (Electrical Engineering), and of Morehouse College (Computer Science), Sekou has spent time learning and teaching at Clemson University, the University of Notre Dame, Spelman College, and at the University of Washington. At IBM, Sekou has worked on a portfolio of projects considering practical applications of Machine Learning in decision support with the aim of increasing the scale and the scope of evidence used to make decisions.

Conrad Tucker is a professor of mechanical engineering and holds courtesy faculty appointments in machine learning, robotics, and biomedical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. His research focuses on the design and optimization of systems through the acquisition, integration, and mining of large scale, disparate data.

Tucker has served as PI/Co-PI on federally/non-federally funded grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Army Research Laboratory (ARL), the Office of Naval Research (ONR) via the NSF Center for eDesign, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). In February 2016, he was invited by National Academy of Engineering (NAE) President Dr. Dan Mote, to serve as a member of the Advisory Committee for the NAE Frontiers of Engineering Education (FOEE) Symposium. He received his Ph.D., M.S. (industrial engineering), and MBA degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and his B.S. in mechanical engineering from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.

Prof. Walter O. Oyawa, is currently the Director General of the National Commission for Science, Technology & Innovation (NACOSTI). He is a Professor of Civil Engineering, a holder of a PhD in Civil Engineering, and a holder of Executive MBA. He is a Registered Professional Engineer, a Lead Expert-NEMA and a reviewer of several international journals.

In addition to his current position as Director General of NACOSTI, Prof. Oyawa has served in various senior leadership/management positions including having been the Principal/CEO of Multimedia University College, Deputy Commission Secretary at the Commission for University Education (CUE), pioneering Ag. Principal of the College of Engineering & Technology at JKUAT, Director of a Research Centre-SMARTEC at JKUAT, Chairman of the Department of Civil Engineering at JKUAT, Board member of several boards, among others. He is endowed with vast experience in research/scholarly work, as evidenced by; extensive publications in peer reviewed journals, several awards and research grants, keynote lectures and conference papers, and supervision of numerous postgraduate students. His research interest is in the area of sustainable construction materials and technologies.

Dr. Tonny K. Omwansa is the current CEO of Kenya National Innovation Agency where he oversees the development and management of the National Innovation System. He is a member of ISACA, IEEE, the Board of Trustees of Kenya National Research Fund, and a Commissioner at the National Commission of Science, Technology, and Innovation. He is also an International Advisory Board Member at SLU – Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. He has been involved in the technology and innovation ecosystem in Africa for the past 15 years, founding and running various entrepreneurship programs and accelerators, across different sectors including fintech and mobility. He has been a faculty member at Strathmore University and the University of Nairobi.

Dr. Omwansa created the Kenya Innovation Week and Nairobi Innovation week, mobilizing over 50 partners from the public and private sector and academia to enhance the local innovation ecosystem. Dr. Omwansa is interested in the design, adoption, and impact of innovative low-cost, and appropriate technologies in developing countries. He conducted extensive research and consultancy projects for the past 15 years on technology, innovation, financial inclusion, and mobile transactions, for various clients ranging from government institutions, international donors to multinationals (Kenyan government, Mastercard Foundation, Microsoft, World Bank, USAID, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, GSMA, Rockefeller Foundation). He, therefore, produced numerous products, reports, and publications, including a book: “Money, Real Quick: Kenya’s Disruptive Mobile Money Innovation” in 2012.