Message From General Chair

13 Nov 2020

Chair of the ICOBAR 2020
June 23-24, 2020
Bina Nusantara University, Jakarta, Indonesia

Rector of Bina Nusantara University, Prof. Harjanto Prabowo
Vice Rector, Prof. Tirta Nugraha Mursitama
Distinguished keynote speakers and presenters of the ICOBAR

On behalf of Bina Nusantara University and the organizing committee of the ICOBAR, I am delighted to have the opportunity to deliver this opening message today. As you are well aware, due to the extraordinary situation produced by COVID-19, we have decided to prepare our conference in a virtual format to best keep you physically safe while still profiting from the stimulating, intellectual developments that we have in store.

To begin, I would like to thank our distinguished keynote speakers and the Archipelagic & Islands States (AIS) as our sponsor. More than that, I also express my heartfelt thanks to the committee, reviewers, and all people who have given their time and assistance to support this event.

As we all know, this is the second conference of Bina Nusantara University, under the flag of ICOBAR. This year, the committee had received around 300 submitted manuscripts from eight countries, namely Indonesia, Japan, United States, United Kingdom, Malaysia, Thailand, Brunei Darussalam, and Czech. Through double-blind peer-review process, the committee carefully selected 181 research papers that will be presented during the conference. We have today and tomorrow to share and exchange ideas and results of our research with other scholars and colleagues. So, let’s make all sessions and discussions, a fruitful one!

After the conference, the committee will prepare full paper proceedings that will be sent further for final review by the IOP EES, the publisher. As the Chair of ICOBAR, I therefore expect that all presenters and authors to give their best efforts to refine their papers for a successful future publication with the IOP EES.

I believe that each of us is already familiar with the term “Society 5.0”. One of the focal issues in Society 5.0 is whether technology would enable mankind in sustaining the earth as our living place. Thus, we focused our attention on Society 5.0 and sustainability issues. With that in mind, the Committee chose the main theme for the 2nd ICOBAR as “Towards Society 5.0: How Inter-disciplinary Research Contributes to Sustainable Smart Society”. The theme has inspired four tracks that we carefully designed for the conference. The tracks are:

Sustainable infrastructure, industry, architecture, and food technology
Big data, green computing, and information system
Sustainable finance and environmental organization
Applied social sciences to support sustainable society

The committee wishes to receive solid scientific papers which discussing current trends and developments that emphasize the efforts made by academic institutions and society to live in harmony with the environment. During the conference, we also expect to discuss whether science and humans are able to create green innovations and technology that could significantly contribute to solve issues in many areas, such as infrastructure, natural disasters, health, mobility, economic and social development, as well as public policy to sustain the quality of human life and the ecosystem in the 21st century.

I do hope that through the discussion and knowledge sharing sessions, the conference will bring positive contribution and impact to the academic society, policy makers and key stakeholders in our society.

Before coming to a close of this remark, I would also like to remind you and especially our presenters and hosts to strictly stick to our time schedule and not to let any session over-run.

To conclude, I wish all of us a great two-day conference with Binus University.
Once again, thank you for your great contribution and participation to the success of this event.
See you again next year!

Thank you very much.

Jakarta, 23 June 2020
Dr. Eng. Nico Surantha
General Chair of the ICOBAR 2020