• His Excellency Dr. Ahmad bin Abdullah Humaid Belhoul Al Falasi was appointed as Minister of State for Higher Education in February 2016, to supervise the development of higher education and scientific research in the UAE. 
• In October 2017, His Excellency’s portfolio was expanded to include Advanced Skills to equip the UAE youth with the necessary skills for the future.
• Al Falasi is currently the Chairman of the Federal Authority for Human Resources, and the Chairman UAE Space Agency since June 2017. His Excellency represents the space sector in the National Science, Technology and Innovation Committee. 
• Prior, His Excellency held the position of Chief Executive Officer at Masdar, Executive Director of Strategy and Tourism Sector Development at Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, and Vice President of Industry Unit of Mubadala Development Company.  His Excellency Dr. Ahmad Belhoul Al Falasi had also worked with management consulting firm McKinsey & Company.
• His Excellency has a Ph.D. from Sir John Monash University, a master’s from the University of Melbourne, Australia, and a Bachelor in Telecommunications Engineering from KUSTAR, UAE 

• Dr. Bastaki is the recipient of the highest award in the UAE, the “Emirates Excellence Award in Sciences, Literature and Arts”, in the field of Sciences. 
• Dr. Bastaki worked as a professor at United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) specializing in Communications Engineering. He also recently held positions as: CEO of ICT Fund; Director of Education, Training and Research and Development for Dubai Silicon Oasis (DSO); Consultant and IT Project Manager for Al-Ain Municipality; and Chairman and Partner of Barajeel Engineering Consultants. He is one of the founders of DSO and RIT-Dubai. He is a member of 7 academic boards, Honorary Chair of IEEE, Chairman of Emirates Science Club, Board member of the Cultural and Scientific Association, Board member of KHDA’s UQAIB, Board member of Ankabut (UAE’s NREN) and many more. 
• Dr. Bastaki received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of California, San Diego and his Doctorate from University of California, Irvine, before returning to help improve the education and technology sectors in his homeland, the UAE. University of Dubai faculty, staff and students are gratified that a man of his accomplishments leads the university on its continuing path to provide the highest quality education in the region. 

• Founder & President, IPv6 Forum 
• Chair, 5G World Alliance
• Member of 3GPP PCG (Board) 
• IEEE 5G Steering Committee Member 
• IEEE IoT Steering Committee Member
• Chair, IEEE ComSoC IoT TsC
• Vice Chair, IEEE ComSoC SDN-NFV TC
• Emeritus Trustee, Internet Society  ISOC 
• IPv6 Ready & Enabled Logos Program Board 
• World summit Award Board Member 
• Vice-Chair, ETSI IPv6 Industry Specification Group  
• Member of 3GPP2 PCG 
• Member of UN Strategy Council 
• Member of Future Internet Forum EU Member States (representing Luxembourg)
• IPv6 Forum Internet Pioneer Award, 2002 
• IPv6 Life Time Achievement Award, 2016
• Research Associate @ University of Luxembourg on multiple European Commission Next Generation Technologies IST Projects.

He is the Hall Endowed Chair in Computer Engineering. He was the Director of the Center for Advanced Computer Studies (CACS) and the Department Head of Computer Science Department.  

He received B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Cairo University, Egypt; M.Sc. degree in Computer Engineering from Washington University, St. Louis; and a Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Windsor, Canada.  

Dr. Bayoumi has graduated about 100 Ph.D. and 150 MSC students, authored/co-authored about 600 research papers and more than 10 books. He was the guest/co-guest editor of more than 10 special journal issues, the latest was on Machine to Machine Interface.  

Bayoumi is an IEEE Fellow. He has served in many capacities in the IEEE Computer, Signal Processing, and Circuits & Systems (CAS) societies. Currently, he is the vice president of Technical Activities of IEEE RFID council and he is on the IEEE RFID Distinguished Lecture Program (DLP).  

He is a member of IEEE IoT Activity Board. Bayoumi has received many awards, among them; the IEEE CAS Education award and the IEEE CAS Distinguished Service award. He was on the IEEE DLP programs for CAS and Computer societies. 

