The International Conference on Biologically Inspired Techniques in Many-Criteria Decision-Making (BITMDM-2024) concluded on December 7th, 2024 at Lorin Hall, Tetso College. Professor Devendra Jalihal, Director of IIT Guwahati, Assam served as chief guest and Professor G T Thong, Pro Vice Chancellor of Nagaland University, Kohima Campus, Meriema delivered the keynote address. Er. Shanchamo Yanthan, organizing committee member of Nagaland University, presided over the proceedings which commenced with the Nagaland University anthem.
Dr. Devendra Jalihal, an expert in electrical engineering, delivered an online speech on the economic implications of science and technology with a focus on Northeast India. He noted that India’s current R&D expenditure, approximately 0.7% of GDP, is slated to increase significantly, projecting an investment of one lakh crore rupees by 2030. This investment will foster substantial growth in the region’s manufacturing sector, exemplified by Tata’s new chip manufacturing facility in Jagiroad, Assam which will create numerous employment opportunities for local graduates. IIT Guwahati is actively preparing to produce skilled workforce through online data science and AI programs to meet this demand. Dr. Jalihal urged attendees to leverage these online resources to acquire the skills needed to capitalize on emerging opportunities. He emphasized the crucial role of IT sector development through R&D in generating employment and stimulating economic growth. Such conferences facilitate networking with researchers and subject matter experts, fostering collaboration and securing funding from sources like the Ministry of Science and Technology. He concluded by highlighting the importance of collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking as key drivers of success in the 21st century.
Professor G.T. Thong’s keynote address commended the organizing committee for the successful international conference, its topic highly relevant to current global challenges and crucial for complex problem-solving. He further praised the collaborative spirit between Nagaland University and Tetso College recognizing the remarkable platform it provides for knowledge exchange, networking, and fostering future innovations. He urged continued collaboration, emphasizing its critical role in overcoming challenges in research, innovation, and technology.
The best paper award was also presented to the paper presenters in two categories. Mr. Nepoleon Keisham received the best presenter award in the Young Scholar category and Mr. Ramesh Singh received the award in the Academician category.
Mr. Kuraktsang K and Mr. Ramesh Singh provided feedback on the conference from the paper presenters’ perspective. Both praised the college’s excellent infrastructure and highly experienced technicians. They also commended the excellent time management of all the sessions.
Dr. Hewasa L Khing, Principal of Tetso College and Professor Sujata Dash, Programme Chair of BITMDM 2024 at Nagaland University delivered the closing remarks. Dr. Khing commended the School of Engineering and Technology at Nagaland University for organizing an interdisciplinary conference on such a significant and timely topic, bringing together diverse subjects and fields. She noted the presentation of forty-eight high-quality discussion papers, covering a wide range of topics from biology and healthcare to agriculture, computation, AI, sustainable futures and e-commerce—all highly relevant to daily life and improving our well-being. These papers came from across the country, with participants also joining from China and Japan. She expressed gratitude for the opportunity to collaborate with Nagaland University and expressed her anticipation of future collaborations, as Tetso College is dedicated to research, development and growth.
Professor Dash in her closing remarks gave a brief summary on the whole two day programme and thanked the chief guests and chief speakers of the conference. Special thanks were also credited to Professor Miho Yanagisawa, University of Tokyo Japan and Professor Gajendra P.S Raghav, Head of Department of Computational Biology, IIIT, Delhi for gracing the conference as speakers. She mentioned that the significant highlight of the conference was the tutorial and hands-on session on Machine Learning in Practice: Application in Medical Diagnosis and Speech Data Analysis jointly conducted by Dr Amalesh Gope, Assistant Professor Tezpur University and Dr Anusuya Pal, Postdoctoral Fellow at The University of Tokyo, Japan where 70 participants attended. She also highlighted the talks delivered by five speakers from various universities across India and the United Kingdom. She concluded her closing remark by highlighting that the conference received an overwhelming total of 137 papers out of which only 40 high quality papers were selected which will be published in the Springer as conference proceeding under the book series Learning and Analytics in Intelligence System. She also thanked and appreciated all the participants and organising committee members, volunteers and both the institutions and the sponsors.
The programme ended with the College anthem of Tetso College after which it was declared closed by Professor VK Vidyarthi, Dean, SET, Nagaland University.