Guwahati: A group of professors engaged in teaching engineering and technology has come up with ideas for using technology for enhancing human development.

To facilitate this interface, a two-day national conference on ‘Emerging Global Trends in Engineering and Technology’ (EGTET) started on February 26 at Assam Don Bosco University (ADBU) Azara campus in Guwahati, commercial capital of Assam state in northeastern India.

“Development is intimately connected with technology and research,” said Director of School of Technology ADBU Professor Manoranjan Kalita welcoming some 70 participants.

Kalita while complemented the organizers, the nascent university community, for their bold initiative undertaken for the seventh time. “The mission of EGTET should be to provide a platform for collaborative and interdisciplinary research for the professionals to come together and interact while inspiring novices.”

Presenting an overview, the conference convener Yumnam Jayanta said they had received 75 scientific papers, They shortlisted 45 and published them in the 218-page ADBU Journal of Engineering Technology, a peer reviewed international journal exploring innovative research findings in Engineering and Technology.”

From the above, 23 papers have been slotted for oral presentations, and another 17 for poster presentations. Prof Jayanta said, “Two of the best poster presentations will be awarded prizes.”

An interdisciplinary national conference representing 17 institutions, the conference is discussing latest developments in the various branches of engineering and technology.

Dr Dharma Ranjan Das, Director of the federal Ministry of New and Renewable Energy who was the chief guest at the opening function, complimented ADBU for bringing together scholars, scientists and technocrats from across the country. He also highlighted prospects of renewable energy in northeast India.

In his plenary talk Suresh Chandra Mehrotra, a Srinivasa Ramanujan Geospatial Chair Professor at Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, warned the participants of the coming crisis that India will face in the sectors of healthcare, drinking water, quality education, providing food for all, generating low cost energy, and making cities and villages fit for habitation.

“Only technology can help solve these problems,” Mehrotra insisted.

On a different note, Anup Kumar Das, a professor from IIT Guwahati, encouraged participants “to go beyond academics to planning level.”

The conference in the EGTET series offers sessions and presentations focused on initiatives that promote research and developmental activities in the disciplines of Computer Science Engineering, Electronics and Communication Engineering, Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering and Basic Sciences.

“EGTET 2016 is expected to be an ideal platform for industry professionals, researchers and engineers to exchange views and present their findings so that it triggers innovation in the field of engineering and technology,” says convener and head of the department of CSE & IT Prof. Y. Jayanta Singh.

“Though Nobel prizes will continue to be awarded to researchers in pure sciences, human life will be better for the interdisciplinary research,” said ADBU Vice-Chancellor Fr Stephen Mavely while declaring the conference open.