He was on the IEEE Fellow Selection Committee. Bayoumi has been an ABET evaluator and he was an ABET commissioner and team chair. He has given numerous keynote/invited lectures and talks nationally and internationally. Bayoumi was the general chair of IEEE ICASSP 2017 in New Orleans.  

He, also, chaired many conferences including ISCAS 2007, ICIP 2009, and ICECS 2015.  

Bayoumi was the chair of an international delegation to China, sponsored by People-to-People Ambassador, 2000. He received the French Government Fellowship, University of Paris Orsay, 2003-2005 and 2009. 

He was a Visiting Professor at King Saud University. He was a United Nation visiting scholar. He was a visiting professor at the University of King Saud. He has been an advisor to many EE/CMPS departments in several countries.  

Bayoumi was on the State of Louisiana Comprehensive Energy Policy Committee. He was the vice president of Acadiana Technology Council. He was on the Chamber of Commerce Tourism and Education committees. He was a member of several delegations representing Lafayette to international cities.  

He was on the Le Centre International Board. He was the general chair of SEASME (an organization of French Speaking cities) conference in Lafayette. He is a member of Lafayette Leadership Institute, he was a founding member of its executive committee. He was a column editor for Lafayette Newspaper; the Daily Advertiser.

Robert Bierwolf, MScEng., SMIEEE (2015). Graduated at Delft University of Technology (1987), Faculty of Electrical Engineering – Computer Science. Robert currently holds the office of VP Conferences for IEEE Technology & Engineering Management Society (2015-2019). 

Robert held various senior management positions in industry on projects and programs, as well as senior line- and operations management roles in typical large organizations (e.g. Philips, Cincinnati Bell, KPN) in various sectors (e.g. Public, Telecom, Automotive, Infrastructure) and is founder of MBBI bv. 

Currently, Robert is shaping and pursuing a PhD project around the theme of “Towards Project Management 2030”. 

Francisco Maroto is CEO and founder at OIES Consulting and Principal Advisor, IoT and Telecoms, EMEA for the research firm Ecosystms. 

Francisco (aka Paco) is a gentle and dynamic executive with more than two decades of international experience in the IT and Telco industries. Prior to launch OIES, he worked in different management roles in companies like Microsoft, Oracle, Amdocs, SAP, HP, Vodafone, Indra or Matra Aerospace.  

Globally recognized as one of the top IoT advisor and leading voices on the state of Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain.  He is advicing technology vendors, enterprise customers, governments and startups to accelerate adoption and make these technologies accessible and easy to understand and use for everyone. 

Entrepreneur, visionary, usual speaker in IoT international events, respected blogger and IoT influencer. 

https://es.linkedin.com/in/franciscomaroto  

Dr. Tarek M. Khalil is the founding President, Provost and Dean of the graduate school of Management Of Technology (MOT) of Nile University (NU), Egypt. NU is the First National Non-Profit Research and entrepreneurial University in Egypt. He previously served as Professor of Industrial Engineering and Director of the Management of Technology program and the Environmental/Occupational Safety and Health program at the University of Miami. He also held professorships in Biomedical Engineering and Epidemiology and Public Health and Neurological Surgery. His experience includes academic work at the University of Florida, the University of Miami, Texas Tech University and many other Institutions around the world including France, Finland, Guatemala and Egypt.

Dr. Khalil’s former administrative experience includes serving as Dean of the Graduate School at the University of Miami and as Chairman of the Department of Industrial Engineering at the University of Miami. He also served as the Director of the Ergonomics and Bioengineering Division of the Comprehensive Pain and Rehabilitation Center of the University Of Miami School Of Medicine.

Dr. Khalil is the Founder and served as President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the International Association for Management of Technology (IAMOT) for several terms. He chaired more than 20 International Conferences in Management of Technology. He is also the co-founder of the University of Miami Institute for the Study of Quality in Manufacturing and Service in the School of Business Administration. He served the Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE) as Chairman of the Council of Fellows, Director of the Work Measurement and Methods Engineering Division, Vice President Region IV, Director of Honors and as a member of the Board of Trustees. Dr. Khalil has served as a consultant to governments, industry and educational institutions in the US, Egypt, France, Finland, Brazil, Japan, Guatemala, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain as well as the Fulbright Commission and the United Nation’s UNIDO, UNESCO and UNDP.

