IEEE Region 10 Conference (TENCON) 2021

7th – 10th December 2021, Auckland, New Zealand

Prepared by: BeeTheng Lau and Tridibesh Nag, Editors for the Region 10 Newsletter Committee

IEEE Region 10 is the powerhouse region of IEEE with more than 140,000 members, 58 Sections, 35 Sub-sections and six Councils. TENCON conference started in 1980 in Hong Kong and since 1991 has emerged as the flagship event of IEEE Region 10. With the theme Smarter, Cleaner, Secure, & Resilient Living, the 33^rd IEEE Region 10 International Conference, TENCON 2021, was successfully held from 7^th to 10^th December 2021. IEEE New Zealand North Section hosted it in Auckland (for the venue-based physical attendees) while others engaged the planned exciting and innovative programs virtually.

TENCON 2021 was initially planned to be held in blended mode, but due to the new variant of the virus, it was changed to a fully virtual event with a very interactive and new Whova platform. The adoption of the Whova platform has enriched the participants’ virtual conference experience, allowing them to engage with organizers, presenters, and other participants seamlessly, from sessions to Q&A, live presentations to networking with experts and peers. Many participants highly complimented this new technology provided in this IEEE flagship conference which truly demonstrated IEEE’s leadership in organizing world-class conferences.

The conference gathered reputed researchers and industry experts and presented various keynote speeches, special sessions, invited sessions, and regular parallel sessions focusing on the following themes:

✔Low-Carbon Energy Future	✔Future of Industrial Automation & Smart Manufacturing
✔Future of Space Technologies	✔Future of Work in the World of Automation
✔Smart Cities & Technologies	✔Future of Food, Nutrition, & Health
✔Community Spirit	✔Future of Learning & Computing
✔Other Topics	✔IEEE Societies Based

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The conference commenced on Tuesday, 7^th December 2021. Prof. Lance Fung, R10 Director-Elect 2021-2022, welcomed all participants to the conference and congratulated the organizers and volunteers for successfully hosting this conference and giving an insight into the power of IEEE.

Industry Track Session followed this opening remarks. The first session under this track was chaired by Sanjay Kar Chowdhury, Chair for IEEE Region 10 Industry Relations Committee. This session was on 5G Network and Security-Challenges and Opportunities by Prof. Ashutosh Dutta, 5G Chief, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.

The next session was a panel discussion on Academia-Industry Engagement moderated by Parkash Lohana, IEEE R10 Professional Activities Chair. The panelists were Dr. Sudeendra Koushik, Innovation Director and Head of CampX of Volvo Group India Private Ltd, India; Prof. Dr. Zubair A. Shaikh, President, Mohammad Ali Jinnah University, Pakistan; Dr. Paulina Chan, Principal & CEO, Global Mutual Innovation Consortium, Hong Kong; Dr. Alpha Agape Gopalai, Senior Lecturer, Monash University, Malaysia; and Dr. Jane O’Dwyer, Chief Executive Officer, Cooperative Research Australia. They discussed the challenges and opportunities by which Universities and Industries can collaborate in three areas: teaching, research, and entrepreneurship.

Next was the WIE Track Session chaired by Emi Yano, IEEE Region 10 Women in Engineering Committee Chair. The session was on Journey Beyond the Horizon – The Success Story of Dr. Piyapan Hannarkin, MD of Operational Energy Group Ltd, an incredible woman leader (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrzphFLq5Wg).

It was followed by Young Professional Track Session chaired by Dr. Saaveethya Sivakumar, IEEE Region 10 Young Professionals Committee Chair. The first keynote of this session was on Effective Scientific Writing and Publishing by Prof. Debatosh Guha, IEEE Fellow and Professor in the Institute of Radio Physics and Electronics at the Rajabazar Science College, University of Calcutta. The second keynote was on A Systematic Guide on Planning and Writing Grant Proposals by Prof. Nowshad Amin from College of Engineering, Universiti Tenaga Nasional, Malaysia.

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The second day, 8^th December 2021 saw the official opening ceremony. General Chair Prof. Nirmal Nair welcomed all participants to the conference and mentioned that this conference is not about the past but the future technology. The opening ceremony proceeded with the keynote address by IEEE Region 10 Director, Mr. Deepak Mathur. Despite several obstacles, he congratulated the organizing committee members for successfully hosting TENCON 2021. In his presentation, he gave a very thorough presentation and overview of IEEE Region 10.

Prof. Tek Tjing Lie, General Co-Chair of TENCON 2021, then presented the technical report, where he informed that the conference received over 250 papers submissions from 16 countries. After careful review, 180 papers were accepted for presentation (72% acceptance rate) at the conference. The highest number of submissions comes from India, which made up 29% of the total submission, followed by Australia (19%) and New Zealand (18%).

The opening ceremony was followed by the first plenary discussion on Cyber Hygiene and Security; the panelists were
Abhinav Chopra, Office of Helen Clark; Peter Jackson, Engineering Manager – Cyber SGS ECL; and Bhojraj Parmar, Head of Consulting – New Zealand Mandiant. The session was moderated by Kate Murphy, TENCON 2021 Industry Chair.

There were 18 high-quality technical sessions divided into two parallel sessions, with 7 to 12 papers presented in each session covering ten different themes for three days. All presentations were pre-recorded to ensure smooth delivery of the contents; the presenters then took up the questions live following their played-back presentation. Attendees had a chance to hear the interactive, lively and technical pitches and discussions from researchers, social entrepreneurs, innovators, engineers, professionals and technology leaders from more than 20 Asia-pacific countries. Some of the sessions are shared below:

IEEE TENCON 2021 Robot Design Competition

Prepared by: Dulsha Kularatna-Abeywardana, Secretary for IEEE New Zealand North Section WIE

IEEE TENCON 2021 Robot Design Competition was organized in conjunction with IEEE Region 10 as part of the IEEE TENCON 2021 conference held in Auckland, New Zealand in December 2021. There were three categories, junior school, senior school, and University which attracted fantastic, creative and highly technically advanced entries. The junior and senior school entries were all from local primary and high school students in Auckland, New Zealand. The University category attracted entries from all over the region including India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand. This competition was organized by Dr. Ho Seok Ahn from the University of Auckland, with Prof. Jennifer Dela Cruz from Mapua Institute of Technology coordinating the entries for IEEE Region 10. Special thanks also goes to the IEEE Region 10 Vice-Chair Dr. Zia Ahmed and the General Chair for IEEE TENCON 2021 Dr. Nirmal Nair for facilitating this competition. These entries were judged by Dr. Dulsha Kularatna-Abeywardana, Dr. Mahla Nejati and Mr. Jongyoon Lim from the University of Auckland, Dr. Arslan Kiyani from Dell Technologies and Dr. Inkyu Sa from CSIRO’s Data 61. Gold, silver and bronze medals were awarded along with technical awards and the major prize winners in each category were –

Junior school:

Senior school:

University category:

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