The Yemen IEEE Subsection participated in the Action for Industry workshop held in Cairo, Egypt from August 25-27, 2023. The workshop was attended by representatives from IEEE Subsections in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

The workshop lasted for three days, starting on August 25 with a social activities session and a multicultural evening. On the second day, the workshop agenda included several sessions, which were opened by a speech from Professor Saifur Rahman, President of the IEEE. This was followed by opening speeches from:

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 Hassan
After that, the workshop sessions for training the Section Industry Ambassadors (SIA) began. These sessions included the following:

IEEE: Advancing Technology for Humanity by Saifur Rahman
IEEE Industry Engagement Committee by Costas Stasopoulos
Providing Value to Industry by Mohamed Amin
Providing Value to Members by Toni Mattila
The workshop sessions also included a review of the 2023 reports and proposed plans for the remaining months of 2023 and 2024. This was presented by the Industry Ambassadors from the IEEE Subsections in the MENA region, which included Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan, Yemen, and Lebanon. Representatives from Iran and Sudan were absent.

The Yemen Subsection report was presented by Engineer Ghilan Al-Jama’i, representing the Yemen Subsection on behalf of Dr. Ammar Al-Zahari, Vice-President of the Yemen IEEE Subsection and Industry Ambassador of IEEE Yemen Subsection. The report included a comprehensive report of the activities and events implemented by the Yemen Subsection during 2023. These activities included conferences, workshops, signing cooperation agreements, visiting universities and institutions, and submitting requests to establish several Affinity Groups in the Yemen Subsection, such as Young Professionals, Student Branches, and Women in Engineering. In addition, a number of scientific seminars were held in person and online via Zoom in cooperation with partners. The report also included a work plan for the rest of 2023 and 2024, as well as best practices that can improve the participation of the business sector and increase its interaction and membership in the Yemen IEEE Subsection.

The Yemen Subsection representatives also discussed with IEEE representatives the most prominent obstacles facing the Subsection, which included the high cost of membership and the need to define the benefits offered by IEEE that would contribute to motivating partners in the business sector to participate and join the scientific activities of IEEE.

Following the Yemen Subsection report, Professor Costas Stasopoulos praised the activity of the Yemen Subsection and expressed his amazement at the events and activities that had been implemented, especially given his prior knowledge that Yemen is suffering from the deterioration of the situation due to the war. He considered this to be a motivation for the Subsection to become a Section shortly.

On the other hand, Engineer Shaheed Sheikh, coordinator of the R8 AfI SIA MENA Meeting, pledged to send a recommendation to IEEE requesting facilitation in membership subscriptions for the Yemen Subsection in particular. In addition, coordination was made with the IEEE Egypt Section for cooperation and to enhance the activities of the Yemen Subsection.

The activities of the second day concluded with a dinner party attended by all IEEE leaders and representatives of the Industry Ambassadors in the Middle East and North Africa.

On the third day of the workshop, a visit was made to the Siemens Middle East branch. Professor Toni Mattila presented a presentation on Industry Ambassadors. The company’s leadership was also invited to contribute to IEEE activities and to encourage the company’s engineers to join the IEEE Egypt Section. On the other hand, the representative of the Yemen Subsection met with the Vice President of Siemens Middle East to discuss the possibility of cooperation between the company and the Yemen IEEE Subsection, either directly or through the company’s branch in Yemen.

The workshop activities concluded with a visit to the Pyramids, which was interspersed with a series of positive discussions between the Industry Ambassadors and representatives of IEEE leadership.