He also served on advisory panels and as a consultant for The Department of HHS, NIOSH, NSF, Dade County, Monroe County and Project HOPE and for many US companies. He served as a senior editor of the Journal Technovation and on the editorial board of several international scientific journals in Innovation and Technology Management.

Dr. Khalil is the recipient of many national and international awards including the Award for Technical Innovation in Industrial Engineering, Doctor Honoris Causa from the Grenoble School of Management, France, Doctor Honoris Causa from the Institute National Polytechnique de Loraine (INPL) – Vniversité de Nancy, the University of Miami College of Engineering Researcher of the Year Award, the IIE David F. Baker outstanding research Award, the IIE Phil Carroll Award, the IIE Ergonomics Division Award, the Human Factors Society Paul M. Fitts Award and the Jack A. Craft Award. He authored or edited 15 books and authored or coauthored more than 300 publications.

Ingrid Mulder is an expert in transformative and social design. As part of her previous readership in Rotterdam, she has initiated the first Fablab in Rotterdam as well as the Rotterdam Open Data movement. 

She also founded Creating010, a trans-disciplinary design-inclusive research center enabling citizens,students, and creative industry making the future of Rotterdam. Since 2007 she chairs the research program Meaningful Design in the Connected City, which connects research and education in both Delft and Rotterdam. Her background is in Policy and Organization Sciences (MA, University of Tilburg) and Behavioral Sciences (PhD, University of Twente). In 2005, she headed the evaluation of the first Dutch living lab, “Kenniswijk”, currently known as Brainport Eindhoven. Ever since she has been involved in the interplay between top-down policy and planning with bottom-up participatory innovation. As an expert for the European Commission on Internet of Things and Smart Cities, she advocates participatory bottom-up innovation as a means to empower people in driving social change.

Her on-going research has been awarded by two prestigious grants. Open4Citizens (Horizon2020) aims at empowering citizens to make meaningful use of open data. Participatory City Making (STW-RtD) considers the collaborative construction of new visions through small-scale experimenting as a way of triggering a process of broader change and transformation. The project elaborates upon the foundational project CRISP PSS-101 (NWO) she lead in 2011-2015, which developed methods and tools toimprove the understanding of the networked nature of PSS development. 

Received the B.Sc. (Honors) and M.Sc. degrees from Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt, in 1965 and 1967 respectively, and the Ph.D. degree from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA, in 1971. He joined the teaching staff of the Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt, since 1972 and was appointed as a Full-time Professor in 1982 and as the Chairman of the Electrical Engineering Department from September 2000 to September 2003 and is currently an Emeritus Professor.   

His Current research areas of interest include Wireless Multimedia Communications, Wave Propagation, Smart Antenna Arrays, Modern Signal processing Techniques, Image Processing, and Security & watermarking techniques. He has published about four hundreds scientific papers in national and international conferences and journals. He took part in the organization of many local and international conferences including the yearly series of NRSC (URSI) series (1990-2019), ISCC’95, ISCC’97, ISSPIT’2000, MELECON’2002 and IEEE  GCIoT 2019.  

Prof. El-Khamy has earned many national and international research awards among which are the R.W.P. King best paper award of the Antennas and Propagation Society of IEEE in 1980; Egypt's National Engineering Research award for two times in 1980 and 1989, respectively; Abdel-Hamid Schoman – Kingdom of Jordan award for Engineering Research in 1982; State Scientific Excellence (Al-Ebdaaa Al-Elmy) award in Engineering Sciences for 2002; Alexandria University Appreciation Award of Engineering Sciences for 2003; State Appreciation Award (Al-Takderia) of Engineering Sciences for 2004; IEEE Region 8 Volunteer Award for 2010.  

Prof. El-Khamy is a Fellow member of the IEEE since 1999 and an IEEE Life Fellow member since 2010. He is also a Fellow of the Electromagnetic Academy. He is the founder and past president of IEEE Alexandria/Egypt Subsection and the past President of Egypt’s National Radio Science Committee of URSI. 

Andy is the President 2020-2021, IEEE Technology and Engineering Management Society (TEMS) a member of Board of Governors 20182020 for IEEE Computer Society (CS).  IEEE and its members inspire a global community to innovate for a better tomorrow through its more than 423,000 members in over 160 countries, and its highly cited publications, conferences, technology standards, and professional and educational activities. IEEE is the trusted “voice” for engineering, computing, and technology information around the globe. 

