The University of Information Technology and Communications , in collaboration with Zain Telecommunications, organized the annual National Artificial Intelligence Forum , with official and academic presence. The National Artificial Intelligence Forum was held under the slogan “The World of Artificial Intelligence with Applied and Research Features” with the participation and presence of many academic personalities, IT professionals and electronic application companies for digital transformation, artificial intelligence and programming Which announced the latest products in these fields.
The President of the Forum and the University Professor Dr. Abbas Mohsen Al-Bakri said in his speech that the University’s specialization makes it take the initiative to support and revitalize government programmes in ICT and we hope through the Forum to lay the foundation stone for a promising national AI strategy in our country.
Al-Bakri noted that the tremendous development of artificial intelligence has made it necessary to find new applications in diverse sectors such as security, environment, research, education, health, culture, trade.. etc .
He focused on the need to develop a national AI strategy in Iraq, which is the result of a series of outputs for various events in the region and in response to a set of recommendations, including an AI experts meeting at the United Nations headquarters in Beirut in 2018. The 17th Meeting of Ministers of Higher Education and Scientific Research, entitled “Artificial Intelligence and Education: Challenges and Bets” was held in 2019.
The President of the Forum added that the first version of the draft of the National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence will be launched 2023 – 2031 inviting all specialists in different ministries and sectors to indicate their observations and amendments in order to include them in the strategy.
Mustafa Salman, a representative of Zain Telecommunications, spoke about supporting and empowering the company for young people, supporting technological innovations and digital transformation, especially in the field of artificial intelligence, and the possibility of developing their start-up projects and providing support and assistance in the process of promoting their initiative and marketing in the working environment.
He spoke about the company’s experience in using artificial intelligence applications as an analysis of subscriber feedback via digital channels and building a poverty metric prediction application in Iraq in collaboration with UNICEF.
The representative of the United Nations Development Programme in Iraq, Safa Fadil Jaafar, expressed the support of the United Nations for all efforts to develop the reality of digital transformation, entrepreneurship and artificial intelligence in Iraq, as in developed countries.
Dr. Ahmad Shahab Al Bahri, teacher at the Iraqi Computing and Informatics Commission, explained and summarized the draft of AI strategy that was taken from developed countries and that followed to advance the reality of AI while taking into account Iraqi reality and the infrastructure it needed
QLAP also made a presentation on the rehabilitation and reconstruction of some infrastructure in Mosul Governorate, particularly archaeological ones, thereby simulating the reality of these buildings.
Speakers of specialists with academic expertise and experience in the field of artificial intelligence then went on to convey their experiences in this field. Following the event, the contestants were honored in the field of artificial intelligence, where Prof. Dr. Hamid Khalaf Abdullah, Chairman of the Education Development Committee of Iraq, handed the winners the Forum Shield.
The president of the university , assistant of president for scientific affairs and assistant of president for administrative affairs presented the discretionary certificates to the committees involved in organizing this forum.
