IEEE ICC 2012 Concludes in Ottawa, Ontario with Thousands Attending the Conferences First Paperless+ Event
Summary
In the opening address, Dr. Shigeyuki Akiba, of KDDI R&D Labs Inc. and Tokyo Institute of Technology, spoke on the “Era of Multi-Networks, Multi-Services & Many Standards,” while remarking about the issues involved with expanding human-to-human and M2M services to seven billion people, who are already using nearly seven trillion communications devices and sensors.Following the welcoming remarks of General Chair Ibrahim Gedeon of TELUS and the Honorable Gary Goodyear, Minister of State, Science and Technology and the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, Executive Conference Chair Wahab Almuhtadi of Algonquin College thanked everyone for their attendance, while IEEE ComSoc President Vijay Bhargava highlighted the IEEE Communications Society’s continued growth, which now includes 200 chapters worldwide, 30 sister societies and affiliations with 500,000 global professionals.Eros Spadotto, Executive Vice President, Technology Strategy TELUS then began his keynote by citing the need to look at problems from the user perspective – from the outside in rather than the inside out, which was the policy in past decades.This is due to the continued democratization of social media and the changing world’s reliance on wireless devices including SmartPhones that “never turn off and even do things while you sleep.”In the morning’s second address, Ian F. Akyildiz of the Telecommunication Group & Broadband Wireless Networking Lab at Georgia Institute of Technology, spoke about the “Fundamentals of Molecular Nano-Communication Networks” and the prospects of revolutionizing industry and health care with the development of everyday materials that are “harder than steel and conduct electricity better than copper” as well as bio-inspired nano-machines that attack tumors, enhance life spans and fight illnesses like epilepsy.Befittingly held at the center of the Exhibit of Innovation in the Ottawa Convention Center’s Canada Hall, IEEE ICC 2012’s “Dialog with Industry Leaders” on Tuesday evening featured a lively debate between leading communications experts against a backdrop of exhibits hosted by 28 leading companies such as TELUS, TE Connectivity, ARUBA Networks, Optelian, Ciena, EION, First Robotics, RIM, EXFO, National Instruments and Parliant.As background, he cited the recent sale of more than 100 million tablets globally and numerous statistics highlighted by the fact that 66 percent of Americans sleep with SmartPhones and 84 percent of Germans would choose the Internet over a car.These comments were followed by Dr. Raj Jain of Washington University, St. Louis, who spoke about the “Next Generation Internet and the Architecture for the Future” and the realization that “the real money is knowing the future” and understanding that “the most valued companies in the stock market are generally those that lead the paradigm shift.” Lucy Hood of Communications Technology Management (CTM) then discussed her company’s “mission to create and disseminate knowledge” based on information derived from the entire business value chain.This includes studying the symbiotic relationship between devices and activities to better understand “what is coming next” and what people are likely to do next in their digital lives.During the final address of the morning, Victor Bahl of Microsoft discussed “Putting the Cloud in the Palm of Your Hand” in addition to highlighting the need for ubiquitous connectivity.