ISTECC 2019

5^th International Sustainable Technology, Energy and Civilization Conference (ISTECC) 2019 on 16^th - 17^th October 2019

ISTECC was organized annually since 2015. Since the first year of ISTECC, it has captured significant interest among academicians, researchers and global partners to strengthen their networking efforts and engage with external parties to work on sustainable development goals (SDGs). The year of 2019 saw two days conference joined by 200 local and international participants from Indonesia, Japan, China and Southeast Asian regional players. Over the 2 days of October 16-17, 2019, the ISTECC Pop-up Think Thank brought together practitioners and specialists for a critical examination of the SDGs’ future direction in the Asian country.

First day of the conference was held in conjunction with the 14^th Southeast Asia Network Forum, in collaboration with Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi Legacy Association and Universiti Sains Malaysia at Putrajaya Marriott Hotel. The conference was divided into 2 sessions, began with welcoming remarks from the Chairman of MYKYOTO and Executive Vice-President for Gender Equality, International Affairs, and Public Relations, Kyoto University. The conference was inaugurated by the Former Foreign Minister, YBhg. Tan Sri Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Syed Jaafar Albar, as witnessed by Mr Kaname Araki, Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of Japan. Following that, Prof. Dr. Masahiro Chigira from Disaster Prevention Research Institute, Kyoto University and Prof. Dr. Ahmad Farhan Mohd Sadullah, Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic & International), Universiti Sains Malaysia acted as the keynote speakers in this conference. The session was structured to foster discussion between participants around the core themes of SDGs. This was achieved by hosting forum to bridge ideas into policies and desired realities.

As the programme of speakers and participants grew, it also became clear that the event had evolved from a traditional academic conference, into a strategic retreat of Round-Table Discussion (RTD) on ‘Future Direction on Asian Networks: Academics, Research and Collaboration’. The evening session gathered representatives of Kyoto University, MYKYOTO, Himpunan Alumni Kyoto University (HAKU), and Sustain Society to develop a shared awareness of the research frontiers in the ASEAN region on which Japanese and ASEAN scientists can work together with various stakeholders to contributing to the sustainable society. To sum up, the first day concluded strategic plan to revitalize the bilateral ties between Malaysia and Japan through Look East Policy (LEP) 2.0 and caught several media attention addressed LEP 2.0.

The second day continued with the ‘International Colloquium on Asian Paths of Civilization and Development’ in cooperation with Asia-Japan Research Institute, Ritsumeikan University which was held at the Conference Hall, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s Office, Putrajaya. Approximately 100 participants and presenters attended the event. 10 speakers combined of local and international researchers, lecturers and students presented and shared their current research findings related to green technology and sustainable issues. All in all, 5^th ISTECC has shown positive indicators to broaden information access for scientific communities in Malaysia towards global scientific, technology, social, economic and engineering societies.