Andy participates in the United Nations Global Pulse's Data Privacy Advisory Group and International Telecommunication Union’s AI for Good Summit.  He is also a director for the Federation of Enterprise Architecture Professional Organizations’ board and a member of the Technical Advisory Council for the FinTech Ideas Festival.  He also served as the Chair of the Technical Advisory Council for YinTech Investment Holding Ltd.  As an internationally recognized speaker, Andy was a keynote speaker at the UN ITU Telecom World and AI for Good Global Summit, the World Computer Congress, the World CIO Forum, and the Digital Africa Conference. 

Andy Chen is a partner of REDDS Venture Investment partners which empower disruptive startups that scale worldwide and have billion dollars plus potential through team building, global business development, financing, mentoring, and strategy.  

Toufi Saliba is CEO, PrivacyShell and Chair of the ACM Practitioner Board Conference Committee.

Toufi’s background is mainly in Machine Learning, Decentralized Governance, Distributed Computing, and Cryptography.

He’s TODA’s protocol co-author. He has authored and co-authored several algorithms, protocols, and patents. Toufi’s companies have had several exits for software that he built from the ground up, some ended up at Google, HP and Intel. He sits on multiple Silicon Valley start-up boards, is the founder of the TodaQ Foundation and Chair of the ACM Practitioner Board Conference Committee. Currently, Toufi runs a start-up factory and InfoSec advisory called PrivacyShell Corp. PrivacyShell’s portfolio founders have an aggregate of over $27B in exits. Toufi’s #1 goal in life is enhancing technology to help achieve global prosperity while building profitable businesses and enablements from within.

Edhem ‘Eddie’ Custovic by day is an engineering academic at La Trobe University, Australia and the founder/director of the La Trobe Innovation & Entrepreneurship Foundry (LIEF).

He is a business owner, entrepreneur, thought leader, mentor, philanthropist and a global citizen. Eddie was born in Bosnia & Herzegovina and lived for extended periods in Switzerland and Germany before migrating to Australia.

His multicultural background, multilingualism and 'borderless' approach to work enable me to take a politically and culturally sensitive perspective on life, volunteer roles, and professional career. In 2015, with the culmination of first-hand experiences and passion to help those in need, he founded the Bosnia & Herzegovina Futures Foundation.

The foundation’s vision is to break down ethnic division in his homeland through a simple approach of empowering youth through education, technology access and leadership development.

Custovic is widely credited for changing how the 1.5 million strong Bosnia & Herzegovina diaspora are viewed by the residents of the same country, from ad-hoc financial injections to knowledge bearers and empowers of the next generation of thinkers through the diaspora industry mentoring program.

The result of his work is evident in the dozens of projects and initiatives that he has led on 4 continents.

He has worked on cutting edge R&D projects securing significant funding and support globally in a variety of sectors including; defence, communications, power, food & agriculture, automotive, health, sports technology and civil/construction.

In 2014, Custovic along with his team, was recognised for the innovative work in developing the first fully digital HF OTH radar system ‘TIGER’ radar and the project was awarded the Engineers Australia (State & National) Engineering Excellence Award 2014 - Research/Development and Innovation.

Custovic is highly regarded for drive and leadership that have led him to become one of the youngest senior leadership and board members within the IEEE, the world’s largest professional organisation.

Custovic currently serves as the Chair of the Industry Engagement Committee where he engages with C-level executives and Fortune 500 organisations on a regular basis.

In 2015, Custovic was recognised for his outstanding leadership and received the IEEE Young Professionals Achievement Award. He is considered by youth as the go to person for mentoring, career development, industry experience and life coaching.

As a result, he was recognised by the University leadership and awarded the Vice Chancellor's Award for "Supporting Student Employability" in 2015 and was named employability champion by the University in 2018.

He is a tireless ambassador for STEM education and this is evident through his continued work to bridge the gap between primary/secondary/university education and industry.

Custovic was the Engineering Project Coordinator for the Learn, Access, Experience Professions (LEAP) program which was funded by the Australian Federal Government to accelerate the participation of regional, low SES and minority participation in STEM higher education.

