IEEE Region 8 Action for Industry Workshop – Cairo, Egypt
25-27 August 2023
The IEEE Yemen Branch participated in the Action for Industry workshop as part of an invitation extended to it, in addition to the IEEE branches in the Middle East and North African countries.
The workshop extended for three days, starting on August 25, during which it included a social activities session, a multicultural evening, and dinner. During the second day, the workshop agenda included many sessions, which were opened with a speech by Professor Saif Rahman – President of the IEEE, followed by opening speeches by:
– IEEE Industry Engagement Committee Chair – Costas Stasopoulos
-IEEE Region 8 Director-Elect -Mike Hinchey
– IEEE Region 8 Action for Industry Chair – Toni Mattila
– IEEE Egypt Section Chair – Ahmed Hasan

After that, a group photo was taken to begin the workshop sessions for training Section Industry Ambassadors (SIA), which were represented by the following sessions:

– IEEE: Advancing Technology for Humanity by Saifur Rahman
– IEEE Industry Engagement Committee by Costas Stasopoulos
– Session – Providing Value to Industry by Mohamed Amin
– Session – Providing Value to Members by Toni Mattila
The workshop sessions included a review of the 2023 reports and the proposed plans for the remaining months of 2023 and 2024 by the industry ambassadors in the branches of the IEEE Section Industry Ambassadors (SIA) for the participating Middle East and North African countries, which included Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan, Yemen, Lebanon witnessed the absence of representatives of Iran and Sudan.
The presentation of the Yemen Branch was made by Engineer Ghilan Al-Jamai on behalf of Professor Ammar Al-Zahari, Vice President of the IEEE Yemen Branch, Industry Ambassador of IEEE Yemen Subsection, which included a full report of the activities presented by the Yemen Branch during the year 2023, which varied from signing cooperation agreements and visits. Diversified and established Young Professionals and presented various scientific seminars in cooperation with partners and online seminars via Zoom. The work plan for the remainder of 2023 and 2023 was also presented, in addition to the best practices that improve the participation of the industrial side, increase its interaction, and join the IEEE Yemen Branch.
There was also a discussion with representatives of the IEEE about the most prominent obstacles that the Yemen branch suffers from, which included the high cost of membership subscriptions and the limited benefits provided by the IEEE, which contribute to motivating industrial partners to join the Yemen branch.
After presenting the plan to lift Yemen, Professor Costas Stasopoulos praised the activity of the Yemen branch and expressed his great astonishment at what was implemented, especially with his prior knowledge that Yemen was suffering from deteriorating conditions due to the war, considering this as a catalyst to provide more support to the branch.
On the other hand, Engineer Suhaib Sheikh, R8 AfI SIA MENA Meeting Coordinator, pledged to send the IEEE recommendation to request facilitations in membership subscriptions for the Yemen branch in particular. Coordination was also made with the IEEE Egypt Branch for joint cooperation and enhancing the Yemen Branch’s foreign activities.
The second day’s activities concluded with a dinner party, which was attended by all IEEE leaders and representatives of industry ambassadors in the Middle East and North Africa.
During the third day of the workshop, a visit was made to the Siemens branch in the Middle East, and the presentation of the industry ambassadors was reviewed by Professor Toni Mattila. An invitation was also sent to the company’s leadership to contribute to the activities of the IEEE and to take the initiative to have the company’s engineers join the IEEE Egypt branch. On the other hand, the representative of the Yemen branch discussed with Dr. Hazem, Vice President of Siemens Middle East, about the possibility of joint cooperation between the company and the IEEE Yemen branch, and this was welcomed. The company’s management was then contacted to obtain contact information for the Yemen branch, and they were provided with it.
The workshop activities concluded with a visit to the pyramids and included a group of photographs and positive discussions between industry ambassadors and representatives of IEEE leadership.