In order to encourage the public to preserve the environment through technological development, Widyatama University (UTama) held the Widyatama International Seminar on Sustainability (WISS) 2016. WISS is an international conference held every two years, with the aim of achieving progress in both theory and practice in various fields.
This event, which is open to the public, will be held on September 5-8 and will focus on the theme of technology utilization in business, government, and culture. The target participants are academics, practitioners, government officials, and observers in the fields of environment and sustainable development.
According to the rector of UTama, Dr. H. Islahuzzaman, S.E., M.Si., Ak., C.A., this event is being held to raise public awareness of the need to protect the environment through technological development. “In order for businesses to run smoothly, it is also necessary to understand the collaboration between technology, government policy, and the culture that surrounds the community,” he said.
In addition, it is hoped that similar events can foster cooperation and generate new ideas from academics to solve global problems. This is expected to become a forum for knowledge sharing. “Of course, the end result is the development of highly competitive human resources and infrastructure, which will ultimately solve the problems that exist in the business world today, supported by innovations from local governments that regulate,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Chair of the Widyatama International Seminar on Sustainability (WISS 2016), who is also the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at UTama, Dr. Oktri Mohammad Firdaus, S.T., M.T., revealed that the background to WISS 2016 is that sustainability is still an ongoing issue in this country. “We want to contribute not only to Indonesia but also to the global community. So far, Indonesia has always been considered a potential market or survival. With sustainable action, we hope that WISS 2016 will not only be paper-based, but will also produce practical studies. We do not want to stop at the concept. We also invite government agencies because we realize that the difficulty in implementing the concept that has been created is the lack of collaboration between technology, government, and culture,” he said.
The three-day seminar will feature two keynote speakers who are influential on the national and global stage, namely Prof. Dr. H. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as President of the Global Green Growth Institute and Dr. Ir. Arief Yahya, M.Sc, Minister of Tourism of the Republic of Indonesia. The selection of these two important figures is because we hope that this international seminar will make a real contribution to society and be sustainable for the community after the seminar is held,” he continued. (Editorial of Pikiran-Rakyat Daily, Sunday, 28/2)
