We are especially proud that every year an increasing number of students from technical faculties visit our conferences. Interview: Beta.ba portal SARAJEVO - The mission of the Bosnia and Herzegovina-American Academy of Arts and Sciences (BHAAAS) is the promotion and development of art and science in Bosnia and Herzegovina. diaspora in America and Canada. The goals of the Academy are to establish connections between Bosnia and Herzegovina. scientists, artists, and experts in North America and building bridges of cooperation with the homeland. The Academy promotes the spirit of intellectual diversity and the free exchange of ideas among the diaspora, with the belief that knowledge is a shareable wealth. The Bosnian-American Academy of Arts and Sciences (BHAAAS), which was founded in the USA in 2007, is organized through several sections. We are talking to the head of the Technical Section, Prof. . Ph.D. Samir Avdaković, professor at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Sarajevo and founder and owner of the company Advanced Technology and Systems. BETA: How do you see the activities of the BHAAAS Technical Section, and how intense is the cooperation of scientists from BiH? diaspora with scientists and experts from Bosnia and Herzegovina? AVDAKOVIĆ: Since its foundation in 2008, the Technical Section of BHAAAS has had significant activities every year, especially through the annual conference Days of BHAAAS in Bosnia and Herzegovina. At these conferences, through various activities at universities, conferences, or other gatherings, experts from the USA and Canada establish cooperation, hold lectures, and participate in education and various projects. In the past years, hundreds or thousands of lectures, meetings, and other activities were held, which, among other things, established cooperation between scientists from Bosnia and Herzegovina in various fields. diaspora with scientists and experts from Bosnia and Herzegovina. In recent years, a large number of scientists from European countries, Australia, as well as a large number of students from technical faculties in BiH, have joined these activities. Establishing strong ties between Bosnia and Herzegovina. and scientists in North America with scientists at home is one of our primary tasks, and the activities carried out within the BHAAAS Technical Section are precisely focused on these goals. BETA: A large number of people are involved in the organization of your conferences. What is the result of those activities? AVDAKOVIĆ: Within the BHAAAS Technical Section, there are a large number of top experts from various scientific fields. We are focused on the organization of conferences in the field of technical sciences, which mainly cover the fields of advanced power systems, information and communication technologies, modeling, construction, mechanical engineering, computer science, mechatronics, and robotics. Starting next year, we will expand our activities to the fields of geodesy and geoinformatics. The result of these activities over five years are publications in the prestigious publishing house Springer, and the works published in these publications are indexed in ISI Proceedings, SCOPUS, Google Scholar, and SpringerLink. The fifth edition of Advanced Technologies, Systems, and Applications is currently in print. In the last five years, over 250 scientific papers have been published in BHAAAS editions, with over 130,000 downloads, which represents a significant success for all of us. BETA: What is the cooperation with institutions and societies in BiH? AVDAKOVIĆ: The technical section of BHAAAS has excellent cooperation with colleagues from almost all technical faculties in Bosnia and Herzegovina. A large number of professors from these faculties cooperate intensively with BHAAAS and participate in the organization or in conferences organized by BHAAAS. We are especially proud that every year an increasing number of students from technical faculties visit our conferences, and some of them present their research and gain their first experiences at conferences. We pay special attention to cooperation with professional associations, and it is really at a high level. I would like to point out the many years of very successful cooperation with the Society for the Development, Promotion, and Application of Advanced Technologies and the Bosnia and Herzegovina CIGRE Committee. In addition to the excellent cooperation in the organization of conferences, this year, together with the journal B&H Electrical Engineering, which is part of CIGRE, we will have a special issue called Special Issue on Computational, Numerical, and Mathematical Methods in Electrical Engineering, which is edited by my colleague Prof. . Ph.D. Ismar Volić and me. BETA: You also focus your activities on the organization of various thematic gatherings or round tables. What are your current activities in this field? AVDAKOVIĆ: We consider these activities very important. Including our people from developed and regulated countries in thematic discussions, brings new perspectives and can speed up the transition processes in our country. A large number of people from BHAAAS focused on various social issues are involved in these activities. I would like to remind you that it was the people from BHAAAS who insisted on PISA testing a few years ago to get a true picture of our education. Even today, we focus on the topics of education in Bosnia and Herzegovina that we consider the most important for the development of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This year, due to the pandemic, we had to extend the holding of several round tables that we organized, and they related to the topics of demand for BH, education for the economy of the 21st century, and the role of the BH. diaspora in improving quality and scientific research work in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In organizing and participating in these gatherings, I would like to thank in advance a large number of scientists from the Diaspora and BiH, representatives of BiH authorities, as well as the international institutions Save the Children and USAID, which provide selfless support for the holding of such gatherings. BETA: What are the plans for future activities? AVDAKOVIĆ: We had to extend the 12th BHAAAS days in BiH for 2021. However, regardless of this, due to the many years of excellent cooperation with the publishing house Springer, they proposed the publication of a special scientific edition, which is currently in the printing phase. These days we are embarking on a more intensive preparation of our conferences planned for the 12th BHAAAS Days in BiH, Mostar in 2021. Nine international symposia are planned within the Technical Section, and all accepted papers will be republished in Springer under the title Advanced Technologies, Systems, and Applications VI—IAT 2021. (http://www.beta.ba/)
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