Jan 26, 2012

Brunei - ITB academics play significant role



Contributing towards sustainable national development

THE vice-chancellor of Institut Teknologi Brunei (ITB) highlighted that ITB academics can play a bigger role in contributing to a sustainable national development.

Dato Paduka Dr Hj Omar Hj Khalid said that these academics can take on researches relating to advances in engineering and technology so that these researches can be used to develop sustainable national industries.

Speaking at the Brunei International Conference on Engineering and Technology (BICET), the vice-chancellor said, "Sustainability is the catchword often used nowadays," he said, "given the many pressing issues confronting mankind in the 21st Century, with rapid resource depletion and environmental degradation in many spots around the world."

Dato Dr Hj Omar said that people took for granted that (such) resources were readily available to provide solutions to our contemporary problems.

"The major issue is our continued heavy reliance on non-renewable resources that are depleting at an unsustainable rate," he said.While stressing that "there is an urgent need for innovative engineering and technological solutions that focus on recycling these critical resources, as well as solutions that only utilise renewable resources," he pointed out that these "can only be achieved by realigning our strategic focus, commitment, resource planning and mobilising our academics to work in collaboration with key stakeholders."

"I believe that ITB can ...contribute to the study and develop 'clean technologies'," he said, "rather than technologies that are not sustainable, that requires further 'cleaning technologies' to control and reduce wastage and pollution," he added.

He explained that clean technologies require the addition of existing production processes referred to as 'end-of-pipe technologies and control devices'; while non-sustainable technologies are technologies that alter production processes, inputs to the process and products themselves so that they are more environmentally benign.

"I believe that (clean) technologies are preferable to end-of-pipe technologies because they avoid the need to extract and concentrate toxic material from the waste stream and deal with it," he said.

"The key element to generate growth for instance in economics, social or education is sustainability, and to ensure sustainability there must be advances in engineering and technology" in order "to be developed in all spheres of our lives", he stressed.

Taking on the theme of "Sustainable Development Through Advances in Engineering and Technology", the two-day BICET aims to provide a platform for the exchange of research work and findings in the field of engineering and technology as well as providing an opportunity to explore the potential for collaborative research between conference participants.

Held at the Rizqun International Hotel, the conference was attended by more than 150 participants comprising academics, senior government officers and representatives from private sectors.The conference ends today.

ITB is the only university in Brunei that offers degree, Master's and PhD programmes in Engineering and Technology. In the future, the university will be offering higher diplomas and more local degree programmes in its areas of expertise as well as taught Master's programmes.

In addition to the introduction of new programmes, the university has identified the following research clusters, namely electrical power and energy, product and manufacturing, electronics, communication and computer, business and industrial management, and civil, environment and sustainability.

The aims of these research clusters are to strengthen the university's capability in its area of competence, to be the leading engineering and technology university and to help Brunei in its Vision 2035. The research activities are undertaken either internally or externally in both the public and private sectors. These activities intends to further strengthen ITB's links with industry.

DIYANA IBRAHIM
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
The Brunei Times



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