Welcome Message

Distinguished members of academic, industrial, and professional communities,

I am deeply honoured to welcome you to the 7th edition of the IEEE International Humanitarian Technologies Conference (IHTC). This annual event is committed to the advancement of technologies for humanitarian purposes on a global scale. After 3 successful editions in Canada, 2 in virtual mode and last year’s event in Colombia, we are glad to host this year’s conference for the first time in Europe, here in Italy, at the Politecnico di Bari.

This conference represents a unique opportunity for the entire scientific community, offering an ideal stage to discuss innovative and sustainable technological solutions aimed at improving various aspects of the society and enhancing the quality of life.

We are enthusiast to host engineers, researchers, practitioners and decision makers from 70 countries to share ideas and visions, in different fields, which can have a real and positive impact on the planet.

First, I would like to express our gratitude to the IEEE Regions 7 (Canada), 8 (Europe, Africa and Middle East), 9 (Latin America and Caribbean) and the IEEE Italy Section for their invaluable collaboration.

A heartfelt thank you goes to our Technical Program Committee and the following technical sponsors:

• The IEEE Humanitarian Technologies Board,
• The IEEE Education Society,
• The IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society,
• The IEEE Industry Applications Society,
• The IEEE Power & Energy Society,
• and the IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society.

Additionally, we extend our thanks to 10 Italian Chapters of IEEE Societies, including:

• IEEE Central South Italy Section Industry Applications/Power Electronics society,
• IEEE Communication Society,
• IEEE Education Society,
• IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society,
• IEEE Italy (South) Section GRS Chapter,
• IEEE Industry Applications Society,
• IEEE Magnetics Society,
• IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society,
• IEEE Power & Energy Society,
• IEEE Robotics and Automation Society.

We are also grateful to the IEEE Italy Section Affinity Groups such as  IEEE Women in Engineering, and IEEE Young Professionals.

This year’s conference features a robust technical program, with 16 Technical Special Sessions on current research topics: clean and affordable energy, critical events and adverse living conditions, and life quality improvement. A total of 201 papers coming from 70 countries were reviewed and 147 were accepted and featured in the technical program.

The conference proceedings will address relevant  topics focused on the crucial challenges of our time, such as Climate change mitigation,  combating energy poverty and ensuring equitable energy access, exploring the water-energy- food nexus and its role in sustainable development, leveraging the artificial intelligence to forecast and mitigate the effects of climate change by fostering more effective and sustainable actions, employing remote sensing in humanitarian emergency contexts, develop biomedical applications to improve the quality of life, demonstrating how technology can become a powerful tool to support global cooperation and development and… much more.

Plenary sessions and workshops will feature distinguished speakers from academia, industry, and institutions, who will share insights inspiring the debate into critical areas such as: environmental and climate technologies, energy transition and geopolitical challenges, renewable energy communities, resilience in human settlements, socio-economic dynamics, technologies for humanitarian emergencies, and promoting inclusiveness and access to education.

We gladly thank all the speakers and panelists for sharing with us expertise and visionary perspectives in their respective fields.

This conference also fosters the participation of young researchers by organizing a Best Student Paper Contest and a competition for PhD students and their innovative ideas in the Humanitarian Technologies field. These initiatives aim to celebrate young researchers’ initiatives who can receive, through this experience, useful feedback, and gain presentation skills. This year, Start-Up companies will compete in a contest for the best Entrepreneurship Idea in line with the tracks of the conference. Besides, for the first time, we are pleased to announce the first edition of the TUNE Award, which will honour the paper demonstrating the best use of technology to support and empower women in STEM disciplines.

I extend my sincere thanks to the Honorary and Technical Program Chairs, and the whole Steering Committee members for their dedication in overcoming challenges and ensuring the success of this conference. Other thanks go to the Technical Program Committee and to the Special Session proposers for creating a high-quality program.

I would thank all the authorities, speakers, chairs, reviewers who must face extra work to ensure a fruitful discussion.

As a personal note, I gratefully acknowledge the work of the numerous volunteers’ and Politecnico di Bari Personnel that gave their time to make this event run smoothly.

We are very grateful to the IEEE Humanitarian Technology Board, financial sponsors (Corporate, Gold, Silver) and patrons for their support.

I am also particularly grateful to the financial support of Apulian SMEs, all involved in research activities close to the conference themes, which offered important resources and their precious time to the success of the conference.

Based on the support of all the entities which provided resources to the conference, we were able to provide many travel grants and prizes.

Finally, I wish you all a productive and enjoyable conference. May this event inspire ground-breaking ideas, foster meaningful collaborations between academic and industry research, and pave the way for innovative solutions that address global humanitarian challenges.

Thank you for being part of this impactful journey, and I look forward to the exciting discussions and exchanges ahead.

IEEE IHTC 2024 General Chair
Massimo La Scala