GCWOC’18 was jointly organized by University of Malaga (UMA) Spain, Mehran University of Engineering & Technology (MUET), Jamshoro, Pakistan and Sir Syed University of Engineering & Technology (SSUET) Karachi, Pakistan with travel grant sponsorship support for Pakistani researchers by Higher Education Commission of Pakistan. Pakistan Engineering Council also made debut in the conference as a collaborative partner. The same troika of UMA, MUET and SSUET is successfully running International European Commission Credit Mobility Programs under Erasmus Plus.

GCWOC(Global Conference on Wireless and Optical Communication) is an International forum for researchers to exchange information regarding novel aspects of technology, application and service development within the multidisciplinary framework of Wireless and Optical Communication Technologies. GCWOC aims to facilitate a creative environment for the promotion of collaboration and knowledge transfer.

The event was held in Malaga (Spain) on 1st to 3rd October 2018 at the University of Malaga by making it part of Technological Advancements in Wireless & Optical Communication Systems. The conference was chaired by Prof Dr Javier Poncela, the University of Malaga and Prof. Dr.Bhawani Shankar Chowdhry, Professor & Dean Faculty of Electrical, Electronics and Computer Engineering at MUET. The Technical Program Committee (TPC) was chaired by Prof Dr Pablo Otero Roth, University of Malaga and, Dr Muhammad Aamir, Chairman Telecommunication Engineering at SSUET. The presence of Prof Dr AfzalUlHaq, Vice Chancellor SSUET, Paulo Monteiro of the University of Aveiro, Portugal, Dr Enrique Nava, of UMA Spain including three high-quality keynotes lectures had enhanced the impact of GCWOC’18.

The conference program included six (6) technical sessions. Each technical session was chaired by renowned professors from universities of 04 different countries. The Technical program committee accepted only 42 papers out of 138 submissions after thorough peer reviews. Presented papers covered wide variety of research area including Signal processing, Energy efficiency and power management system, Smart and mobile antennas, Circuit design for wireless systems, Wireless sensor networks, Wireless Security, Industrial applications, Optical signal processing, Optical sensors, Photonic communications system, High-speed optical communications systems and devices, Coding techniques, Optical networks etc. These papers represented authors from Germany, Pakistan, China, Malaysia, Spain, UK, Ireland, Italy, Finland, USA, Canada, Tunisia, India, Saudi Arabia, UK, Poland, Denmark and Korea. Accepted and presented papers will be submitted for publication in Springer’s Journal (an impact factor journal) on Wireless Personal Communication which is abstracted/indexed in: Science Citation Index Expanded (SciSearch), Journal Citation Reports/Science Edition, SCOPUS, INSPEC, Google Scholar, EBSCO, CSA, Academic OneFile, ACM Digital Library, Computer Science Index, CSA Environmental Sciences, Current Contents Collections / Electronics & Telecommunications Collection, EI-Compendex, Expanded Academic, OCLC, PASCAL, SCImago, Summon by Pro Quest.

The closing address was delivered by Prof. Dr Afzal Ul Haq, VC SSUET. He acknowledged all the organizers, keynote speakers and participants. He hoped that the participants will share their experience with others and further strengthen the relationship with GCWOC. He was also thankful to all the sponsors of this conference i.e. the University of Malaga, Mehran University of Engineering &Technology and Sir Syed University of Engineering &Technology. He also invited all the participants in the next edition of GCWOC 2019 which will be held at the same venue i.e. University of Malaga, Spain.

At the end of the GCWOC’18 Conference, Dr.AfzalUlHaq, Dr B.S. Chowdhry and Dr Muhammad Aamir, Engr Khadim Hussain Bhatti Registrar Pakistan engineering Council, Engr Muhammad Nasrullah GB Member PEC presented souvenirs to organizers of the conference from MUET and SSUET respectively. After the Conference on 4th October, the University of Malaga arranged a complimentary guided tour of the famous historical city of Muslims Empire “Cordoba” and Seville which was enjoyed by all participants.

DICE Energy & Water Conference was arranged at NED University of Engineering & Technology on October 10-11, 2018.

DICE Energy & Water 2018 event was a joint collaborative event of the DICE Foundation and NED University of Engineering & Technology Karachi to foster innovation, collaboration and entrepreneurship culture in the country on Energy, Water and its related themes. The event included Students Innovation Exhibition, Industrial Exhibition, Symposium and Tameer DICE Shark meant to present innovative projects in front of Industrialists, CEOs and Venture Capitalists), and National Innovation Basket (NIB). The event had Rs.250,000/- as prize money for innovative students projects in the competition. The huddle provided an opportunity for academia and the industry to share innovative ideas and solutions to address the current energy scenario.

Major objectives of DICE Energy platform were to grow indigenous energy industry in Pakistan by providing a common platform for Academia, Energy Industry, Government and Expatriates to promote and collaborate on innovations related to energy sector, commercialization of innovations, energy engineering capacity building leveraging knowledge of expatriates around the world, providing access to Pakistan energy industry to international markets leveraging extensive expatriate network and to help Government of Pakistan in energy policymaking.

Imtiaz Ahmed Sheikh, Sindh Minister for Energy, Dr Sarosh Hasmat Lodi, the Vice Chancellor, NED and Dr Khurshid Qureshi, Chairman & Founder of DICE Foundation USA inaugurated the event. Many esteemed guests from industry and academia also attended the inauguration. Of 120 projects submitted by various universities of Pakistan, a total of 40 projects were put on display of which 15 projects were selected by a panel of judges as the topmost projects for Tameer DICE Shark. Imtiaz Ahmed Sheikh shared information with the participants as regards his ministry’s projects designed to solve the current Energy and Water crises in the province. He highlighted the issue of shortage of water in Thar, interior Sindh and Karachi and emphasized the importance of dealing this problem with utmost priority. He said Sindh government was not against building dames but they should be built with a mutual consensus of all provinces. He invited NED University of Engineering & Technology to work together with the Sindh government to solve the Energy/water crises.

Dr Sarosh Hasmat Lodi informed that NED University has continuously been focusing on the promotion of research and accordingly providing facilities to the faculty and students relating to energy research. He also highlighted that the University has played a vital role in promoting and working for the development of renewable energy sources and methods. He added that NED-DICE Energy Innovation Center provides a platform to the students studying in any university to carry out research work in this Center and also emphasized research work needed for Battery in future. This national exhibition brought together renowned professors, scholars, industrial professionals and DICE representatives all around the world. They shared their research involving generation and distribution of energy also how it could be applied to make Pakistan an energy efficient country with increased economic growth. It was also agreed upon that further initiative must be taken to explore safe and renewable energy resources for future generations. It was further extended to ensure that undergraduate and post-graduate students should be provided platform, initiatives and funding to ensure a continuous research on industrial issues relating to energy.