IConETech-2020

The International Conference on Emerging Trends in Engineering & Technology (IConETech-2020) was organised virtually by the Faculty of Engineering of The University of the West Indies (UWI) on June 1st - 5th, 2020, in collaboration with local, regional and international institutions including The National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited (NGC), MIC Institute of Technology (MIC-IT), Phoenix Park Gas Processors Limited (PPGPL), Lauriston Lewis Associates Ltd. (LLAL), We Love Learning(WLL), ANSA McAL Group of Companies (AM), and The Association of Professional Engineers of Trinidad and Tobago (APETT). The Conference also got funding and support from The University of the West Indies, Campus Research and Publication (CRP) Fund.

The aim of the conference was to bring together leading research scientists, innovative engineers, and environmental policy experts to share their experiences, research results and entrepreneurial methodologies on fundamental developments in science and engineering concepts and their contemporary applications in technological advancements in the 21st century. Considering the need of an interdisciplinary approach to resolving the issues, the goal of the conference was to provide a platform to researchers in varied disciplines to attain the highest sustainable economic growth and employment and a rising standard of living, while maintaining financial stability nationally and globally.

The conference was initially scheduled for just 3 days, March13th -15th with one day of approximately 150 concurrent presentations. Due to COVID-19 pandemic the event was postponed. However, due to the tireless efforts of the various committees, the three-day Conference was transformed into a five-day marathon of over 125 scientific presentations spanned over an entire week. What makes this adaptation even more impressive is that the entire event was held virtually via the Zoom platform. Further, the selected presentations spanned across six major themes that dealt with: Advancing Chemical Petroleum and Food Sectors; Sustainable Built Environment; Smart and Intelligent Systems; Applied Spatial Information Systems; Innovative Mechanical & Manufacturing Systems; and Entrepreneurial Approaches in Engineering Education. The highlights of the conference are:

• The Book of Abstracts featuring 125 research summaries (205 pages in total) written by more than 400 authors from 12 countries and selected out of more than 150 submissions with the help of more than 90 reviewers is available at http://conferences.sta.uwi.edu/iconetech2020/documents/IConETech-2020BookofAbstracts-revFinal.pdf
• The peer reviewed research articles of IConETech-2020 are compiled in the e-Proceedings and is available at http://conferences.sta.uwi.edu/iconetech2020/postconferenceproceedings.php
• Further, each selected paper for publication in the post conference proceedings has now been given a Digital Object Identifier (DOI).