Launceston to host world first maritime autonomy conference
The Australian Maritime College (AMC) in Launceston hosted the inaugural International Conference on Maritime Autonomy and Remote Navigation (ICMAR NAV 2023) from 27 to 30 November.
The conference welcomed more than 100 world leading researcher and industry experts. The conference convened in Launceston by AMC Search with Mr Nick Bonser as organiser and Dr Reza Emad as the academic lead.
Born and raised in Iran, Dr Emad began his research at the World Maritime University in 1992. He joined AMC in 2015 and founded the Centre for Research in Cognitive Human Element in Maritime Domain (C-HELM).
C-HELM research the role of human in the maritime industry with the current focus on the future shipping and implementation of Industry 4.0 technologies and autonomy.
Dr Emad said the conference would focus on the impending “fourth industrial revolution” set to drastically change Australia, and the world’s maritime industry.
“The focus of the conference is timely, imminent, and of interest not only to Australia but the worldwide maritime industry,” he said.
“We are in the early stages of a fourth industrial revolution with the gradual progression of autonomy in the maritime domain.
“Due to the rapid rate of emerging technologies this is a critical time to gather the global maritime community to share ideas and prepare for the future.”
“As an island nation with 99 per cent of our trade moved by ships, Australia is at the forefront of this changing landscape and should be a key player in the transition to an autonomous and AI controlled maritime industry.”
Launceston has also recently hosted two other major conferences in November with more than 450 delegates visiting the city for all three events.
The 45th Annual Seminar of the Joint Mineralogical Societies of Australia was held at the Tamar Valley Resort, Grindelwald from 5 to 10 November, while the Australasia-Pacific Extension Network Conference 2023 was conducted at the Tailrace Centre from 14 to 16 November.
Business Events Tasmania CEO Marnie Craig said ground-breaking and globally significant events such as these attracted leading experts to Tasmania.
“This creates opportunities for future investment, trade, research collaboration and the attraction of world-class talent to the state,” she said.
Ms Craig said Dr Emad was a Tasmanian-based industry leader who had joined BET’s Visionary Program.
“Visionaries are well-credentialed Tasmanians who have made a real difference in their area of expertise,” she said.
“We are using the Visionary Program to reposition our brand in the highly competitive national business events space.
“The program and the Visionaries themselves play a significant role in bringing national and international industry leaders to Tasmania which is enormously beneficial to the local industry.
“It also obviously provides Tasmanian businesses and organisations with the opportunity to showcase their strengths and talents on a larger scale.”
Business events are worth $199 million to the Tasmanian economy.
Twenty-eight per cent of visiting delegates bring at least one other person, 20 per cent explore regional Tasmania.
Nearly 90 per cent of business visitors intend to return to Tasmania within the next three years, providing a further economic boost.
Find out more about BET Visionary Dr. Emad Reza by following the link below.