Under his leadership the program excelled, reaching more than 10,000 students in over 200 state schools. He wholeheartedly has a deep commitment to making positive change for the world.

For Custovic, the intersection between scientific innovation and human empowerment is where we can really “disrupt the future”. His life motivation is to use the powers of engineering, education, networking, entrepreneurial mindset and the spirit of positive change to empower individuals and grow local economies while delivering the scientific advancements of our finest minds for the benefit of future generations.

Custovic is an active contributor to Online & Print Media globally, TV & Radio. 

• Prior joining DESC, Al-Blooshi was a research assistant and a PhD candidate in Electrical and Computer Engineering department at Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research (KUSTAR), UAE. 
• Al-Blooshi has a master’s in information security from KUSTAR and master’s in public administration from Mohammed bin Rashid College in collaboration with Harvard University. 
• She is one of the inventors for “Volatile Memory Erasure by Controlling Refreshment of Stored data” patent submitted to US regulate patent. 
• Dr. Bushra has also worked in ADNOC as well as RTA where she managed different project teams and worked closely with business departments to automate their manual processes. She also took part in many strategic initiatives and committees in both organizations. 

• Dr. Hossam Osman is ITIDA’s vice president to manage Software Engineering Competence Center (SECC), Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center (TIEC), and Information Technology Academic Collaboration (ITAC). These bodies, chaired by Osman, offer advice and training to promote best practice in software engineering and amongst information technology practitioners. They develop software and IT services through fostering innovation and entrepreneurship in ICT.
• Dr. Osman has more than 28 years of experience as a developer, manager, instructor, researcher, and consultant in IT and software engineering. His experiences range from academia and industry, private and governmental organizations, small and national-level projects, to domestic and overseas companies. 
• Dr. Osman's academic experience includes working at Queen's University in Canada, Royal Military College of Canada, Ain Shams University in Egypt, and Arab Academy for Science, Technology, and Maritime Transport (AASTMT) in Egypt. His industrial experience incorporates working in Lucent Technology in the USA, Egypt's IT Industry Development Agency (ITIDA), and local Egyptian companies as the Egyptian Company for Internet and Digital Infrastructure (aka, Nile Online), Data Management Systems (known as DMS), and ASSET. 
• Dr. Osman received electrical engineering BSc and MSc from Ain Shams University, Egypt in 1985 and 1990. He has electrical and computer engineering Ph.D. from Queen's University. Canadian Advanced Technology Association (CATA) selected him as Ontario's best postgraduate student in Computing in 1996. 

• His Excellency Dr. Mahmoud Sakr was appointed as President of Academy of Scientific Research and Technology in April 2014, to supervise the development of scientific research in the Egypt.
• Prior, His Excellency held the position of Head of division of Genetic engineering and biotechnology of National Research Center, Director of the Center of Scientific Excellence for Advanced Sciences, National Research Center and Founder and President of Plant Molecular Genetics Group. His Excellency Dr. Mahmoud Sakr had also worked as a Member of the Regional Executive Committee, Middle East Science Fund.
• His Excellency has a Ph.D. from the University of Pavia - Italy, a master’s from Tanta University, Egypt and a Bachelor of Botany from Tanat University. 

• Dr. Habib is an Assistant Professor with the Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Sciences – University of Sfax, Tunisia.
• He is member of the REGIM-Lab. (Research Groups in Intelligent Machines), University of Sfax. His research interests include Intelligent Systems, Multiagent Modeling and Simulation, Fuzzy Logic, Ant Colony Optimization, Reinforcement Learning, Vehicle Route Guidance System, Road Traffic Simulation.
• Habib is a program committee member within several international conferences.

• Dr. Essaaidi was a Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering at Abdelmalek Essaadi University, Tetuan, Morocco from 1993 till 2011. 
• He is the founder and Past Chairman of the IEEE Morocco Section. 
• Founder of Joint Morocco Chapter of IEEE Computer & Communication Societies. 
• He has been also the founding Director of the Morocco Office of Arab Science and Technology Foundation, ASTF (2006-2009). 
• Prof. Essaaidi is the founder and has been the General Chair of the Mediterranean Microwave Symposium since the year 2000.