Page 7 - Kaleidoscope Academic Conference Proceedings 2020

Technical Programme Committee Chair's message

Mostafa Hashem Sherif, Ph.D

Technical Programme Committee Chair

The focus of the ITU Kaleidoscope 2020 academic conference is the Industry-driven digital
transformation.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution – also known as Industry 4.0 – is the digital transformation of
industrial processes using smart technologies. Accordingly, machine-to-machine communication
(M2M) and the internet of things (IoT) are integrated into manufacturing and industrial practices to
design smart machines that can collaborate to organize production processes, diagnose problems and
take corrective actions with minimum human intervention. Many assorted engineering disciplines are
needed. While communication technologies and protocols are fundamental in this aspect, many
emerging engineering disciplines have important roles as well. Some of these emerging disciplines
are data analytics, robotics, cyber-physical systems, digital twins, virtual simulation and augmented
reality.

Kaleidoscope 2020 was originally scheduled for 7-9 September 2020 in Hanoi, Viet Nam, in
conjunction with the ITU Digital World 2020. However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it was
switched to an online conference from 7 to 11 December 2020 running around 3 1/2 hours per day to
accommodate the various time zones. The organizing committee took advantage of drastic change
both in venue and in the schedule to experiment with new ideas. For example, a video demonstration
track was added to offer a means to share ongoing projects with an on-line audience. Also, virtual
coffee breaks were included in the programme to encourage socialization among the participants.

As Chair of the Technical Programme Committee, I would therefore like to acknowledge the work
of those involved in preparing this conference over the last few months. In particular, I would like to
thank the members of the Steering Committee and the various reviewers for their effort in selecting
the papers in the programme and in identifying those that can be considered for awards. As seen from
the programme, twenty original, high-quality research papers were retained from a total of 42
submissions, which all underwent a double-blind peer-review process supported by 68 international
experts.

The Steering Committee was very successful in selecting outstanding keynote speakers and inviting
authors to cover additional aspects of the digital transformation and their relation to standards. Also,
to learn from the Covid-19 experience, one special panel was organized on the role of ICT and the
digital transformation in health care.
Per agreement with the IEEE, selected papers from this year’s Kaleidoscope conference will be
considered for publication in a special-feature section of IEEE Communications Standards Magazine.
In addition, special issues of the International Journal of Technology Marketing (IJTMKT), the
International Journal of IT Standards and Standardization Research (IJITSR) and the Journal of ICT
Standardization may publish extended versions of selected Kaleidoscope papers.

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