Faculty of Engineering at USJ Strikes Again with #IoTLebUSJ 2019

The faculty of Engineering at USJ, organized IotLebUSJ, one of the biggest academic seminars in the region for the second time since 2017. The event gathered more than 300 people coming from different backgrounds: Students, IT specialists, startups, CEOs, COOs, …

The First day was dedicated to the Hackathon event, where more than 25 participants from different backgrounds had to come up with an idea and work on developing a sample using LoRa module and other electronic items.

The second day of this IoT seminar was the conference day, where many speakers hit the stage. The conference started at the early morning with a keynote by Mr. James Edson (Entrepreneur in Residence at Itron Idea Labs), that introduced the Internet of Things: ecosystem, challenges and real world applications.

The first coffee break was a chance for the attendees to get to socialize and to quickly visit the Exhibition area.
This area included companies, university team and sponsors: Potech Consulting, Red Alerts Lab, GDS (GLOBALCOM DATA SERVICE), FoodCheck, Kettaneh, SMG Energy & Scriptr, Data Consult and IoTree, ESIB and Bank Audi.

When the attendees took some ideas about what’s happening in the IoT field in Lebanon, they re-entered the theater for two panels: The first one titled by “IoT and agrofood: opportunities and challenges” and was moderated by Ramy Boujawdeh (Deputy General Manager at Berytech). The second one titled by “IoT devices: From Design to Deployment” and was moderated by Rayan Mina (Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Engineering at USJ).

Boujawdeh, with his amazing talent to manage a discussion, extracted new ideas from the speakers:

• Lucien Kazzi (Managing Partner at Teknologix s.a.r.l.)
• Brian Baboch (Co-Founder at FoodCheck)
• Rodrigue Balaa (Chairman of the Department of Agriculture, Issam Fares Faculty of Technology at University of Balamand)
• Nadine El Khoury (Chief Operating Officer at Robinson Agri s.a.r.l.

Mina, who did one of the best introductions, gave time to each speaker to explain his own ideas and manage a great discussion between:

• Joseph Abou El Oula (Product Lead at CME)Elias Bachaalany (CEO at AutomatiX Group, VP Design & Technology at NEUVATEK)
• Ghassan Beydoun (Fab Lab Community Coordinator at Berytech)
• Ziad Boustany (CEO and Founder at S.&A.S. Ltd)
• Fadi Daou (CEO and Founder at MultiLane SAL)

Afterwards, a lunch break took place with more time for the attendees to check the Exhibition area. It was interesting to see how the people reacted to the social robot “Andy” at Bank Audi’s stand, and how they reacted to the security concerns lighted by Joanna Moubarak Baysare at Potech Consulting Stand.

The Second keynote presented by Nizar Souissi (MindSphere Regional Partner Manager at Siemens) titled by “IoT Platforms and Industrial Applications: Matching Guidelines” was one of the most interactive part in the seminar.

A series of presentations showcasing innovative applications and use cases of IoT in various businesses and industries, was launched by Nicolas Rouhana (General Manager at Insure & Match Capital). The first one titled “IoT at the Center of Medco Operations” presented by Maroun Chammas (Vice Chairman and General Manager at MEDCO Holdings), showed a case study with multiple graphic videos to explain the new technology adopted by Medco.

The Second one titled “Real Data for Logistics Excellence” was presented by Michel Fallah (President and Founder at TRAXENS SA).

The third one titled “The Learning Lighter” presented by Samer El Gharib (Founder and CEO at Slighter) introduced a innovative solution for smokers to cut smoking by owning a smart lighter which will learn their habits and help them reduce the cigarette consumption.

The Hackathon winners were introduced by Firas Kikano and Melissa Azzi (Winner Number one) had the chance to present her idea that will change our idea on recycling solutions.

The last panel titled “IoT Network Infrastructure” was moderated by Raymon Lahoud (Founder and CEO of CaptoCloud, LebNet Board Member). This Panel discussed the requirements for a national IoT network infrastructure, the existing plans for such deployments in Lebanon, and the current and foreseen regulations related to IoT deployment and services. Lahoud had a smart way to manage the talk between the different speakers:

• Antoine Aoun (Head of National Exploitation Services at the Ministry of Telecommunications, Technical Director VP for IMS & LTE at OGERO)
• Jubran Al Ayan (Head of Radio and Transmission at Connect)
• Marc Nader (COO at Data Consult)
• Ali Zogheib (Director Product Management at GlobalCom Holding s.a.l.)
• Melhem El Helou (Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Engineering – USJ)