Kaleidoscope Academic Conference 2017 Opens in Nanjing

By Xuan You, Zhi Yazhu

International Telecommunication Union event focuses on international cooperation in the age of data-driven societies

The Kaleidoscope Academic Conference 2017 held by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)and hosted by Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications(NJUPT) took place in Nanjing from Nov. 27-29, 2017. The Conference is the highest level academic conference in the field of standardization formulation on Information and Communication Technologies(ICTs). The event was being held for the ninth time, and for the first time in China. Focused on the theme of “Challenges for a Data-Driven Society”, the conference attracted more than 300 experts and scholars from over 26 countries.

The opening ceremony was held on Nov. 27, in which Zhao Houlin, secretary-general of ITU, delivered an opening address. Chaesub Lee, director of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau at ITU, also spoke at the event,while Chen Yin, the director general of the Science and Technology Department at the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology(MIIT), alongside Liu Chen, Party Committee Secretary of NJUPT,delivered welcome remarks at the opening ceremony.

Zhao expressed his congratulations to NJUPT on it being selected a “Double World-Class Construction” university.He pointed out that NJUPT,as the first academic member of ITU, has been actively participating in various events for more than a decade, and Zhao added that he hopes NJUPT will continuously conduct exchanges and cooperation with ITU and other members.As for the conference theme,Zhao said, “We are in an age of information in which data is key, for data means tremendous opportunities for business.”Progress on data research represents a breakthrough for science research. ITU has been working on assisting government, industrial enterprises and academic organizations to maximize value from rapidly increasing data and Zhao said he hopes that Kaleidoscope Conference 2017 could make a difference in information and science and technology fields.

Nowadays, the world is undergoing profound and complex changes,and the international community needs to work together to overcome challenges.

Chen Yin said that the 19th Communist Party of China(CPC) National Conference has provided a new strategic plan for China’s economic development,and that China will pursue a development concept on innovation, coordination,environmentalism, being open,speeding up development of internet-based technologies and enhancing deep integration of the real economy with the internet, big data and artificial intelligence. Additionally, as a government department,MIIT actively supports and participates in ITU events in every aspect and encourages China’s enterprises, universities and scientific institutions to take part in ITU events.Nowadays, the world is undergoing profound and complex changes, and the international community needs to work together to overcome challenges. China is willing to work with ITU and other international standardization organizations to support enterprises, universities,scientific institutions and other industry organizations from various countries in strengthening cooperation in innovation development,promoting the construction of an open world economy and a community of shared future.

Zhao Houlin,secretary-general of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and an alumni of Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications(NJUPT), delivers opening remarks via video.

NJUPT Party Committee Secretary Liu Chen delivers welcome remarks.

Liu Chen, on behalf of NJUPT and Zhen Yang, chairman of the Kaleidoscope Academic Conference 2017 and president of NJUPT, showed gratitude to the guidance ITU has provided, to the strong support of MIIT and the Jiangsu provincial government and to the hard work of many companies and institutions, as well as paid tribute and welcome to leaders, guests, experts,scholars, entrepreneurs and international friends attending the opening ceremony. He said that the conference theme of“Challenges for a Data-Driven Society” was based on the demand of information features and communications of the new era, which has given a new research topic to experts, scholars and business colleagues. He stressed that as the first academic member of ITU, NJUPT had always adhered to the fine tradition of pragmatism. In recent years,NJUPT has achieved much in scientific research, social services and international cooperation.Liu added that he hopes that through this conference,NJUPT can further strengthen exchanges and cooperation with experts and scholars of various countries in the field of communication, enhancing each other’s technological innovation capabilities in the field of ICTs and making new contributions to the development of communication technologies.

At the opening ceremony,Jian Song, a Tsinghua University professor and editor-in-chief of ICT Journal ICT Discoveries,delivered an information address,and Ken Krechmer, the SIIT 2017 coordinator, delivered a keynote address.

The closing ceremony was held on Nov. 29, in which Jiang Guoping, vice president of NJUPT, and Chaesub Lee awarded authors of some of the year’s best-written research papers,and Zhang Zhihua, another vice president of NJUPT, delivered the closing address.

During the conference,centering on “Challenges for a Data-Driven Society” and highlighting the urgent area of International Standardization,experts shared innovative researching methods of data management and analysis and discussed ICT development.Professors Shen Subin, Yue Dong, Zhao Shengmei and Zou Yulong presided over the academic sessions.

Twenty-three papers presented at the conference will be published in Kaleidoscope 2017 Proceedings and the IEEE Xplore Digital Library.Eom Doyoung and Heejin Lee from South Korea’s Yonsei University claimed first prize at Kaleidoscope 2017 for their review of research into e-health standards and integration of related findings,an exercise intended to bring more cohesion to analyses of standards’ contribution to ICT-enabled healthcare innovation.

The conference identifies emerging trends in ICT research and their implications for international standardization,providing a platform for exchange and cooperation between industrial standardization researchers and academic circles in the field of ICT. It has become an important window for international experts and scholars of industrial and academic circles to understand the development of China’s communication technologies and standardization work. At the same time, the conference has promoted exchanges and cooperation between China’s related researchers in academia and industry and their international counterparts in the field of ICT, and has accelerated research and industrial development in the field of ICT.