A tech fair and an international science conference kicked off on Monday on the island of Ukulhas in Alif Alif atoll, marking the first time an event of its kind is hosted in the Maldives.
The fair was organised by the Ugail Foundation of Maldivian Professor Hassan Ugail, director of the visual computing centre at the University of Bradford in the UK. The exhibitors include government ministries and local companies as well as For Loop Coding Academy and the Maldives Open Source Society.
Telecom company Ooredoo Maldives is the local sponsor of the event.
Taking place in conjunction with the fair, the Software, Knowledge, Information Management and Applications (SKIMA) conference brings together 75 researchers and experts from 48 countries. Launched as a collaboration between research professionals in Western and Asian countries, previous editions took place in Thailand, Nepal, Morocco, Bhutan, Italy, China, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Cambodia.
The Maldives conference focuses on applied artificial intelligence with a special workshop on the latest developments in the field.
The three-day event is taking place at a newly-built convention centre on Ukulhas, which was opened on Monday morning by Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid. It was reportedly built with MVR7.8 million (US$505,800) in grant aid from India and MVR13 million from the state budget.
The 10,000 square feet building was completed in 25 days by local contractor Ameen Construction.
The convention centre was only the third built in the Maldives. Two centres were previously developed in the capital Malé and the southernmost Addu City for the regional SAARC summits in 1990 and 2011.
Minister Shahid visits the stalls at the #UkulhasTechFair and interacts with participants.#SKIMA2019#AIMaldives2019 pic.twitter.com/d6uUlWlfzx
— MFA Maldives (@MDVForeign) August 26, 2019
The world renowned brain and cognitive scientist Professor Newton Howard (https://t.co/RXG9BpEgFT) arrives to Ukulhas for the #SKIMA2019 #AIMaldives2019 and #UkulhasTech2019 event. pic.twitter.com/Pdm9NeoyvJ
— Professor Ugail (@ugail) August 25, 2019
Here's the final conference programme for #SKIMA2019 and #AIMaldives2019 event, 26-28 August 2019, at the Ukulhas Convention Centre, Ukulhas Island, #Maldives pic.twitter.com/EYROw5e7Vc
— Professor Ugail (@ugail) August 22, 2019