The 8th World Soft Computing Conference dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Lotfi Zadeh's birth kicked off
04.02.2022 /The opening ceremony of the VIII World Soft Computing Conference dedicated to the centenary of the birth and scientific legacy of Lotfi Zadeh, organized by the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (ANAS), the Ministry of Digital Development and Transport of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan, was held at the Institute of Control Systems (ICS) of ANAS on February 3, 2022. The international conference, which will go on for three days in online format, will be attended by scientists and specialists from about 30 countries, including Azerbaijan, Turkey, Russia, USA, Mexico, Japan, Poland and other countries. The conference will present scientific results of new research in areas such as soft computing, fuzzy logic and fuzzy clusters, uncertainty in cognition, knowledge representation, decision support, neural networks and hybrid architecture, cognitive modeling, etc.
General Director of the Institute of Control Systems (ICS) of ANAS, academician Ali Abbasov opened the conference and welcomed the participants. Touching upon the importance of the conference, the scientist said that the event was dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of Lotfi Zadeh, an honorary member of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, an outstanding scientist, celebrated based on the relevant order of President Ilham Aliyev.
А. Abbasov spoke about the meaningful life journey of the world-famous scientist and spoke in detail about his visit to Azerbaijan to participate in the international scientific conference "Problems of Automatic Control" held in the Soviet Union in 1965 and the international exhibition of telecommunications and information technologies BakuTel in 2008. He emphasized that Lotfi Zadeh had been received by the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Mr. Ilham Aliyev during his visit to Baku and was subsequently awarded one of the highest awards of the Republic of Azerbaijan - the Order of Friendship Looking back at the rich scientific heritage of Lotfi Zadeh, A. Abbasov pointed out that the fuzzy logic theory put forward by him as a result of fundamental research had opened the way for the development of various fields of science at the present stage and created new methods of approach. This theory played an important role in shaping the foundations of modern control systems and information and communication systems, having a significant impact on advanced intelligent technologies.
А. Abbasov said that the conference aims to bring together researchers, engineers and practitioners to present the latest achievements and innovations in the multiple areas of soft computing, to discuss thought-provoking developments and challenges, to consider potential future directions. One of the objectives of the conference is to encourage participation by young researchers; to this end student papers will be given a special consideration.
Then Academician Rasim Aliguliyev, Vice President of ANAS, General Director of the Institute of Information Technology, welcomed the participants of the event on behalf of the administration of ANAS, as well as the employees of the Institute. He said that in accordance with the order of President Ilham Aliyev of January 25, 2021 the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences together with the Ministry of Education of the Azerbaijan Republic worked out an action plan for the celebration of the 100th birth anniversary of the outstanding scientist. He expressed confidence that the conference organized within the action plan will promote the popularization of Lotfi Zadeh's work, his humanistic ideas and serve as an important platform for the presentation of scientific achievements in this field.
Р. Aliguliyev noted that under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev important results were achieved in Azerbaijan's socio-economic development, scientific-theoretical, innovative research on artificial intelligence, IV industrial revolution and global challenges, national and strategic interests were carried out. He emphasized that Azerbaijani scientists, actively participating in world processes, join the challenges aimed at solving global problems in science. Concluding his speech, the academician thanked the organizers of this important event, as well as scientists and researchers.
Then Deputy Minister of Education of the Azerbaijan Republic Firudin Gurbanov pointed out in his speech that the celebration of the anniversary of outstanding scientist Lotfi Zadeh, who wrote glorious pages in the history of science and education of modern world, founder of fuzzy logic school, which is marked by a special order of President Ilham Aliyev, is a sign of high attention and care about the rich heritage of figures of science and education. He said that L. Zadeh is one of the scientists who changed the paradigm that dominated the world science for thousands of years, became known as one of the greatest inventors of mankind and played an exceptional role in creating revolutionary technologies.
F. Gurbanov noted that there are worthy successors of Lotfi Zadeh's heritage in Azerbaijan. In this regard, the Ministry of Education regularly holds logic olympiads to identify talented students, increase their interest in acquiring scientific knowledge and help them learn more about the founder of fuzzy theory Lotfi Zadeh. F. Gurbanov expressed confidence that the work being carried out for popularization of Lotfi Zadeh's heritage, these large-scale events would give an impetus to the continuation of outstanding ideas in the field of information and communication technologies.
Further, Deputy Minister of Digital Development and Transport Rovshan Rustamov said in his speech that Lotfi Zadeh, Professor at University of California, Berkeley and Director of Soft Computing Institute, has unprecedented merits in the development of applied sciences. Today his theories are widely used in the field of transport, aviation, energy, military and many others.
Deputy Minister pointed out that Azerbaijan hosted a number of events dedicated to his 100th anniversary based on the order of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, including the Applied Science Week conference sponsored and organized by the Ministry of Digital Development and Transport last year. The Lotfi Zadeh Technology Center was officially inaugurated in Baku as part of the Applied Science Week. The Ministry also sponsored the special issue of the international journal Applied and Computational Mathematics on the topic “Fuzzy Logic and Its Application to Modeling Epidemies: Coronavirus and Beyond”, showing the advantages of using fuzzy logic in modeling COVID-19 as it helps improve the results and would potentially help solve the pandemics around the world. Mr. Rustamov also told the participants about the activities of the Ministry in the field of innovation ecosystem, cybersecurity and others, stressing that all these projects are aimed at training highly-qualified personnel and are designed for a long term. He expressed his confidence that the great scientific legacy and achievements of the brilliant scientist, scientific innovations in the field of artificial intelligence, fuzzy logic, will play an important role in the development of science for many years to come.
Next speaker was Prof. Lotfi Zadeh’s student and colleague, Dr. Masoud Nikravesh, Center for Information Technology Research for Society, University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Nikravesh shared his memories of Prof. Zadeh, whom he valued as mentor and friend, who had worked hard, writing papers to his last day. He noted that as a result of the special attention of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev the memory of Professor Lotfi Zadeh is immortalized by organizing such events and the achievements of the scientist are promoted around the world. At the end of his speech Dr. Nikravesh said that the scientific legacy of the outstanding scientist Lotfi Zadeh would live on forever, thanked for organizing the conference and wished success to the participants.
Dr. Ildar Batirshin, President of the Mexican Society for Artificial Intelligence, regular member of the Mexican Academy of Sciences, said that Professor Lotfi Zadeh laid the foundation of a new school for thousands of scientists and researchers with his fuzzy theory. Talking about the contribution of Azerbaijani scientists to world science he noted that with opening of new specialties such as fuzzy systems and soft computing it is possible to ensure communication of young researchers with professional scientists and training of highly qualified personnel.
Professor Janusz Kacprzyk, Full Member of the Polish Academy of Sciences, member of the Systems Research Institute, Dr. Neiman Muradli, Vice Rector for International Relations and Programs at the Azerbaijan State University of Economics, and Vladik Kreinovich, Professor at the University of Texas at El Paso, USA, Vice President of the International Fuzzy Systems Association, also spoke at the opening ceremony, sharing their memories of the scientific activities of the great scientist Lotfi Zadeh and wishing success to this important conference.
The opening ceremony of the conference ended with a speech by Prof. Asaf Hajiyev, Full Member of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, President of the Lotfi Zadeh Academy of Sciences. The scientist spoke in detail about the scientific achievements of Lotfi Zadeh, who made a great contribution to world science, about the essence of his fuzzy theory. In conclusion, he thanked the organizers and participants of the event and emphasized the importance of holding such large-scale events.
The conference then continued with a plenary session and sections.